Middle Way Education: Dharma Fundamentals

Middle Way Education: Dharma Fundamentals

About This Resource

Summary An outline of the dharma fundamentals taught at Middle Way School.

Details

Four Areas of Focus

Based on conversations with a number of Buddhist masters and scholars, we are developing a course of study that spans three main spheres of dharma: Conduct and Discipline; Awareness and Meditation Practice; Wisdom and Philosophy; and Culture. 

Our vision is of graduates who are steeped in an atmosphere where meditation and wisdom can develop. They have facility in the basic awareness practices, are able to speak articulately about the fundamental tenets of Buddhism, and appreciate the rich and varied cultural traditions that have held the dharma over the centuries. Our aim is to present the various traditions as fully as possible, not blending them but celebrating the differences and commonalities. Our graduates will understand how these teachings have been incorporated into human experience across time and space, and how to apply them to their daily lives. 

The next step is to  establish the developmental sequence of each of the following, as well as mapping how they can be woven through the domains of learning according to grade level. 

Conduct & Discipline
  • The Noble Eightfold Path (3)
  • Etiquette & Healthy Habits
  • Ritual
Awareness & Meditation  
  • The Noble Eightfold Path (3)
  • Mindfulness
  • Meditation practices from different traditions
  • Contemplative embodiment
  • Contemplative arts 
  • Bodhicitta
  • Loving Kindness
Wisdom & Philosophy 
  • The Noble Eightfold Path (2)
  • The Four Noble Truths 
  • The Three/Four Seals
  • Cause and Effect/Karma/Dependent Arising
  • The Wheel of Life: Twelve Links of  Interdependent Origination
  • The Six Paramitas
  • Buddhist Logic 
  • The Four Immeasurables/Brahmaviharas 
  • Buddhist Philosophy
  • Buddhist Psychology/Abhidharma
  • The Three Characteristics
Culture 
  • Language – Focusing on languages that support understanding of spiritual texts including Tibetan, Chinese, and Sanskrit
  • Buddhist History 
  • Biographies of “Buddhist heroes”
  • Confucism 
  • Lineages 
  • Traditional arts

Google Doc version access 

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