GCSE RS- Buddhism

• Buddha: 'If you speak or act with a calm bright heart then happiness follows you like a shadow that never leaves'
• Buddha: 'Hatred is never appeased by hatred.'
• Dhammapada 130: 'One should not kill nor cause another to kill.'
• Dhammapada 163: 'The evil a witless man does by himself.'
• Dhammapada 197: 'Easy to do are things that are bad and harmful to one's self'
• Dhammapada 201: 'Among men who hate we live without hating anyone'
• Dhammapada 256: 'Happily the peaceful live'
• Dhammapada: 'The wise one weighing up both right and wrong judgement judges other impartially.'
• Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion (Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta): 'The Noble truth of dukkha: Birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, death is dukkha.'
• Vakkali Sutta: 'Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely'
• Buddha: 'He who sees the dhamma sees me'
• Sutta-nipata 142: 'Action makes a man a Brahmin'
• Cunda Kammaraputta: 'Lay the knife down'
• Kimsila Sutta: 'Learning and understanding are essential to the practice...have respect for the words of those you know to be wise.'
• Itivuttaka 50: 'There are these three roots of what is unskilful...greed...aversion...delusion.'
• The Lotus Sutra is also a key text within Mahayana Buddhism which teaches of the Bodhisattva ideal.
• Angulimala: 'I was tamed by the kind words of the Compassionate Buddha.'
• Angulimala


  • Lived at the time of the Buddha and was a well-known terrorist in India, 2500 years ago. He visited the Buddha with the intention of killing him, however after hearing him teach he reformed his character and decided to become a Buddhist himself.
• Nagasena and the Chariot


  • This story highlights the teaching of anatta. Nagasena speaks with King Milinda and uses the example of a chariot to explain anatta. All the parts of the chariot work together to be a chariot but there is no essential essence which makes it a 'chariot' this is just the name we give to it. The same as each person.
• Nagasena: 'Your majesty is exactly right about the chariot. It is just so with me. Nagasena is the working of all the parts of the body and the five skandhas that make me. But in ultimate reality, however, the person still isn't caught.'
• Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize Speech 1989: 'True happiness comes from a sense of inner peace and contentment.'
• Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize Speech 1989: 'We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one another and the planet we share.'
• Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize Speech 1989: 'Violence can only breed more violence and suffering, our struggle must remain non-violent and free of hatred.'
• Kisa Gotami


  • Kisa was unable to accept that her son was dead and took the body of the boy to the Buddha. The Buddha answered "I will cure him if you can bring me some white mustard seeds from a house where no one has died." Carrying her dead son she went from door to door asking at each house but the reply was always that someone had died there. At last the truth struck her; no house is free from death. She awakened and laid her son to rest, then she returned to the Buddha.
• Thich Naht Hahn and Socially Engaged Buddhism


  • The monk Thich Naht Hahn is a famous teacher and peace activist. Buddhists recognise that peace is about more than your internal mental states so Thich Nhat Hanh founded what he called 'socially engaged Buddhism' which aims to work towards social justice. Followers take extra moral precepts such as; 'Do not avoid suffering or close your eyes before suffering....Find ways to be with those who are suffering.'
• Socially engaged Buddhism has inspired organisations such as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship which aim to serve as a catalyst for socially engaged Buddhism to help beings liberate themselves from the.
• Mahayana Buddhist Story- Buddha killed a man


  • A well-known story in Mahayana Buddhism tells how in a previous life the Buddha killed a man to prevent him from killing 500 others and consequently falling into the lowest hell for a very long time. The Buddha's act was motivated by pure compassion; he realised he was acting against the moral code but was prepared to suffer in hell himself out of his love for others. As a result, not only did the Buddha progress spiritually and avoid hell, but the potential murderer was reborn in a heavenly realm.
• Stories like this have provided the basis for Mahayana Buddhist participation in violence-e.g. violence by Tibetan monks in defence of the Dharma against the Chinese Communist invasion.