Ancient India · c. 500 BC

Siddhartha Gautama: the Buddha and his world

A prince left his palace to find out why people suffer. After years of searching he became the Buddha, the awakened one, and spent the rest of his life teaching in the kingdoms of the Ganges. Students follow his life on the map and meet his ideas.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
10–13
On the map
3 steps, 500 BC to 490 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

A prince left his palace to find out why people suffer. After years of searching he became the Buddha, the awakened one, and spent the rest of his life teaching in the kingdoms of the Ganges. Students follow his life on the map and meet his ideas.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate the four key places of the Buddha's life on the map.
  • Explain the Buddha's basic teachings: the Four Noble Truths and the Middle Way.
  • Explain why historians disagree about the dates of the Buddha's life.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

500 BC

The world of the Buddha

Open the map in 500 BC. Find Kosala and Magadha, two great kingdoms of the Buddha's time. On which river plain do they lie?

Open this view on the map
b

528 BC

Under the Bodhi tree

Turn on Historical Events and click "Buddha's Enlightenment" at Bodh Gaya. Read it. Historians disagree about the exact year. Why are dates from this time so uncertain?

Open this view on the map
c

490 BC

The spread begins

Turn on Spreads and choose Buddhism. Set the year to 490 BC and watch the first two places light up. What happened at each one?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Siddhartha was born a prince but left his palace. What might make someone give up wealth and comfort?
  2. The Buddha taught a Middle Way between luxury and extreme hardship. What could that mean in everyday life?
  3. He accepted people from every social group as monks and nuns. Why was that unusual in his time?
  4. Buddhism and Jainism both taught non-violence. Why might these ideas appeal in an age of growing kingdoms and wars?
  5. The Buddha wrote nothing down; his followers memorized his teachings. How might that affect what we know about him?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Cyrus the Great in Rule History. He built the Persian Empire in the 500s BC, the century in which tradition places the Buddha's birth. After the round, discuss: what would the Buddha have said about your choices as a conqueror?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.