Field Visit to Gesar Phodrang (Palace)

For the last couple of weeks, students have been studying about a king Gesar of Ling as a part of their academic curriculum unit. The unit so far has interested and excited our students, particularly, as it has stories and legends to share. Besides, the Gesar palace (shrine), located in the Institute has made it more relevant to students, as they can see and observe it physically. 

So, to augment more understanding about the Gesar and to facilitate empirical learning opportunities for students, we organized a field trip to Gesar Shrine. The objectives of the field visit are to expand the notion of the classroom, enriching learning experiences that are engaging, visible, and experiential. The Gesar shrine is located on the topmost temple of the Chokyi Gyatso Institute (where students are currently studying). It is a beautifully carved wooden shrine, surrounded by a variety of beautiful offerings. It has four power animals, the tiger (tag), the snow lion (sing), the garuda (chung), and the dragon (druk) in each direction. This is a beautiful place to make the most out of it. 

As a part of this trip, we invited one of the senior lamas to talk about Gesar and its shrine. Lama talked about how Gesar Shrine was built based on the text by Mipham Rinpoche, he shared his experiences of looking for rare substances from faraway places which took him five years to complete the project. It was an interactive session with the lama, in which students asked many questions, many of those questions were questions of curiosity, for example, why, is Gesar facing east? Why do we make offers to Gesar? Etc. 

Pema Dorji, said, “I learnt about twelve animals and their compatibility from the lama.” Another student Sonam Wangchuk said, “Gesar The shrine is built on the top of the temple because of its power, courage and magnetizing power.” 

During the entire field trip, students were made to observe and take notes of what they saw and experienced in the shrine. There were discussion and sharing of ideas amongst students. Most importantly, we have witnessed students revisiting stories and discussion topics from their classes. 

Tenzin Jamtsho said, “I learned that, if our life forces are not positive, we may encounter obstacles and death in life, so to overcome these negative energies and obstacles, we pray and make an offering to the Gesar.” 

After the field trip, these students did a few follow up activities; one such was making a presentation to their friends. Based on the observation and lesson learned from the field trip they gave a presentation to 80 students (juniors and friends) on 3rd April 2021. The presentation was a part of the lesson is to share their experiences, knowledge and ideas with their friends. 

Jigme Dorji one of the presenters said, “When I was presenting about the Ling Gesar, at first I felt shy and nervous, however, I was confident later.” The presentation program was to help students develop skills such as teamwork, confidence, communication, and art skills. Besides, this is to encourage students that teaching and learning can happen within students.

Teacher Training for the 21st Century Monastic Classroom

On 6^th April, professional development training is hosted for the teachers of Chokyi Gyatso Institute (CGI) and Lhomon Education (LME) to bring the 21^st Century Methods into the Classroom. A total of 17 monks and lay teachers attended the training, which was facilitated by Lhomon Education.  

“These new methods will help our teachers teach lessons in productive and interactive ways.” said, Lopon Pema Longdrol, head of the education department, CGI. “I really liked the strategy of ‘Think-Pair-Share’, he added.

The training is organized to explore contemporary skills and competencies such as active learning strategies; collaborative learning; and brain-based learning for greater student engagement as well as to encourage fun and interactive ways of teaching and learning.  

“I would like to ask Lhomon Education teachers to come and observe our classes” proposed Lopon Tshering. “We will be happy to receive your opinion on teaching methods” he added.

Everyone fully participated in the lively activities from the beginning till the end, through their interactive discussion, making fun body movements, and shouting out animal sounds.  

A brief presentation to CGI management

 A brief impact presentation was made for the management of Chokyi Gyatso Institute (CGI) on 28^th March 2021 to educate about Lhomon Education and its impact for the students and communities at large. The presentation was attended by Khenchen Sonam Tashi, head lamas, lopons, and teachers of the Institute.

The Lhomon Education’s lead teacher, Mr Dawa presented the gathering about Rinpoche’s education vision, curriculum work, professional development, outreach programs and other activities related to its program. The highlight of the presentation was on a discussion about Rinpoche’s recent (10^th February 2021) education article titled “It’s now or never”, which is written in the Kuensel, the national newspaper of Bhutan, calling His Majesty’s decree on education reform.

Bowing Animals - A bow to innate dignity!

Currently, our students are learning about, "The Way of the Warrior" (as a part of ‘the Gesar of Ling’ unit). One of the simple activities we have integrated into our daily session is bowing to each other. We regard this as a practice of the warrior.

Here, it is very important for us to understand the term warrior, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche explained, “Warrior-ship here refers to realizing the power, dignity and wakefulness that is inherent in all of us as human beings. It is awakening our basic human confidence which allows us to cheer up, develop a sense of vision and succeed in what we are doing.” If we analyze this context, the meaning of warrior goes beyond our ideas and understanding of war as an expression of aggression and violence. It is all about waging a war with one’s own enemy, the ultimate creator of suffering, the ignorance.

Let’s ask this question, how could bowing be a practice of warrior? A bow is a symbol of respect for ourselves and others. It is considered a gesture of respect and veneration across many cultures and traditions. Nevertheless, more important to understand that, this basic principle of bowing is the notion of acknowledging the basic goodness, which we all have. We bow to this uncontrived nature.

When we bow, it is not a gesture of submission. Rather we rouse our own confidence and goodness and offer them to others through simple bowing. It is a practice to extend one’s dignity of mind and to acknowledge the inherent dignity of another person’s mind.

The key to bowing is acknowledging the basic human confidence, persistently. 

A student - Paying attention to his mind!

This is Tashi Dorji, a student with Lhomon Education. One evening, he was found meditating silently in one of the temples by one of his teachers. Tashi said he tries to meditate in his room as well as in the temples. Today he came to meditate in Chokyi Lodro Temple. We are very inspired by his self-responsibility to pay attention to his own mind. Rejoice!    

Contemplative Practices for Teachers

As a part of professional and personal development activities, we enrol our teachers in various contemplative practices. One such activity is a weekly practice, where the teachers are engaged in practising meditation, Tara puja and smoke offering practice. These practices are to help our teachers internalize the importance of their own minds and to understand their potential and help guide our students. 

Besides, we facilitate opportunities for teachers to take part in Drubchens and Drubchoes (literally 'vast accomplishment practice'). In the above photo are Karma Dema (teacher) and Tashi Yangzom (volunteer), who are taking part in one of the drubchens at Chokyi Gyatso Institute. 

Why is a field trip into the nature so important for students?

Pema Dorji is one of the senior LME students, he said, “When we walked down to Deuri river, I was not feeling tired, it is because of my excitement. Yeshi Wangchuk and I had the responsibility to look after the younger monks. We were so worried about the young monk’s safety.”

The entire field trip starting from planning to a post-trip is designed to engage students to take responsibility, to work as a team, and to promote communal harmony. We are very happy to witness senior students take good care of younger monks throughout the trip. Besides, we assigned responsibilities to other students such as meal preparation, organize smoke offering, collecting garbage along the trail, bird watching, fetching banana leaves, etc. Through these activities we were able to teach our students the importance of working together, taking a leadership role, and spirit of mutual aid.

One of the junior students, Karma S. Yoezer said, “I could hear the birds chirping and saw many stones with different shapes and sizes.” This is undeniably a wonderful opportunity we wished our students to observe.

“I saw the skin of a snake and I heard the birds chirping.” Thinlay Dorji, another senior student said. Once our students are into nature their five senses are on alert. They hear different sounds; see many uncommon things that are missing from our daily life; experience the warmth of the sun and the coldness of the water, and are exposed to breathing fresh air. Through all these experiences, gradually we aspire our students to understand how many things put together creates a phenomenon called Nature.

One of the objectives of the trip is to provide an experiential and contextual learning opportunity for our students. Moreover, it is to recognize the practicality of integrating Mindfulness and compassion practices in nature. This is what Kinzang Namgay had to say, “This is not only a walk, but there are many lessons that we learned. First, we learned how to make fire and to cook food. We learned to install birdhouses and to pick up garbage. I look forward to taking part in a similar trip in the future.”

Here, the students recognize nature as a learning laboratory, where they experience learning different things through different activities. Further, they are involved in cleaning garbage created by other people through their unwise choice and mindless act. As a result, we created an opportunity for environmental education and an understanding of interdependent existence.

Therefore, the environmental knowledge and skills earned through “Mindful Nature Walk’’ is important in promoting positive attitudes and sustainable mindful actions in achieving a greater goal of environmental conservation and self-development.

Through this activity, we wanted to show our students that there are alternative for the food choices we make, that are healthy, eco-friendly, and sustainable. Except for these three items including salt, sugar and cooking oil, the rest are organic, locally produced and plastic-free.

Therefore, essentially the nature walk program is holistically designed, to educate the importance of conscious effort, in determining our act that is mindful, holistic, inclusive, selfless and sustainable in nature.

2-D Animation videos

After attending the basic animation training, LME was able to produce two short 2D animation videos. The animations are based on stories that have Buddhist morals and values. Both the videos are intended for educational purposes and augmentation of the LME curriculum. The aim of the project is to create materials that meet the preference of current young people and kids’ mindset. Thus, we are exploring using modern tools to educate the ancient wisdom tradition for our young students.

Of the two animations, the first one is about Milarepa’s first meet with his teacher the Marpa that took place in a field. Here, the Marpa asked Milarepa to plough the field. Thus, this simple task in the field became the auspicious link to Milarepa fulfilling the great task of liberating sentient beings. The video conveys the message of interdependence, power of causes and effects, and devotion.

The second video, titled “Busuku”, is about a Shantideva, who taught the Buddhist text the Bodhicharyavatara. The video (1:11 minutes) shows Busuku appearing on the high thorn, teaching a large audience, and disappearing into the sky. The video has a message of how one must not throw judgment on others.

We will keep on producing similar short animations for educational purposes.

Student’s Community Based Project Work

Lhomon Education students are engaged in a few project works in and around the Institute as a part of the Lhomon curriculum. The project is aimed to engage students in practical applications of what they have learned in the classroom. It is to create an opportunity for students to think about learning beyond the classroom, to help develop the knowledge, behaviours, ideas, and to make them see the connection between the classroom and real-life learning. Project-based learning is not only intended to provide opportunities for students to collaborate or drive their own learning, but it also is to teach them skills and values such as problem-solving, helping others, learning to give back and developing additional skills integral to their future, such as critical thinking and time management.

The project works included, constructing an incense shelter, maintaining a footpath, making a flower garden, stitching prostration cushion, constructing a birdhouse,  designing Embroider, developing a mini-organic garden, designing a compost pit, constructing a material recovery facility (MRF) and maintaining a compost toilet in the institute. All these ideas are brainstormed and proposed by our students as a part of the project process. For students, the entire process—from brainstorming to sharing ideas, taking responsibility to collaborate, and planning to implement the project—were all enriching and learning experiences.

Here are some statements made by a few students as they were executing their respective project work.

Karma Wangchuk, who worked on the cushion project, said, “My plan was to stitch, hand gloves out of the waste blanket. First, I could not come up with a hand glove as it was too big. I made mistake in measurement. When I did the second time, it was accurate measurement and could come up with a pair of good hand gloves to be used for prostration.”

Eugene Chophel, who worked on a flower garden project, said, “I did not know that sawdust can be used to prepare manure for the garden until I did this project.”

Jigme Tshering, who worked on an embroidery project, said, “Before last year, I saw my elder brothers working on an embroidery project, I did not learn from them then. Now when I do this project myself, it is not so easy. However, with the help of my friends, finally, I could come up with small beautiful embroidery of the flower.”

Pema Tashi, after working on a mini-garden project. said, “Now I realize how difficult it is to plant vegetables and consume them.” Jangchub Dorji, another student who worked on the same project, said, “We have to appreciate our farmers for the vegetables that they provide to us.”

Chador, who worked on the footpath project, said, “I feel proud of myself and I think that Memi (old man) will walk freely without any problem on this footpath”. Tashi Dorji, from the same project, stated, “From this project, I learned how to benefit others through kindness and compassion. I have been able to solve at least a few sufferings.” Analyzing all these statements carefully, we can conclude that our students are exposed to wide ranges of learning opportunities that taught them skills and values that are fun, interactive, inquiry-based, experiential, and contextual.