Buddhism spread rapidly throughout Southern and Eastern Asia Buddhism spread rapidly throughout Southern and Eastern Asia. Today, Buddhism is a world religion. People who follow Buddha's teachings are called Buddhists. Buddhism focuses on the teachings of Siddharta Gatama who was born around 563 BCE.  With as many as 500 million followers, Buddhism is the 4th largest religion in the world.  Siddhartha was born a Hindu, but had a difficult time believing the teachings because of all of the suffering he saw in the world.  He also rejected the caste system.  Siddhartha was born a wealthy prince, but gave up everything to find a true understanding of the world.  He tried many different types of Hindu beliefs, but eventually he formed his own belief system and taught many others.  He was called “The Buddha”, or the enlightened one.  Many of Siddhartha teachings or what is called his “dharma” come from Hinduism.  His teachings were written in Buddhist holy books called Tripitaka or Sutras. Buddhists value goodness, self-control, wisdom, calm, and love. What questions do you want answered about what you see here and Buddhism? Make a “working wall” or other form of list and make sure that they are all tackled by the end of the enquiry! Basic websites which are accessible to pupils and which will help with the enquiry are: https://sites.google.com/site/worldreligionsforkids/buddhism http://religions.iloveindia.com/buddhism.html http://resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/homework/religion/buddhism.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/buddhism/ https://sites.google.com/site/worldreligionsforkids/home/buddhism http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/storybuddha.htm Summary websites and teaching ideas to support the teacher: http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/ http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=buddhism Who are Buddhists

The three universal truths (anicca, dukkha, anatta) "anicca" (pronunciation: "anicha") means unpermanent". "dukkha" (pronunciation: "dook-kha") means "suffering" or "unsatisfaction". Everything in the universe have three common properties: anicca, dukkha, and anatta. People, animals, things, towns, mountains, planets, stars, joy, money, knowledge, memories, everything you may imagine, everything you can't imagine. A butterfly never lasts and if when people cling to things like a precious piece of jewellery it can lead to suffering. "dukkha" (pronunciation: "dook-kha") means "suffering" or “dissatisfaction". Nothing can be wholly satisfying, completely pleasant. Everything in life includes a part of suffering, even best ones, because of limits. The only way to always feel happy is to possess nothing, not to be involved in entertainments, and to be satisfied with very few things in life

anatta Anatta "anatta" (pronunciation: "anat-ta") means "does not exist by itself". Every existing thing is only the combination of several things, is divided in several elements. When you admire a nice phone or a nice bike, this thing does not exist by itself: it's just a combination of small pieces. It's the same for everything. We are combination of ever changing pieces.

The Four Noble Truths The Buddha set out a cure for the world’s illnesses. The illness is Dukkha. The cause of this dukkha is in unhealthy craving for life, for pleasure and for money. Craving makes people frustrated and unhappy. If craving ceases, suffering will cease. So get rid of craving. Follow The Middle Way. Neither a life of luxury or a life of hardship and poverty will bring happiness. There has to be a ,,iddle way between the extremes

The Eightfold path Buddhists often refer to their religion as simply ‘practising the Dharma’. Buddhist teaching is like a path to be followed, leading a person towards greater contentment and happiness. It takes the ‘middle way’ between luxury and hardship.

The 5 precepts Precept 1 Do not kill The most important thing is not to be rich, famous, not even to be healthy. The most important thing is to practice being noble. That means doing your best to have virtuous conducts. The more honest, respectful and caring you will be, the better you will be protected from all kinds of problems and the better you will feel. The five precepts are the minimum we should try to apply. It is the most important thing with unselfishness and attention, because we can get the biggest benefits if we avoid words and acts which cause suffering and if we are only cared by helping and giving relief. Moreover it is easy; it is only a good practice to make. This is an explanation of the five precepts.

Precept 2 Do not steal The second precept is to not steal. That means you will never profit by things got unfairly. As any damaging act that jinxs. That one which says "He that will steal a pin, will steal a pound" is also true ; it's in the details that you can see if you are really honest or not. It is very important to practice not to take something that is not offered, even a candy. There is no useful reason to be dishonest. If you are honest and those who surround you are not, you will provide inspiration and not the other way. Dishonesty is like a disease which spoils other people's life. Better cured people caring for sick persons than sick persons infecting cured people.

Precept 3 Do not indulge a sexual misconduct The third precept is to not indulge a sexual misconduct. That means if you have a "boyfriend" (girlfriend) you will have to be faithful to him (her) and have no one else. It is very unsound to live a cheating life. It compel you to lie all the time. This can bring about hugely sorrow. Moral hurting is much more aching than physical pain. As in honesty, virtue in love is something very important. If you really want to know true love with a boy (girl), or at least if you only want people to love you sincerely you have to never play with other people feelings.

Precept 4 Do not lie If you lie, even just a little bit, nobody can trust you, those who love fairness and wisdom will stay clear from you and you will easily be disposed to meet people who are use to do bad things. On the contrary, if you practice being always sincere refraining from telling lies you have a lot to win : you will have more friends, people will pay attention to you, will entrust you interesting things, you will be merrily helped etc.

Precept 5 Do not drink alcohol The fifth precept is to not use up alcohol or more widely eveything intoxicant. For instance, you can take medecines, but only to cure a medical problem otherwise it is dangerous. As well as destructing health, alcohol or an other drug (any) can compel you to commit evil deeds and being unaware of it, some of these can be irreparable. What is more important than having a clear mind and a healthy body ? Even cigarettes are a poison you should avoid because it only brings disadvantages including for the people around.

Two main branches of Buddhism Who are the Buddhists? Two main branches of Buddhism Schools of Buddhism There are numerous different schools or sects of Buddhism. The two largest are Theravada Buddhism, which is most popular in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Burma (Myanmar), and Mahayana Buddhism, which is strongest in Tibet, China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia. The majority of Buddhist sects do not seek to proselytise (preach and convert), with the notable exception of Nichiren Buddhism. All schools of Buddhism seek to aid followers on a path of enlightenment.