Buddhism | AQA GCSE Religious Studies A (8062)

Buddhism

137 questions
10 subtopics
Paper 1
Paper 1

Buddhism is examined in Paper 1, The study of religions — one of the two religions chosen from seven.

It covers the life of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Three Marks of Existence, the human personality and human destiny, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and the Threefold Way, places of worship, puja and devotional practice, meditation: samatha, vipassana and visualisation, death, mourning and Buddhist festivals, kamma, rebirth, compassion and loving kindness and the five precepts and the six perfections.

Sample questions from Buddhism

Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.

The life of the Buddha

Name the Four Sights that Siddhattha saw outside the palace.

Show the answer
Siddhattha saw an old man, a sick man and a corpse. The fourth sight was a holy man who had given up all possessions.
The Dhamma and the Three Marks of Existence

How does dependent arising explain the cycle of rebirth?

Show the answer
Ignorance leads to craving, craving leads to grasping, and grasping leads to another birth. A break in one link of the chain ends the whole cycle.
The human personality and human destiny

How do the Five Aggregates support the teaching of anatta?

Show the answer
A person is only the five aggregates working together, with no extra self behind them. Each aggregate changes constantly, so no permanent person can be found.
The Four Noble Truths

Name the Three Poisons.

Show the answer
The Three Poisons are ignorance, greed and hate. Buddhists treat these three as the roots of all unskilful action.
The Eightfold Path and the Threefold Way

Which parts of the Eightfold Path belong to sila?

Show the answer
Sila, meaning ethics, covers right speech, right action and right livelihood. All three concern how a Buddhist behaves towards others.
Places of worship, puja and devotional practice

Why do Buddhists say a Buddha rupa is not an idol?

Show the answer
The rupa is a reminder and a focus for concentration, not a god. Buddhists show respect to what the image represents rather than to the object.
Meditation: samatha, vipassana and visualisation

Define vipassana meditation.

Show the answer
Vipassana means insight. Vipassana meditation examines experience closely in order to see impermanence, suffering and the absence of a fixed self.
Death, mourning and Buddhist festivals

Describe Buddhist mourning customs in Japan.

Show the answer
Japanese Buddhist funerals include incense offerings and the giving of a new name to the dead person. Memorial services are held at intervals over forty-nine days.

The 10 subtopics

One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.

Subtopic	What it covers	Questions
The life of the Buddha	Students follow Siddhattha Gotama from his birth and sheltered palace life, through the Four Sights, the Great Renunciation and six years of asceticism, to the Middle Way, his Enlightenment and why his life matters to Buddhists.	14
The Dhamma and the Three Marks of Existence	These questions explain what Dhamma means and why it is one of the Three Refuges, dependent arising and its link to rebirth, and the Three Marks of Existence, including how Theravada and Mahayana Buddhists read anatta.	14
The human personality and human destiny	Students learn the Five Aggregates and how they support anatta, the Mahayana ideas of sunyata and Buddha-nature, the arhat and bodhisattva ideals, Buddhahood, and the Pure Land of Sukhavati and how it is reached.	14
The Four Noble Truths	The subtopic covers each of the Four Noble Truths in turn, including the three types of dukkha, tanha and the Three Poisons, differing views of nibbana and parinibbana, the doctor analogy and the teaching of the Dhammapada.	14
The Eightfold Path and the Threefold Way	These questions set out the eight factors of the Eightfold Path and how they divide into sila, samadhi and panna, explain right speech, livelihood and mindfulness, and link the path to the Middle Way.	13
Places of worship, puja and devotional practice	Students learn about temples, viharas and gompas, the Buddha rupa and its hand positions, shrine objects and their symbolism, puja at home and in the temple, and the use of chanting, mantras and malas.	14
Meditation: samatha, vipassana and visualisation	The subtopic explains the purpose of meditation, samatha and mindfulness of breathing, vipassana and zazen with the Soto and Rinzai approaches and koans, visualisation of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and metta bhavana.	13
Death, mourning and Buddhist festivals	These questions cover Theravada funerals and the transfer of merit, Japanese mourning customs and the butsudan, the Tibetan bardo and sky burial, the festivals of Wesak and Parinirvana Day, and retreats in Britain.	14
Kamma, rebirth, compassion and loving kindness	Students learn what kamma is and why intention matters, skilful and unskilful actions, rebirth without a soul, karuna and metta and how they differ, the four brahmaviharas, and how kamma shapes the way Buddhists treat others.	13
The five precepts and the six perfections	The subtopic works through each of the five precepts and the extra precepts kept on special days, then the six perfections, including generosity, patience, energy and wisdom, and how an individual develops them.	14

Buddhism is 137 of the 1,734 questions in the guide.Get the guide, £7

How the guide is worked

Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.

Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.

Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.