How are Buddhist principles reflected in our teaching and learning program?

Buddhist principles are embedded in all aspects of our teaching and learning program and underpin all student welfare and engagement.

Our focus is on building and revealing the inner qualities of each child – their compassion, kindness, generosity, wisdom and ethical responsibility to others and our environment – as well as on the physical, social and academic elements in the Australian Curriculum.

At the centre of our curriculum is our Awareness program which permeates all that we do as well as having specific topics, daily practices and approaches to model and promote Buddhist principles while building the inner qualities of our children.

Our School’s Awareness program?

Awareness is the name given to the many parts of our program inspired by Buddhist philosophy and practice that sets us aside from other schools in what we teach, the way we teach, and the way we interact with and respond to our students, parents, teachers and the wider community.

Whilst Awareness is taught explicitly for the first half hour of each day, Awareness is also taught across the day through incidental teaching and moments of mindfulness throughout the day. It has many interconnected components.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings

As part of the Buddhist approach of the Dharma School, we as a community, commit to practice the Five Mindful Precepts or Mindfulness Trainings, that were developed by the Buddha. The purpose of the precepts is to give an ethical and moral framework, by inviting people to follow these guidelines to develop mind and character and to ensure a harmonious community.

Thich Nhat Hanh, the founder of Plum Village Monastery, has renamed the concept of the precepts as ‘The Five Mindfulness Trainings’. As explained below:

“The Five Mindfulness Trainings are one of the most concrete ways to practice mindfulness. They are nonsectarian, and their nature is universal. They are true practices of compassion and understanding. All spiritual traditions have their equivalent to the Five Mindfulness Trainings.

The first training is to protect life, and to decrease violence in oneself, in the family, and in society. The second training is to practice social justice, and generosity, not stealing and not exploiting other living beings. The third is the practice of responsible sexual behavior to protect individuals, couples, families, and children. The fourth is the practice of deep listening and loving speech to restore communication and reconciliation. The fifth is about mindful consumption, to help us not bring toxins and poisons into our body or mind.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings are based on the precepts developed during the time of the Buddha to be the foundation of practice for the entire lay practice community. With mindfulness, we are aware of what is going on in our bodies, our feelings, our minds and the world, and we avoid doing harm to ourselves and others. Mindfulness protects us, our families and our society. When we are mindful, we can see that by refraining from doing one thing, we can prevent another thing from happening. We arrive at our own unique insight. It is not something imposed on us by an outside authority.
Practicing the mindfulness trainings, therefore, helps us be more calm and concentrated, and brings more insight and enlightenment.”

– Thich Nhat Hanh, Plum Village Monastery

To make these precepts more appropriate and translatable to children, the language of the precepts is expressed using a different language that is more appropriate for this young age group.

The Five Precepts

1. Reverence for Life (Consider Not Killing)
2. Generosity (Not taking what has not been given)
3. Body Responsibility (No sexual misconduct)
4. Deep Listening and Loving Speech (Not telling lies)
5. Mindful Consumption (Not drinking alcohol)