The Vinaya and Codes of Conduct
Creating family and classroom agreements that help everyone feel safe
Teacher Experience
A contemplative invitation for educators to reflect on before teaching.How do you create agreements within your family, among friends, and in community groups? Which groups have you been part of where the rules felt more rigid or more flexible and naturally evolving? What types of authority figures have you encountered—those who seemed more self-righteous versus those motivated more by ensuring mutual benefit? What might it look like when students co-create and embody principles of non-harm and mutual benefit?
Student Experience
A contemplative invitation for students to connect with this learning goal.Think about the rules in your family or classroom that help everyone feel safe and happy. Notice how it feels when everyone follows these agreements.
Understanding
Students will understand...All communities need agreements to help everyone feel safe and cared for. When people follow kind and helpful agreements, everyone can be happy together.
Action
Students are able to...Compare family rules, classroom agreements, and simple community guidelines by identifying what makes each group work well together; demonstrate how different families and communities create helpful rules; and practice following agreements that help everyone feel safe and included in different settings.
Content Knowledge
Students will know...Family rules help everyone in a household get along and stay safe. Classroom agreements help students learn together peacefully. Different families and communities around the world create different kinds of rules, but they all want people to feel safe and cared for.
The Buddha lived in a community called the sangha, and they created special agreements called the Vinaya to help everyone live together kindly. Just like families have rules about sharing toys and being gentle, Buddhist communities have agreements about being kind and helpful to each other.
Guiding Questions
Implementation Possibilities
Create daily agreement check-ins where children share which classroom rules helped them feel safe and happy. Design family rule sharing circles using drawings and simple storytelling to explore how different households create harmony. Practice community helper role-plays that demonstrate following agreements in various settings like libraries, playgrounds, and lunch tables. Establish visual agreement displays with pictures and symbols, rotating responsibility for recognizing when agreements support kindness and inclusion in the classroom community.
Assessment Ideas
Observe daily participation in agreement check-ins and note examples of kindness sharing. Monitor role-play activities for understanding of different community expectations. Evaluate family interview projects showing understanding of how rules help communities. Assess final presentations where children demonstrate different types of community agreements. Review portfolios of drawings and reflections about agreements that help groups work together.
