Buddhism: Religious Life and Moral Principles

What Buddhism: Religious Life and Moral Principles covers

Buddhism: Religious Life and Moral Principles is examined in AS Unit 1, An Introduction to the Study of Religion — the Buddhism option, studied instead of the other five. It covers the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and the Middle Way, the dasa sila and the lay and monastic sanghas and Debating the truths, the path and the precepts.

The 4 subtopics

Each one has its own page. WJEC AS Religious Studies students sit this topic in the first year.

• The Four Noble TruthsFour Noble Truths in order, dukkha-dukkha and give an example and medical metaphor applied to the Four Noble Truths.Open →
• The Eightfold Path and the Middle WayEight factors of the path, threefold Trainings and say which path factors belong to each and relationship between the Eightfold Path and the Middle Way.Open →
• The dasa sila and the lay and monastic sanghasDasa sila, first five precepts and wording of the precept formula and what it shows.Open →
• Debating the truths, the path and the preceptsRecall questions on the Four Noble Truths as accurate and essential, the Eightfold Path as a moral guide, intention, morality and Awakening, the dasa sila, and monastic relevance today.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Buddhism: Religious Life and Moral Principles further

The same content, four other ways.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   State the Four Noble Truths in order.

   Model answer

   They are that there is dukkha, that dukkha has an arising, that dukkha can cease, and that there is a path leading to that cessation.

2. 2

   Define dukkha-dukkha and give an example.

   Model answer

   Dukkha-dukkha is straightforward painful experience, such as illness, injury or grief.

3. 3

   Define viparinama-dukkha.

   Model answer

   Viparinama-dukkha is the unsatisfactoriness produced by change, when something enjoyable alters or is lost.

4. 4

   Define sankhara-dukkha.

   Model answer

   Sankhara-dukkha is the subtle unease of conditioned existence itself, since everything a person is depends on unstable conditions.

5. 5

   Why is viparinama-dukkha said to spoil pleasure rather than exclude it?

   Model answer

   The pleasure is real, but knowing it will pass and trying to hold it introduces an anxiety that the enjoyment cannot remove.

6. 6

   Explain the medical metaphor applied to the Four Noble Truths.

   Model answer

   The Buddha acts as a physician who identifies the symptom, diagnoses its cause, states that a cure exists, and prescribes the treatment.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Buddhism: Religious Life and Moral Principles revision questions

Is Buddhism: Religious Life and Moral Principles examined at AS in WJEC Religious Studies?

Yes. It sits in AS Unit 1, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.

What does Buddhism: Religious Life and Moral Principles cover in WJEC AS-Level Religious Studies?

4 subtopics: the four noble truths, the eightfold path and the middle way, the dasa sila and the lay and monastic sanghas and debating the truths, the path and the precepts. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Buddhism: Religious Life and Moral Principles organised?

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