Burma and Buddhism:

time for freedom?

A Buddhist meditationThis text is used by Buddhists to help them see how to live compassionately.“May I be a protector of the helplessA guide to those travelling the pathA boat to those wishing to cross overOr a bridge. Or a raft.May I be a lamp for those in darknessA home for the homelessA servant to the world.”

Aung San Suu Kyi

• Her father was a ruler in Burma in the 1940s

• She married Michael and they had two sons, Alexander and Kim, in Oxford in, the 1970s

• In 1987 she returned to Rangoon to care for her mother, who suffered a stroke

• The NLD asked her to stand against the military junta in an election in 1989, the first since 1962. She took over 80% of the vote.

• The junta imprisoned her at once. She saw Michael and the boys 3 times from 1989 to 1995.

• She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991

One of Aung San’s advisers reminds her of something she said to her people in 1989: “Change will come. The Generals will not win. All they have is the guns. They will lose.” She asks: if you leave now, and do not return, do you think the generals will be stronger or weaker because you’re not here?

U2’s advice: from the song ‘Walk On.’

“Love is not the easy thing

If the darkness is to keep us apart,

If the daylight feels it’s a long way off,

If your glass heart should crack,

Be strong, walk on.

What you’ve got, they can’t steal it.

Walk on. Stay safe.”

“May I be a protector of the helpless

A guide to those travelling the path

A boat to those wishing to cross over

Or a bridge. Or a raft.

May I be a lamp for those in darkness

A home for the homeless

A servant to the world.”

The Best Advice

Very good advice Very good advice

good advice good advice good advice

Not such good adviceNot such good advice

The worst advice

The ‘diamond nine’ – a way of organising ideas, setting priorities, relating ideas to each other in a pattern of judgements or evaluations – higher order skill, endlessly flexible, very useful in RE when handling the complex.

A Buddhist meditationThis text is used by Buddhists to help them see how to live compassionately.“May I be a protector of the helplessA guide to those travelling the pathA boat to those wishing to cross overOr a bridge. Or a raft.May I be a lamp for those in darknessA home for the homelessA servant to the world.”

Aung San Suu Kyi’s Dilemma:

Should she stay, or should she go?

A dreadful choice.

Kelly and Jack (both 12) write their messages to Aung San, in response to her dilemma

These simple texts show empathic and reflective engagements with the dilemma and story, and a good understanding of different aspects of what made the decision hard.

Too Roughby Sam, 12.This poem was Sam’s message to Aung San Suu Kyi, written after studying the dilemma she faced.

What’s the evidence of achievement?

Can Chloe make use of concepts and narrative from her learning about Buddhism to handle and interpret the text and express insights of her own into questions of purpose and value?

She shows developed insight into the interpretation of the Eightfold Path (“Right Livelihood” is the item she describes, linked here to unselfishness)

She links the teachings of the Noble Eightfold Path to her compassion and, insightfully, finds a challenge in the example of Aung San Suu Kyi for herself ~ an example of insightful learning from religion.

Level 6 is clearly seen in this work.

Still struggling for freedom and fairness