Buddhism

What Buddhism covers

One of the six Paper 4 options. The Buddha's life and teaching, the Four Noble Truths and the analysis of the person, the Pali canon and the Theravada and Mahayana traditions, meditation and monastic life, and Buddhism's encounter with the modern West.

The 15 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold PathRecall questions on the Three Poisons, dukkha, tanha, cessation and magga, nibbana and parinibbana, the Threefold Way and the eight limbs, metta, karuna and khanti, Theravada and Mahayana readings, and Keown and Bodhi on ethics and the path.Open →
• The Three Marks of Existence and the Five KhandasRecall questions on anicca, dukkha and anatta, the five khandas and the denial of a fixed self, rebirth and karma without a permanent agent, the rejection of a creator God, Mahayana extensions, and Buddhaghosa and T W Rinpoche on the aggregates.Open →
• The Three Refuges: Buddha, Dhamma and SanghaRecall questions on taking refuge in the Buddha, dhamma and sangha, how the three depend on one another, what sangha includes, the refuges in worship and daily life, Theravada and Mahayana understandings, and Bodhi and Thanissaro Bhikkhu on going for refuge.Open →
• The Five PreceptsRecall questions on the Five Precepts as training rules, intoxicants and sexual misconduct, their positive counterparts, whether all breaches are equally serious, lay and monastic observance in Theravada and Mahayana, and Harvey and Bodhi on the precepts.Open →
• The Life of the Buddha and His WorldRecall questions on the events of Gautama's life, the four sights, the rejection of asceticism and awakening at Bodh Gaya, the brahmins and samana groups, sacrifice, caste and kingship, and Armstrong's and Nanamoli Bhikkhu's accounts of the life.Open →
• The TipitakaRecall questions on the three baskets and their authority, how the canon was collected and fixed, the Vinaya, Sutta and Abhidhamma Pitakas, the debate over the Abhidhamma, the canon's use and status across traditions, and Keown and Meghaprasara.Open →
• Theravada BuddhismRecall questions on Theravada and Nikaya Buddhism, its refusal of the three-vehicle scheme, Gautama, images and stupas, renunciation and the four stages to arahantship, its distinctive emphases and modern changes, and Gombrich and Gunaratana.Open →
• Mahayana BuddhismRecall questions on the emergence of Mahayana, its expanded idea of a buddha, the trikaya and buddha-nature, images and stupas, its schools in their national settings, and Basham and the 14th Dalai Lama on Mahayana.Open →
• Meditation in BuddhismRecall questions on the types of Buddhist meditation and their place in the Eightfold Path, samatha, vipassana and the jhanas, mindfulness of breathing, chanting, giving and study, lay and monastic practice, and Thanissaro Bhikkhu and Goldstein.Open →
• Buddhism in China and Japan: Pure Land and ZenRecall questions on Pure Land belief and the nembutsu, self-power and other-power, Honen and Shinran, the key Chan and Zen figures and Dogen, indigenous influences and modernity, and Mochizuki and de Bary.Open →
• Triratna Buddhism in the WestRecall questions on Triratna's origins and central commitment, its handling of the lay and monastic divide and the unity of the sangha, the rules it sets aside, its success and reception, and Vajragupta and Coleman.Open →
• Women, Men and the SanghaRecall questions on Mahapajapati Gotami, the eight garudhammas, the disputed and revived bhikkhuni lineage, options for women without full ordination, family life and changing roles, feminist approaches, and Salgado and Bartholomeusz.Open →
• The Bodhisattva DoctrineRecall questions on the bodhisattva, Basham and Rahula on the ideal, the Lotus Sutra on the vehicles, skilful means and compassion, wisdom, the perfections and stages of the path, the ideal in Theravada, and merit transfer.Open →
• Ahimsa and Buddhist Attitudes to ViolenceRecall questions on the First Precept and ahimsa, intention, vegetarianism and right livelihood, military service and Buddhist justifications of violence, the Pali sources and the Lotus Sutra, and the 14th Dalai Lama and Bartholomeusz on war and non-violence.Open →
• Buddhism in Contemporary SocietyRecall questions on engaged Buddhism, tolerance and the truth claims of other religions, non-religious world views and internal diversity, interfaith dialogue, Buddhism's compatibility and tension with science, and the 14th Dalai Lama and Sri Dhammananda.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Buddhism further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Anicca vs Anatta

  Anicca: the impermanence of everything that arises from conditions. Anatta: the absence of any permanent unchanging self.

• Theravada vs Mahayana

  Theravada: the tradition holding to the Pali canon and the ideal of the arhat. Mahayana: the tradition accepting later sutras and the ideal of the bodhisattva.

• Samatha vs Vipassana

  Samatha: meditation cultivating calm and one-pointed concentration. Vipassana: meditation cultivating insight into the marks of existence.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What are the Three Poisons, and what does each one do to the mind?

   Model answer

   Greed (lobha), hatred (dosa) and delusion (moha). Buddhists treat them as the forces that keep beings turning in samsara: greed drags the mind towards what it wants, hatred shoves away what it dislikes, and delusion misreads reality so that both reactions feel justified.

2. 2

   Why do a cock, a snake and a pig sit at the hub of the Wheel of Life?

   Model answer

   They picture the three poisons: the cock is greed, the snake hatred, the pig delusion. They are often drawn biting one another, because Buddhists hold that each feeds the next, and they occupy the centre because the whole cycle of rebirth drawn around them is understood to turn on them.

3. 3

   Set out the first Noble Truth. What does dukkha actually cover?

   Model answer

   Dukkha: conditioned existence is unsatisfactory. It stretches from plain physical and mental pain, through the ache of change (even the good ends), to a deeper structural unease in anything put together out of conditions. 'Suffering' is a serviceable translation but too narrow for the third sense.

4. 4

   What does samudaya identify as the cause, and what are the three kinds of tanha?

   Model answer

   Samudaya names craving, tanha, as the origin of dukkha. Tradition distinguishes craving for sense pleasure (kama-tanha), craving to be or become something (bhava-tanha), and craving for non-existence, the urge to be rid of what one is (vibhava-tanha).

5. 5

   What does the third Noble Truth actually claim?

   Model answer

   Nirodha claims that dukkha genuinely stops when craving stops; it is not merely managed or endured. This is the truth that makes Buddhism a soteriology rather than a diagnosis, since it asserts that the condition described in the first truth has an end.

6. 6

   Explain what magga adds to the first three truths.

   Model answer

   Magga is the practical answer: the Noble Eightfold Path of right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. Without it the first three truths would state a problem and a hope with no method between them.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Buddhism revision questions

What does Buddhism cover in Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies?

15 subtopics: the four noble truths and the eightfold path, the three marks of existence and the five khandas, the three refuges: buddha, dhamma and sangha, the five precepts, the life of the buddha and his world, the tipitaka, theravada buddhism, mahayana buddhism, meditation in buddhism, buddhism in china and japan: pure land and zen, triratna buddhism in the west, women, men and the sangha, the bodhisattva doctrine, ahimsa and buddhist attitudes to violence and buddhism in contemporary society. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Buddhism organised?

By the Edexcel 9RS0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.