This worksheet combines a clear concise introduction to the three characteristics – impermanence, suffering and not-self – and four scriptural sources that help to explain them.  There are suggested discussion questions and further readings relating to each of the four sources. The Three Characteristics of Existence This worksheet was created by Naomi Appleton and Chris […]

The Buddha’s lifestory doesn’t begin with his birth in Lumbini in the fifth century BCE – it goes much further back, through countless lifetimes in which he was readying himself for the attainment of buddhahood. In this worksheet, you can find out about the encounter that is said in some sources to be the beginning […]

An introduction to the five precepts, a traditional Buddhist story about their importance, some suggested discussion questions and further readings, all in a single downloadable pdf document: The Five Precepts This worksheet was created by Naomi Appleton as part of the Who is the Buddha? series.  

This is a fun little story from the Pali Jataka book (so early Indian and Theravada in affiliation) that explores a Buddhist karmic response to Vedic sacrifice through the character of a goat: “Feast for the Dead” Jātaka (Matakabhatta-jātaka, Jātakatthavaṇṇanā 18) “If beings only knew…” The Teacher [the Buddha] spoke about the feast for the […]

Here is a short story about illness and anxiety from an Indian Buddhist text called the Avadanasataka. The text is a Sanskrit collection from around the middle of the first millennium CE, and more information and a full translation of the story can be found in my book Many Buddhas, One Buddha (Sheffield: Equinox, 2020). What I […]

Here are some resources created by Naomi Appleton and colleagues some years ago, which use stories as a way to open up discussion of key beliefs, values and traditions. They were originally posted here: http://www.storyandreligion.div.ed.ac.uk/schools/resources/ The resources are aimed at upper primary and early secondary school level, and are mapped onto aspects of the Scottish […]