Teaching The Buddha
The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, a non-profit organization based in Northampton, MA, is currently developing customized curriculum guides for teaching mindfulness and compassion in the classroom, inspired by The Buddha, to be featured on this website beginning in this spring.
The Buddha is prepared to teach
Cleveland Museum of Art
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The Center provides resources and training for an education that includes reflective insight as well as critical thinking. Contemplative practices offer methods for developing this insight, as exemplified in the life of the Buddha, through skills such as listening, mindfulness, and self-awareness of thoughts and emotions, empathy, and compassion. While contemplative practices are rooted in the religious and spiritual traditions, they have an important place in intellectual and ethical inquiry, including secular educational environments.
Our experience, complemented by recent research in neuroscience and social sciences, demonstrates that the cultivation of mindfulness and the capacities of emotional intelligence complement intellectual and analytic undertakings. Contemplative practices can also help shape the direction of social action, contributing to an integration of the ethical and the political, the spiritual and the practical; at the heart of this work is the understanding that the pedagogical and intellectual benefits discovered through contemplative practice will help to create a more just, compassionate, and reflective society.
The Center’s main programs bring the contemplative experience to undergraduate colleges and universities through the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education, retreats, the Contemplative Practice Fellowship Program, and annual Summer Sessions. Program participants represent the full range of disciplinary and inter-disciplinary perspectives in the arts, humanities, sciences, humanities-related sciences, and social sciences. To learn more, please visit contemplativemind.org.
For resources on mindfulness in K-12, the Center worked with the Association for Mindfulness in Education (mindfuleducation.org).
Mindfulness: A Guide for Teachers by Dr. Amy Saltzman
This brief document provides a working definition of mindfulness, an overview of the scientific rationale for offering mindfulness to children and adolescents, a review of the professional and personal benefits of practicing mindfulness, specific suggestions for developing your own mindfulness practice (which is a prerequisite to sharing mindfulness with your students), and two examples of practices you can use in your classroom.
The Buddha: Teaching Mindfulness
During this webinar, originally presented by PBS Teachers and Classroom 2.0 on March 25, 2010, filmmaker David Grubin showed clips from The Buddha and talked about making the film and what he hopes audiences, particularly teachers and students, will take away from it. Mirabai Bush, Associate Director and Senior Fellow at The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, spoke about using the film as an educational resource and provided an overview of research on the effects of mindfulness on learning. Educator Peter Brown shared resources and strategies for teaching about the Buddha and Buddhism in a Comparative Religion course, and Dr. Amy Saltzman discussed methods for teaching secular mindfulness. Participants also learned about educational resources available on the companion website for the film.
Access Recordings: Full version | Audio recording | Chat log
Further Reading on Education and Contemplation from the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
Toward the Integration of Meditation into Higher Education: A Review of Research (.pdf)
Prepared by Shauna L. Shapiro, Kirk Warren Brown, and John A. Astin. Edited by Maia Duerr
This paper reviews empirical evidence related to the use of meditation to facilitate the achievement of traditional educational goals, to help support student mental health under academic stress, and to enhance education of the “whole person.”
The Fruit of Silence (.pdf)
by Marilyn Nelson, Professor Emerita of English, University of Connecticut
Prof. Nelson describes her strategies, classroom exercises and experiences teaching meditation and poetry to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Meditation and Education: Buddhist India, Tibet and Modern America
by Robert A.F. Thurman, Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, Columbia University
Prof. Thurman describes contemplative practices and meditation, and argues for the benefits of the inclusion of contemplation in Higher Education using examples from the Buddhist educational curricula of India and Tibet.
Meditation, Social Change, and Undergraduate Education
by Steven C. Rockefeller, Professor Emeritus of Religion, Middlebury College
Prof. Rockefeller explores ways in which the American undergraduate college can provide students with opportunities for understanding, appreciating, and practicing the meditative and contemplative disciplines.
The Contemplative Life and the Teaching of the Humanities
by Brain Stock, Professor of History and Comparative Literature, University of Toronto
Prof. Stock discusses how teachers of the humanities, even in religion departments, deal almost exclusively with “theoretical interests” and the analysis of texts, but no major branch of contemporary thinking in the humanities is actually meditative.
Additional Resources:
Lesson Plans and Curriculum Guides for Teaching About the Buddha and Buddhism
BBC Schools
Lesson plans for Life of the Buddha, Buddha’s relevance today, and more.
BuddhaNet: Buddha Dharma Education Association
Buddha Studies for primary and secondary school and lesson plans for the life of the Buddha for all levels.
Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)'s The Art of Buddhism: A Teacher's Guide
This guide focuses on the cultures of three countries: India,
China, and Japan. The guide identifies grade level appropriateness for
some lessons and activities. Resources listed include: "Buddhist
Festivals" (with suggested activities for elementary and middle school
levels); "Books and Magazines on Buddhism"; "Films and Videos about
Buddhism"; "Web sites on Buddhism"; "Local and National Buddhist
Temples and Education Centers"; "Embassies and Consulates"; and
"National Educational Resources."
Mindfulness for Children (.pdf)
by Susan Kaiser Greenland. From Insight Journal, Winter 2010, vol. 33.
Teaching Tolerance
Ideas for teaching the Buddha as part of religious diversity
Secular Mindfulness and Contemplative Practices in Education
Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education
ACMHE.org
The first professional association to focus on contemplative practices in higher
education. Offers a social network, annual conference, webinars, and more.
Association for Mindfulness in Education
mindfuleducation.org
A
collaborative association of organizations and individuals working
together to provide support for mindfulness training as a component of
K-12 education. Committed to furthering training and research in this
field.
Between Four Eyes
btwn4eyes.org
Focuses
on approach in which mindful awareness-based education converges with
the fields of peacebuilding and social transformation. Training
workshops for educators and organizations.
The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
contemplativemind.org
Academic
Program offers fellowships, retreats, summer sessions in curriculum
development, meetings and conferences, syllabi, links and resources.
Garrison Institute Initiative on Contemplation and Education
garrisoninstitute.org
Focused on two projects:
- Contemplation and Education Field Leadership promotes development, testing and use of contemplative-based methods for teachers and students via research partnerships with scientists, educators and other experts.
- CARE Teacher Training Development Project develops and tests a professional development program for teachers, combining training in contemplation and emotion awareness with instruction on how to apply these skills in the classroom.
Hawn Foundation
thehawnfoundation.org
Promotes success in school and in life through social and emotional learning, nurturing happiness, joy and empathy in children.
IMPACT Foundation
theimpactfoundation.org
Stress
Management and Relaxation Techniques in Education (SMART) teaches
techniques that support concentration, insight, empathy, and emotional
awareness.
Inner Resilience Program
innerresilience-tidescenter.org
Offers parents and educators:
- An understanding of how stress affects health and performance
- Relaxation techniques and self-care tools to effectively manage stress.
- Opportunities to reflect on the meaning of their work in the company of like-minded colleagues.
- Techniques to create caring classroom communities that nurture the whole child
Mindful Awareness Research Center, UCLA
marc.ucla.edu
Fosters mindful awareness through education and research to promote well-being and a more compassionate society.
Mindfulness Project
psych-insights.com/tmp.html
Using mindfulness to reduce stress and improve success in school, at work, and in life.
Minding Your Life
mindingyourlife.net
Consulting firm that has helped educators and schools develop personal and corporate mindfulness practice since 2000.
The Still Quiet Place
http://www.stillquietplace.com/
Dr. Amy Saltzman is a
holistic physician, mindfulness teacher, scientist, wife, mother, and
devoted student of transformation. Her passion is supporting people of
all ages in enhancing their well being, and discovering the Still Quiet
Place within. She is recognized by her peers as a visionary and pioneer
in the fields of holistic medicine and mindfulness in K-12 education.
Articles, Books and Reports
Barry Boyce. Please Help Me Learn Who I Am. Shambhala Sun, January 2007.
Barry Boyce. The Mindful Society: The Contemplative Curriculum. Shambhala Sun, July 2009.
Richard Brady. Learning to Stop; Stopping to Learn: Embarking on the Contemplative Learning Path. (.pdf)
Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. Contemplative Practices and Education: Making Peace in Ourselves and in the World. Report on conference at Columbia Teachers College, 2005.
David Forbes. Boyz 2 Buddhas: Counseling Urban High School Male Athletes in the Zone. Peter Lang Publishing.
Garrison Institute.Contemplation and Education: Current Status of Programs Using Contemplative Techniques in K-12 Educational Settings: A Mapping Report. (.pdf)
Tobin Hart. Opening the Contemplative Mind in the Classroom. Journal of Transformative Education, 2004; 2: 28-46.
Linda Lantieri and Daniel Goleman. Building Emotional Intelligence: Techniques to Culivate Inner Strength in Children. Sounds True.
Includes instructions in print and on a CD for mindfulness, mindful eating, body scan.
Irene McHenry and Richard Brady, eds. Tuning In: Mindfulness in Teaching and Learning. Friends Council on Education.
Essays
for teachers by teachers on teaching mindfulness to children, teaching
yoga, using mindful reading and writing, developing integrity and
balance, etc.
Deborah Schoeberlein. Mindful Teaching and Teaching Mindfulness: A Guide for Anyone Who Teaches Anything.Wisdom Publications.
Sybil Myoshin Taylor interviews Elizabeth Clemants. Buddha Kids. Village Zendo Journal, October 2008.
