Website Review

http://www.pbs.org/thebuddha/lesson-plans/

        Dalai Lama said, “I believe that the purpose of life is to be happy.”  How to attain happiness? He said, “ From my own limited experience I have found that the greatest degree of inner tranquility comes from the development of love and compassion.” And he has more detailed discussions on happiness, love and compassion through this website: <https://www.dalailama.com/messages/compassion-and-human-values/compassion>. How to develop love and compassion which lead to the greatest degree of inner tranquility? Mindfulness and meditation exercises are helpful in achieving the goal. 

        On this website, http://www.pbs.org/thebuddha/lesson-plans/, which teaches with “The Buddha” film, provides insight of how to integrate Buddhist principals into education. It’s stated that “Skills such as listening, mindful self-awareness of thoughts and emotions, empathy, and compassion play an important role in teaching and learning.” Contemplative practices help self-reflection and critical thinking skills, which in turn, help students relation their subjects of studies to their own personal experience. It also helps “create a more just, compassionate,and reflective society”.  It offers two resources on the educational uses of contemplative practice and the use of The Buddha in classrooms.  One is The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, a non-profit organization which focuses on contemplative practices in higher education.  The other is the Association for Mindfulness in Education, which focuses on work in grades K-12. 

        PBS teachers presented a webinar on The Buddha:Teaching Mindfulness. They provided an overview of research on the effects of mindfulness on learning. Further readings on education and contemplation are listed on the website.  I think that teaching mindfulness and contemplation from the Buddhist view helps students develop compassion for others. They can see the world through the lenses of others. If individuals from different cultures and countries can achieve the greatest inner peace of happiness and compassion,  the whole world would have eternal peace.