The six perfections in the Mahayana tradition: patience and energy
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain the six perfections: patience and energy and how these teachings can be developed.
Key learning points
- Alternative Buddhist translations of patience include 'tolerance' and 'endurance'.
- Patience includes how you treat others and accept the challenges in your own life.
- Energy refers to the commitment and effort that is put into following the Buddha's teachings.
- The energy referred to is focused on achieving Buddhahood in line with beliefs about the Buddha-nature.
Keywords
Bodhisattva - an enlightened being, who postpones their final escape from samsara in order to help living beings
Buddhahood - reaching enlightenment
Energy - refers to making a courageous effort to attain enlightenment
Patience - being able to tolerate delay or problems without becoming agitated or anxious
The six perfections/ paramitas - ethical principles in Mahayana Buddhism to lead a being to enlightenment
Common misconception
Patience is often misunderstood as merely passively tolerating suffering or discomfort.
Patience is an active quality of acceptance, equanimity, and understanding. It involves the ability to face difficulties without anger, frustration, or attachment, whilst maintaining a sense of compassion and wisdom.
Teacher tip
Teach the perfections/paramitas: generosity, morality, energy, meditation and wisdom, to consolidate the learning in this lesson.
Licence
Lesson video
Loading...
Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of these is one of the six perfections?
Q2.What are the six perfections in Mahayana Buddhism for?
Q3.Which of these shows someone practising true generosity?
Q4.What does morality (sila) encourage in a Buddhist’s life?
Q5.Why might a Bodhisattva choose not to enter full enlightenment yet?
Q6.One of the six perfections is , which means giving without expecting anything back.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.The perfection of can be developed by showing tolerance and endurance.
Q2.Which of these is a way to develop the perfection of energy?
Q3.What is one way a Buddhist might show patience in daily life?
Q4.What does energy (virya) mean in Mahayana Buddhism?
Q5.Why are patience and energy important for Bodhisattvas?
Q6.The six perfections support Buddhists to attain and reach enlightenment.
To help you plan your 10 religious education lesson on: The six perfections in the Mahayana tradition: patience and energy, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 religious education lesson on: The six perfections in the Mahayana tradition: patience and energy, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 religious education lessons from the Buddhism: Practices unit, dive into the full secondary religious education curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.