Year 1 visited the Buddhapadipa Temple in Wimbledon and were greeted by one of the Buddhist Monks who live there. Buddhapadipa means “The light of the wisdom” and has been a functioning temple for 53 years. The monk who showed them around taught the children about how to show respect by bowing to the ground and taught them about why they have candles and flowers surrounding Buddha. The flowers pay homage to the sun and show that just like the flowers everyone is beautiful whereas the candles represent ‘compassion, purity and wisdom’. The children then learnt about the three main principles which were ‘don’t be bad, be good and clean the mind’ which all Buddhists live by. The Buddhist Monk explained that in order to follow ‘don’t be bad’ Buddhists follow the five moral codes, which are ‘don’t kill, don’t steal, respect, don’t lie and don’t drink alcohol’. The children gave examples on how to be good and they learnt that the way to clean the mind is to meditate which the children participated in at the end of the session. Everyone really enjoyed their time at the temple, especially looking for the hidden pictures in the paintings. Thank you to all the parents that helped!