Life of the Buddha
Life-of-the-Buddha
Materials: 7
Image: Terton Sogyal Trust
  • Description

For Buddhists, the story of the life of Buddha Shakyamuni is an example of how to reach freedom by acknowledging the suffering in our world and seeking to cut its causes at the root. This section covers the following: the birth of the Buddha and his life of luxury, the Four Sights, the Buddha’s ascetic life, and the Buddha’s Enlightenment.

The content presented here follows the AQA GCSE Religious Studies A specification. If you are seeking further detail please see our resources in the 16-19 section of the website or Discovering Buddhism by Dominique Side for further reading.

  • Materials

Buddhist Stories

Buddhism Teaching Illustration of an elephant representing many Buddhist stories from ancient India.
DOCUMENT   (.pdf)
Angulimala
Download43 KB
DOCUMENT   (.pdf)
Devadatta
Download41 KB

Detailed Subject Knowledge

Buddhism Teaching Illustration of teenager with Buddhist books and a stupa, a symbol for Buddhist knowledge and wisdom.
DOCUMENT   (.pdf)
How Buddhists see the Buddha
Download58 KB
DOCUMENT   (.pdf)
Life of the Buddha in brief
Download126 KB

Lesson Activities and Reflections

Buddhism Teaching Illustration of teacher in lesson about Buddhism.
DOCUMENT   (.pptx)
Buddha's life sheets to print
Download4 MB
DOCUMENT   (.pptx)
Buddha's life slides
Download2 MB

Lived Experience

Buddhism Teaching Illustration of two young teenagers in Buddhist meditation practice.
VIDEO   (Youtube)
What the Buddha means to me
Play Video