We all obviously suddenly get a stereotype in our head whenever any religion is mentioned. Take christianity for example; I suddenly imagine everybody walking round with a stick and a pointy white hat on. Although, I’m looking at Buddhism in this article and before I did my research I imagined Buddhism as a chilled out religion, where they meditate all the time and worship a fat man. I thought nothing of this though, however, now I’ve researched the religion, I look at myself and think, don’t stereotype, learn! So, that’s my overall point to writing this article. I want to educate others to not stereotype but rather have a thirst for knowledge. I hope this article gives you a little insight into the world of a Buddhist and you never know by the end of it you might convert!

Taken from: www.peacetreeday.com

Firstly, I thought I’d look up the definition of Buddhism and I got the following description:

The teaching of Buddha that life is permeated with suffering caused by desire, that suffering ceases when desire ceases, and that enlightenment obtained through right conduct, wisdom, and meditation releases one from desire, suffering, and rebirth.

Then I decided to look up the ‘cultural’ definition which is as follows:

A religion, founded by the Buddha, that emphasises physical and spiritual discipline as a means of liberation from the physical world. The goal for the Buddhist is to attain nirvana, a state of complete peace in which one is free from the distractions of desire and self-consciousness. Buddhists are found in the greatest numbers in eastern Asia.

Nirvana is the highest state of consciousness, in which the soul is freed from all desires and attachments. Buddhist believe that there is a cycle of birth, life and death and rebirth. This goes on and on. They believe that unless someone gains Enlightenment when they die, then they will be reborn. If a person can gain Enlightenment, they can break out of this cycle. Breaking out of the cycle is called Nirvana (sometimes called Nibbana). It is the end of everything that is not perfect. It is perfect peace, free of suffering.

Buddhism is a pretty spiritually based religion. It is definitely different to any other religion which we know about, as Buddhists do not believe in a personal creator (God), but rather Buddhists believe that Buddha saw the truth about what the world is like. They believe that nothing in the world is perfect but Buddha found the answer to why it is like that. They do not believe that Buddha was a god, but that he was a human being just like them. They believe that he was important because he gained Enlightenment, and he chose to teach other people how to reach it too.


I won’t go into loads of details on every single area of Buddhism, but I’ll talk about one thing which I, personally, find the most interesting: which is Karma. I am a very spiritual person and I also believe in Karma. Karma is the law that every cause has an effect. This simple law explains a number of things: inequality in the world, why some are born handicapped and some gifted and why some people only have short lives. Buddhists believe that our past actions have an effect on who or what we are in our next life.


I find these beliefs ever so fascinating. Even if I don’t believe exactly with something, I am still intrigued and ask more questions why. I have learnt so much about Buddhism over the course of my research, even ten minutes in I knew more about Buddhism than I did over my entire life.


I learnt about different types of Buddhism and about the four noble truths. I also learnt about their belief system and all about Siddhartha Gautama himself, aka Buddha. There’s only so much I can say in an article before I lose the attention of my readers, but honestly, if I’ve captured your attention and you want to read on. Check out this great website I found which puts Buddhism in ‘Layman’s Terms’, as such. Or for more definitions like the one’s I found above go to thisonline dictionary


Hope you enjoyed and are now enlightened (see what I did there!)

By, Hannah

I am Alex, I am currently studying at Shipley College on a BTEC Nation Diploma in Media. I am now coming to the end of my 2 year course and have had to think about where I will go next: into education or try and get a job? As I have a love of radio and would like make a career as being a presenter. I have been looking into University Courses and this is my journey of doing that.

It consisted of going to the UCAS website (UCAS) and going to the course search page; then I looked at all the radio courses that were on offer. I read what the course involved, if there were any exams on the course, if there was any links that the University/Course with radio stations in the area. Also, if there was a student radio or how much practical to theory based work there was. Finally and most crucially, the amount of UCAS points, so that I knew whether I would stand a chance of getting on the course.

I did a really thorough search and looked at most of the courses that came up from the search. Some I initally liked but then I ended up with more than five courses, and as you can only apply for five course I had to narrow down my search further.

I will admit that when searching for the course, and even now, I am still not one hundred percent sure that I do want to go to University. It’s quite a big decision and you have to consider the following: where to spend the next two to four years of your life. Then there your financial situation which is obviously the biggest, although, there are loans that you can get. So you may ask with all this on my mind, why have I bothered to apply? Well, because then I have the option of going if I get offered places. It does not cost much to apply, about £19 I think and, particularly if you get offers it can give your life more direction if you’re not feeling motivated in what you do now. It also gives you something solid to aim for if you achieve getting a place in the University you want, well I can only imagine what that must feel like.

So now a few months on after sending off my application, I have had conditional offers on some of the courses I applied for and I also got invited for an interview for one.

I knew about the interview a month in advance and planning for it was the key. I made sure I had a reference and a portfolio of work with me, which in my case was me on BCB. I took that because it was an example of my work and it backed up what I had planned to say during the interview.

Was I nervous about the interview beforehand? Yes a bit, it’s natural, however, because I had planned what I was going to say and had a reference from BCB and evidence of me on the radio, I felt confident that I would be just the right person they were looking for. I am yet to find out, but will keep you posted.

But remember if you have an interview of any kind coming up, remember get there on time, plan what your going to say beforehand and try to keep a cool calm head about you because if you don’t get the job or place on the course, it won’t be the end of the word.

By Alex

On my first day at Beckfoot, I was insanely nervous! I didn’t know anyone and I just sort of sat quietly and kept my head down, hoping not to get battered on my first day. Despite this terrible start, within a few weeks I had quite a large groups of friends and was enjoying life at secondary school. If my stupid experience should show you anything, it’s that no matter how badly something starts, if you persevere, most things will turn out all right… However, not necessarily everything turns out this way.

By David

My only piece of advise to you would be to make a revision time table and STICK TO IT, which is, indecently something I didn’t do. I really wish I had as it would have made my revision much more worthwhile, rather than half hearted and rushed. I did make a time table which helped organise my work load and make it seem much more manageable but I didn’t stick to it, there was always something else I could be doing or something I ‘had to’ watch on TV. This meant I ended up revising deep into the night, making me tired for my exams.

Basically to be good at revising and preparing for the all important exams which I’m sure all of you will be sitting in the near future. You need to be organised and committed! If you tell yourself you’ll do something, DO IT!

By Imogen