Unit 8 (The Sermon at Benares)
Sanchi, grief and the Jatakas
Describe the Sanchi stupa and write about helping people in grief.
Listening: Sanchi. The Great Stupa at Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh was ordered by Emperor Ashoka in the Mauryan period. Its central chamber holds the Buddha's relics. The four carved gateways (toranas) and the railing were added in the first century BCE. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Buddha in symbols. The carvings do not show the Buddha as a person. They use symbols: an empty throne, a wheel, footprints, a tree. They also tell Jataka tales, stories of the Buddha's earlier lives.
Speaking: grief. People grieve for many reasons: a death, but also losing a friend, a role like head girl, or a place in the school team. Everyone grieves in their own way. Talk about the reasons and how people get through: accept that life has ups and downs, share with family, keep busy, stay hopeful. Write about your own loss only if you want to.
Writing: helping someone who grieves.
- Notice: grief shows in changed behaviour.
- Reach out, but understand if someone does not want to talk.
- Listen if they want to share; stand by them.
- Be patient, and let them know you care.
- Do small things: sit with them, hold their hand.
Two poems. Gibran: joy and sorrow come together; the cup that holds your wine was burnt in the potter's oven, so the deeper sorrow carves into you, the more joy you can hold. Tagore: death is not putting out the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.
Project: collect six Jataka tales, retell them in your own words or as a comic strip, and make a class collage.
Practise this lesson
Questions that get harder as you improve, a Tutor that helps without giving the answer away, and progress you can see. Free for every learner.
No account, no email address. Opens the real product.