Dear Educators,
Teaching touches the deepest parts of who we are—requiring diligent preparation, flexibility, decision-making, and continuous awareness—often in increasingly challenging circumstances. If we wish to help students understand what the Buddha taught, we must begin with our own introspection and natural curiosity. The challenges facing education today—student disengagement, teacher burnout, and cultural disconnection—aren’t separate problems but interconnected symptoms of our need for wisdom education that addresses both inner development and outer engagement.
For anyone who wishes to integrate wisdom and education, we are happy to offer the Dharma Learning Framework to facilitate your thoughtful exploration of these teachings with students. While no teacher training program is included, these learning goals are accessible to anyone with sincere interest—you need not be Buddhist yourself. However, we strongly encourage you to study, contemplate, and practice whatever you wish to teach.
Introducing the dharma to others can be daunting. If you feel uncertain, we recommend you seek out local dharma teachers and Buddhist communities for support. We also recommend avoiding advanced topics until you’ve studied and practiced them. Beyond textbook definitions, personal reflection, contemplation and meditation develop an embodied understanding that enhances your ability to help others connect with dharma essentials. Sincere curiosity is a powerful starting point. You might learn a musical instrument from someone who’d never played, but wouldn’t you prefer learning from someone who’d developed their art through diligent practice?
Slowing down can seem so difficult—yet nurturing our inner resources is vital. We must each care for our own energy and wellbeing before helping children connect with their own innate goodness, recognizing the wisdom they already possess. Only by modeling warmth and compassion toward ourselves can we inspire our students to learn such essential life skills. May all who use the framework trust their step-by-step discovery—that this exploration becomes as much a source of self-nurturing as it helps us support our students.
May this content become not just one more thing to teach, but rather a framework that facilitates building an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to whatever you are teaching already, one lesson at a time.
Before teaching, we can reflect on our motivation: Why did we begin to teach? Can we recall our students’ precious qualities—their bright minds and tender hearts? If while teaching we maintain some awareness of our intention, this presence itself can become a powerful guide toward kindness and authenticity. At the end of the day, we can wish that all our good deeds truly benefit them, and that any mistakes become our own learning. May exploring these ideas help us all be more authentic with ourselves, each other, and our students.
Please share your experiences with us—we wish to build connections and hear your stories. Beyond supporting individual classrooms, this framework creates professional community through shared language for discussing students’ contemplative development. We aspire to build a dynamic community of educators worldwide, sharing lesson plans, resources, and ideas as a collaborative commonwealth that counters professional isolation while serving our students.
Sincerely,
Michelle Macioce
Dharma Learning Framework
