Your task is to produce an assessment that answers the question, “How do Buddhists account for the existence of suffering?”
You can present your work in a variety of ways if you don’t want to write an essay:
- A poster
- A PowerPoint
- A booklet
- A newspaper article
- An essay if you’d like to write one!
- If you have any other ideas please leave a comment and ask
To answer this well you need to:
- Define suffering: What does it mean? What is the difference between moral and natural evil?
- Give examples of the different types of suffering
- Describe Buddhist beliefs about the causes of suffering – refer to the Three Marks of Existence and The Four Noble Truths
- Explain how Buddhists believe suffering can be controlled. You’ll want to look at the Eightfold Path
- Analyse Buddhist beliefs in relation to Christian beliefs. How do Christians explain evil? (The Devil? Free will? Adam and Eve? Suffering is a test? Suffering is a punishment?) What are the differences?
- Conclude: Does Buddhism explain suffering well? Is there a better way to explain?
Resources:
- How Buddhists explain suffering task handout
- Beliefnet – Why bad things happen.
- ThatRSWebsite – How Christians explain suffering
- If you find any other links please leave a comment so others can use it…
Due Date: Thursday 7th April
Please get in touch with me if you need more time for any reason. Don’t turn up on the day without anything!