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The Moral Precepts
Lesson
Tell the children that they are going to learn about another special person today. Like Jesus, he was a teacher. But unlike Jesus, people don't think that he was God. His name is Buddha and he lived about 3000 years ago in India. (Display image of Buddha)
People who follow what he taught are called Buddhists.
Inform children that one of Buddha's big ideas was that we should not hurt any other living things.
Children to draw/write/talk about time when they were responsible for hurting another living creature.
Who/what did they hurt? How did they hurt it/them?
Buddha taught that if you do harm, then it will come back to you sometime in the future. What do the children think of this idea?
Buddha also taught that you could cancel out some of the bad things by doing good things.
Tell the children that today in class they are going to do the opposite of hurting. If necessary revise notion of opposites.
Instead of saying things to each other that hurt, the children are going to say things that tickle.
Word Tickler
Play the game below in the way best suited to your class.
- In a circle in pairs, one person says as many nice things as he can about the other. Then change over.
- In a circle in pairs ask one person to say three nice things about a partner.
- Large circle - each person says something nice about the next.
- Large circle - take it in turns to be in the centre on a special chair - all say nice things.
Instead of hurting each other physically, the children are going to be gentle. One of the occasions when people are gentle with each is when they greet.
Explore greetings
Children shake hands, knees, backs, elbows etc.
Tell children about different forms of greeting in other cultures and historical periods, for example, the French, the Inuit, at court.
Role play different situations
- Two friends who haven't seen each other in years.
- Meeting the queen.
- Two people who dislike each other.
Conclude lesson by sharing with the children the poem 'Hurt No Living Thing' by Christina Rossetti.
Notes
In consultation with a representative from the Tibetan Buddhist community in Manchester, I have condensed the Five Moral Precepts to the first and all-embracing one. By endeavouring to cause no harm to any living thing, the follower of Buddha should bring about the changes to his/her lifestyle demanded by the other four Precepts.
I myself have no concern with the doctrines of Christianity being 'reduced' to the single statement, "Love God and love thy neighbour as thyself," as Jesus himself used this particular 'sound bite'.
