MWE Guiding Principles: A Way of Being in the World
These nine principles are Middle Way Education’s north star, the highest level of intended student outcomes.
MWE Principles – Tibetan Translation
The nine big ideas, the north star of the Middle Way Education model, now translated into Tibetan.
Some Thoughts on Teaching About Mind
A medium-length article by Jackie Rushforth Mitchell about the delicate subject of the mind and how to introduce it to young people.
Sit with Me Song
Gillian Eames, the preschool teacher at the Middle Way School in New York, put music to Carolyn Kanjuro's book Sit With Me. The song teaches the seven points of meditation posture.
The Lunar New Year Song: Wood Dragon Year
Downloadable audio and lyrics. Middle Way Education commissioned composer Harry Einhorn to develop this Lunar New Year celebration song, adding a new verse every year, one for each animal of asian astrology.
Shugen Roshi on Equanimity, Emotions, and Walking Meditation
This video recording (1hr) is of Shugen Roshi's talk at the Middle Way School in January 2024. Shugen sat with students and parents to talk about impermanence, one of Middle Way Education’s core units of inquiry. He focussed on the importance of cultivating equanimity in the context of recognizing the impermanent, always-changing quality of all things. He also fielded questions from parents and students, who wanted to know things like “how did the Buddha have fun?”
Lunch Rituals
This lunch ritual is loosely based on ōryōki, a Zen monastic eating meditation that places an emphasis on service, generosity, and appreciation. It was developed by Noa Jones and Catherine Fordham for the Middle Way School of the Hudson Valley.
Shared mealtime is an opportunity to foster a healthy relationship to food, enjoy each other’s company, and create a harmonious environment at the table. Creating a consistent mealtime practice can help children feel more focussed and be more present with their food.
Shugen Roshi on Shila
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Roshi, Abbot of the Zen Mountain Monastery spoke to a group of Middle Way School parents on the subject of shila, or Buddhist discipline on April 13, 2023.
Book Review: Monster Parade
We want to set children up for success when introducing them to meditation practices so playfulness is on order. The Monster Parade: A Book about Feeling All Your Feelings and Then Watching Them Go by Wendy O'Leary with illustrations by Noémie Gionet Landry (Bala Kids 2022) is a wonderful and playful way to approach the idea that feelings and thoughts are fleeting.
Celebrations: Vesak
Vesak is a day when Buddhists around the world commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death (parinirvana) of the Buddha. We think it’s a great day to encourage children to make simple offerings— flowers, incense, and candles—and to abstain from eating meat for the day or do life-release. Maybe host a birthday celebration for the Buddha!