SCHOOL VISITS Religious Studies Year 11 visit the Milton Keynes Peace Pagoda The Year 11 trip to the Nipponzan Peace Pagoda in Milton Keynes and the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hemel Hempstead was an excellent way to indulge in our study of Buddhism, a key part of the GCSE course. We arrived at the Peace Pagoda first, greeted with a fine piece of architecture which looked to be straight from Japan. The reason behind this turned out to be because it was originally built under the supervision of monk Nichidatsu Fujii, who aimed to spread world peace and unity. We soon explored the surrounding area including the
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Peace Pagoda, which had the story of the Buddha sculpted onto it. The relevance of each image around the Pagoda was well explained by Mr Warner and Mrs Crussell, as it helped broaden my understanding of the Buddha’s life. After taking time for a lunch break, we headed to the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery. We were met with a warm welcome, as the monk who showed us around was very endearing. Shortly after greeting him, we were taken to the meditation room. Immediately the overwhelming sense of serenity and peace hit us, as the silence of the meditation gave the room a feel of tranquillity. The monk happily obliged with all the questions we asked him, including detailed questions of what it’s like to be a Buddhist monk. He showed us around the Monastery before ending
The Aylesburian 2019/2020
the tour with a small meditation workshop which helped clear our minds and let the day’s events settle in. All in all, the trip to the two sites was an excellent experience provided by the school and really helped build on my knowledge of the Buddhist religion. Lakshya Verma – Hampden 11
