Buddhism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures

What Buddhism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures covers

Buddhism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures is examined in A2 Unit 3, A Study of Religion — the Buddhism option, studied instead of the other five. It covers the Pali Canon and the Tipitaka, the Heart Sutra and the Parable of the Burning House, the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh and Debating the Canon, the Mahayana sutras and contemporary teachers.

The 4 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The Pali Canon and the TipitakaWord Tipitaka, three divisions of the Pali Canon and five collections that make up the Sutta Pitaka.Open →
• The Heart Sutra and the Parable of the Burning HouseSutra's central claim about form and emptiness, shunyata as the Heart Sutra uses it and upaya and explain how the parable illustrates it.Open →
• The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat HanhOffice of Dalai Lama and thich Nhat Hanh's idea of interbeing.Open →
• Debating the Canon, the Mahayana sutras and contemporary teachersRecall questions on the standing of the Pali Canon, the Vinaya and the sangha, skilful means and its dangers, the two modern teachers, and the charge of innovation.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Buddhism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures further

The same content, four other ways.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What does the word Tipitaka mean, and why is the image apt?

   Model answer

   It means three baskets, recalling the palm-leaf manuscripts that were stored in baskets once the collection was written down.

2. 2

   Name the three divisions of the Pali Canon.

   Model answer

   They are the Vinaya Pitaka, the Sutta Pitaka and the Abhidhamma Pitaka.

3. 3

   How was the Canon preserved before it was written down?

   Model answer

   It was memorised and chanted by groups of monastics who specialised in particular collections, and recited communally so that errors could be corrected.

4. 4

   When and where was the Pali Canon committed to writing?

   Model answer

   It was written down in Sri Lanka in the first century BCE, when war and famine threatened the survival of the reciting lineages.

5. 5

   What is said to have happened at the council held shortly after the Buddha's death?

   Model answer

   The community gathered to recite the teaching, with Upali reciting the monastic rules and Ananda reciting the discourses so that the whole could be agreed.

6. 6

   What does the Vinaya Pitaka contain besides the training rules themselves?

   Model answer

   It contains the incident that prompted each rule, its later amendments, and the procedures by which the community ordains, resolves disputes and holds its observances.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Buddhism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures revision questions

What does Buddhism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures cover in WJEC A-Level Religious Studies?

4 subtopics: the pali canon and the tipitaka, the heart sutra and the parable of the burning house, the dalai lama and thich nhat hanh and debating the canon, the mahayana sutras and contemporary teachers. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Buddhism: Texts, Authority and Key Figures organised?

By the WJEC 603-0277-X specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.