Viewing archives for Buddhism

Research Summary

This project presents 5 case studies exploring how RE is being re-imagined in schools. It is a showcase of classroom practice which goes some way towards meeting the learning proposed in the new National Entitlement for Religion & Worldviews.
The project builds on the recommendations of the Faiths Unit’s 2015 report RE for Real – The Future of Teaching and Learning about Religion & Belief by providing examples of an emerging shift in RE towards understanding religion and worldviews as dynamic, lived, and interpretable phenomena and concepts.

Researchers

Dr Martha Shaw & Prof Adam Dinham

Research Institution

London South Bank University & Goldsmiths, University of London

What is this about?

This project is based on the premise that there is much brilliant, innovative RE going on all around the country but that it is patchy and could be extended. This project highlights some key examples of innovative practice, which speaks to the new direction proposed for Religion & Worldviews. It is intended to complement debates about change in policy and practice, with evidence of existing new practices from which others can learn.

What was done?

The project has worked with 5 schools to explore examples in practice of aspects of the new National Entitlement. We invited submissions of interest to participate then undertook a series of visits to the schools, in close collaboration with teachers:

Visit 1: Summer Term 2019 (May-June), to discuss the national plan and how the school is already or might respond to it. We worked together during and following this visit to consolidate the potential connections to at least one element of the national entitlement, then to devise a piece of concrete classroom practice in advance of our return visit.

Visit 2: Autumn Term 2019 and Spring term 2020 (September-February), to observe and reflect on the example of teaching and learning which has been identified and developed. The example was developed into a ‘case study’ including a short video and PDF providing a narrative.

Main findings and outputs

The five case studies explore ways of teaching and learning about religion and worldviews as fluid, lived and interpretable phenomena. The focus of each case study is different and relate to:
– Dealing with Controversy
– Multiple interpretations of lived religion
– Whole school lived religion as meaning making
– Encountering worldviews as lived and fluid
– RE Trail as discovery for children and their parents
The case studies can be found here.

Relevance to RE

The case studies are offered as resource for teachers to explore new ways of approaching the study of religion and worldviews in the classroom. Teachers might use these as inspiration to try something new. Teacher educators might also use these as examples of ways to embrace the teaching of religion and worldviews as dynamic, lived and interpretable phenomena and concepts. These examples showcase ways of promoting religion & worldview literacy in the classroom.

Generalisability and potential limitations

These examples are not representative of all the creative and innovative practice that goes on. Neither do they embody the totality of the vision outlined by CORE. Rather, they are intended as examples of some of the exciting ways in which teachers are interpreting innovation in the Religion & Worldviews classroom.

Find out more

Shaw, M (2019) Towards a Religiously Literate curriculum – Religion and Worldview Literacy as an Educational Model, Journal of Beliefs & Values, Journal of Beliefs & Values. Online: Sept. 2019.

https://www.gold.ac.uk/faithsunit/current-projects/reforreal/case-studies/

Research Summary

“Over the centuries, the relationship between science and religion has ranged from conflict and hostility to harmony and collaboration, while various thinkers have argued that the two concepts are inherently at odds and entirely separate. But much recent research and discussion on these issues has taken place in a Western context, primarily through a Christian lens. To better understand the ways in which science relates to religion around the world, Pew Research Center engaged a small group of Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists to talk about their perspectives. These one-on-one, in-depth interviews took place in Malaysia and Singapore – two Southeast Asian nations that have made sizable investments in scientific research and development in recent years and that are home to religiously diverse populations.”

Researchers

Courtney Johnson, Cary Lynne Thigpen & Cary Funk

Research Institution

Pew Research Center, Washington DC

What is this about?

• What is the relationship between religion and science – or, more precisely, what are some of the relationships between religion and science?
• What do Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists think about how religion and science relate to one another?
• How are these questions answered within the particular contexts of Malaysia and Singapore, where investment in scientific research and religious diversity are both high?

What was done?

72 individual interviews with Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists were conducted in Malaysia and Singapore between June 17, 2019 and August 8, 2019. This included 24 people in each of the three religious groups, with an equal number in each country. All interviewees said their religion was “very” or “somewhat” important to their lives, but they varied in terms of age, gender, profession and education level.

Main findings and outputs

• There is no single, universally held view of the relationship between science and religion.
• But there are some common patterns and themes within each of the three religious groups.
• Many Muslims expressed the view that Islam and science are basically compatible, acknowledging some differences – such as the theory of evolution conflicting with religious beliefs about the origins and development of human life on Earth.
• Hindus tended to differ from Muslims, describing science and religion as overlapping spheres. As with Muslims, many Hindus maintained that their religion contains elements of science, and that Hinduism long ago identified concepts that were later illuminated by science; many Hindus said that the theory of evolution is encompassed in their religious teachings.
• Buddhists generally described religion and science as two separate spheres. Several talked about their religion as offering guidance on how to live a moral life, while describing science as observable phenomena. Often, they named no areas of scientific research that concerned them for religious reasons. Nor did Buddhists see the theory of evolution as conflicting with their religion.

Relevance to RE

• The data can be used as resources in religion and science topics. The article whose headlines are reported here needs to be viewed in full – it’s detailed, beautifully illustrated and contains much of potential classroom use, e.g. illustrative quotations and statistical tables.
• The interview respondents express personal worldviews. Their words show how their organised worldview membership (Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism) combines with other elements (influence from or attitude towards science). In this way, the material from the article can be used for Religion and Worldviews teaching. It helps to show what Religion and Worldviews teaching could look like.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The researchers recognise the limits of a series of interviews with individuals, and therefore don’t claim that the individuals represent the traditions. Again, however, see the full article. What they do to address the problem is include statistics from other Pew Center global surveys, so you can check the individual accounts with the bigger picture. Overall, it’s an excellent resource.

Find out more

On the Intersection of Science and Religion, Pew Research Center, published August 2020 (see link for open access below)

https://www.pewforum.org/essay/on-the-intersection-of-science-and-religion/

Research Summary

Giving to monks is the main religious act within the Buddhist world, particularly in the Theravāda communities of Southeast Asia. Lay followers give food and other dāna (merit-making gifts), providing monastics with what they need to survive. Yet there is relatively little discussion within Buddhist or scholarly communities about what should be given. Sometimes, the gifts given are not always appropriate, even bad. What to do in those cases is not always clear. This research explores the ways in which monks in Thailand and Southwest China think about gifts that are not good. It shows that despite the vinaya (disciplinary code of Buddhism), monks have different views about what constitutes a ‘bad gift’ and what to do about it. Lay communities have significant voice about what constitutes proper monastic behaviour. Context often defines appropriateness.

Researcher

Thomas Borchert

Research Institution

University of Vermont

What is this about?

• Buddhist lifestyles and ethics.
• The relations between Buddhist monks and laity.
• The Buddhist practice of dāna.
• How formal religious rules are often adapted to context; the fluidity of religious traditions.
• How decisions are made about whether or not gifts to Buddhist monks are appropriate ones.

What was done?

The research was done through the author’s own fieldwork in Thailand and China. He also draws on a range of other published sources, ethnographic and textual.

Main findings and outputs

• Generally, offering alcohol to monks is highly inappropriate, but a monk might take a very small amount to show sociability and restraint at a gathering.
• The practice of dāna classically involves generating good karma by providing monks with necessary items (clothing, food, housing and medicine), though as a ‘perfect gift’ – i.e. without return or reward of any kind.
• It does create social networks, monks taking regular itineraries and getting to know those who give to them, who sometimes in turn ask them what they need (resulting, for instance, in the gift of a set of Stanley tools to help build a new monastery).
• In Thai society this relates to the concept of kalatesa, or appropriateness, which governs social relations. What is given and how it is given should be appropriate to need and recipient.
• Could a gun be an appropriate gift? Under appropriate circumstances, perhaps, though monks differed. Some said yes if needed to defend a monastery, other yes if only there as a deterrent, etc.
• Another guiding concept is intention: if the gift is given with good intention, this, not the object given, can be what counts.
• So, there are the religious rules, and then the need to negotiate their application in the lived world of local custom.

Relevance to RE

This research is useful to RE teachers on different levels –

1. It provides excellent subject knowledge on Buddhism. The original article, summarised above, gives very helpful background explanation on the relevant beliefs, practices and traditions, as well as further examples of how these work out in lived religion.
2. It provides very good extension content when teaching about Buddhism or specifically the Sangha (monastic community) – teachers could use it to teach directly about why unusual gifts are sometimes accepted or even sought.
3. Alternatively, the questions raised by the research could be posed to pupils during discussions or enquiries related to Buddhism and the Sangha: ‘what do you think would happen if . . . ?’ ‘Could a gun be an appropriate gift . . . ?’ Their responses could be compared by the teacher to the cases presented in the research, to which the pupils could then respond: ‘Are you surprised to hear that . . .?’

Generalisability and potential limitations

The generalisability of the research is good. As well as drawing on the author’s own specific fieldwork, there is plenty of reference to other studies; and the research is clearly also based on extensive sources of the Buddhist tradition.

Find out more

The original article is Thomas Borchert (2020) Bad gifts, community standards, and the disciplining of Theravāda monks, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 35:1, 53-70, DOI: 10.1080/13537903.2020.1695805

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537903.2020.1695805?journalCode=cjcr20

Research Summary

“Most U.S. adults identify with a particular religious denomination or group. They describe themselves as Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Jewish, Mormon or Muslim– to name just a few of the hundreds of identities or affiliations that people give in surveys. Others describe themselves as atheist, agnostic or say they have no particular religious affiliation. These are the conventional categories into which Americans sort themselves. But a new Pew Research Center analysis looks at beliefs and behaviors that cut across many denominations – important traits that unite people of different faiths, or that divide people who have the same religious affiliation – producing a new and revealing classification, or typology, of religion in America.” (Summary taken from original press release at http://www.pewforum.org/2018/08/29/the-religious-typology/ downloaded on September 12 2018.)

Researcher

Pew Research Center, Washington DC

Research Institution

Pew Research Center, Washington DC

What is this about?

This is about the different religious groups in the US, and how they vary internally, in terms of religious commitment, behaviour or attitudes to religion. Survey data were used to generate seven categories of religiosity that cut across religious boundaries. E.g. ‘Sunday Stalwarts’ are the traditionalist, highly engaged members, ‘Diversely Devout’ are those who whilst traditionalist are also open to ‘New Age’ beliefs such as reincarnation or psychic power and ‘Religion Resisters’ are those who think that institutional religion does more harm than good. The other categories are ‘God-and-Country Believers’, ‘Relaxed Religious’, ‘Spiritually Awake’ and ‘Solidly Secular’.

What was done?

A survey of 4729 respondents was done. It included 16 questions about their religious and spiritual beliefs and practices, the value they place on their religion, and the other sources of meaning and fulfillment in their lives. The typology groups were then created using cluster analysis, a statistical technique that identified homogeneous groups of respondents based on their answers.

Main findings and outputs

The findings are quite extensive and readers are directed to the main report (link below), but some examples can be given so as to provide a flavour. What is interesting is how the categories cut across traditional religious and non-religious lines:

• Some data may be unsurprising (76% of the ‘Solidly Secular’ have no religious affiliation).
• However, it raises questions that 17% of the ‘Solidly Secular’ category identify as Christian.
• Within Religion Resisters, non-Christian religious faiths contribute their highest overall percentage (11%).
• They only make up 6% of the ‘Sunday Stalwart’ category, which could be down to population or survey factors; the word ‘Sunday’ is used because 90% of the group belong to Christian churches and it did not figure in survey questions.
• There are interesting sub-findings, e.g. 19% of ‘Sunday Stalwarts’ and 12% of ‘Solidly Secular’ believe in reincarnation; 98% of ‘Religion Resisters’ believe there is spiritual energy located in physical things such as mountains, trees or crystals.

Relevance to RE

The final Commission on RE report speaks of the need for a deeper understanding of the complex, diverse and plural nature of worldviews at both institutional and personal levels, and to ensure that pupils understand that there are different ways of adhering to a worldview. This Pew Center research gives an original, imaginative illustration of these factors. RE curriculum developers and teachers could use it to consider how to represent diversity within religions; teacher trainers could use it to illustrate the need for this to trainees.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The survey was large-scale (4729 respondents) and care was taken to achieve a representative sample. One limitation is that the US rather than the UK is represented. The researchers also acknowledge that identifying cluster groups is as much art as science. However, UK teachers and researchers could take note of the problematising of religious categories and perhaps find ways to explore similar issues in our own contexts.

Find out more

The full Pew Centre research bulletin is available for free download at http://www.pewforum.org/2018/08/29/the-religious-typology/

Research Summary

The numbers of religious believers in the world will grow over the next half-century, according to demographic analyses and predictions. Absolute growth in their numbers might be less surprising than relative growth (i.e. they will be in an increased majority over non-religious people). Different parts of the world will be differently affected.

Researchers

Conrad Hackett & Marcin Stonawski

Research Institution

Pew Research Center, Washington DC

What is this about?

The research is about how numbers of people belonging to different religions, or not affiliated to a religion, are predicted to grow or otherwise from 2015 to 2060; and how the religious or worldview population composition of different parts of the world will be affected.

What was done?

The methodology is to begin with 2015 populations and then to consider the median ages and fertility rates of different religious or non-affiliated groups. These are the bases of predictions for future increases or decreases. For example, because the median age of Muslims is low (24) and the fertility rate high (average 2.9 children per woman), the Muslim population is predicted to increase. Factors such as conversion (‘switching rates’) are also built in to the predictions.

Main findings and outputs

The report is large and comprehensive, and readers are encouraged to continue to it (link below). However, here are selected headlines:

• 2015 world population= 7,284,640,000 2060 world population= 9,615,760,000
• 2015 Christian population= 2, 276,250,000 (31.2%) 2060 Christian population= 3,054,460,000 (31.8%)
• 2015 Muslim population= 1,752, 620,000 (24.1%) 2060 Muslim population= 2,987,390,000 (31.1%)
• 2015 unaffiliated population= 1,165,020,000 (16%) 2060 unaffiliated population= 1,202,300 (12.5%)
• 2015 Hindu population= 1,099,110,000 (15.1%) 2060 Hindu population= 1,392,900 000 (14.5%)
• 2015 Buddhist population= 499,380,000 (6.9%) 2060 Buddhist population= 461,980, 000 (4.8%)
• 2015 Jewish population= 14,270, 000 (0.2%) 2060 Jewish population= 16, 370,000 (0.2%)

Regional trends
The religiously unaffiliated population is heavily concentrated in places with ageing populations and relatively low fertility, such as China, Japan, Europe and North America. By contrast, religions with many adherents in developing countries – where birth rates are high and infant mortality rates generally have been falling – are likely to grow quickly. Much of the worldwide growth of Islam and Christianity is expected to take place in sub-Saharan Africa.

Relevance to RE

RE teachers should find useful background and teaching material here. The prediction, based on evidence, that religion’s presence in the world will increase over the next half-century underlines the need for good RE. The research should be useful in advocacy for the subject at various levels including individual school and national policy.

Generalisability and potential limitations

The research is partly predictive, but done scientifically by an internationally respected body. The findings are already generalisations and do not cover diversity within religions or the ‘non-affiliated’.

Find out more

The report The Changing Global Religious Landscape was first published online in April 2017. It can be freely accessed at http://www.pewforum.org/2017/04/05/the-changing-global-religious-landscape/

Research Summary

Previous research has recognized shrines in homes as sites of shared memory which bring the sacred into the home. For Buddhists, shrines occupy a grey area between the cultural and the religious. A quantitative study of 417 British teenagers self-identifying as Buddhists found that the 70% who had a home shrine were less likely to visit a Buddhist temple, but more likely to exhibit daily personal religious practice and to bow to parents. Those with shrines were generally happier at school, more communal and strict about intoxicants. Heightened religiosity was linked with having a home shrine, particularly for female, late-teen, and heritage Buddhists. For these groups of Buddhists, a shrine represents a site for shared memory, whilst for males, early teens, and converts, there is more a sense of shrines giving focus to their Buddhist identity.

Researcher

Phra Nicholas Thanissaro

Research Institution

University of Warwick

What is this about?

This research is about shrines in Buddhist homes and what they signify. Are they cultural or religious? How do they affect the religiosity of Buddhist teenagers? Does this vary according to different sub-groups, including male or female, early or late teen, heritage or convert, for example? The study is of different Buddhist teenagers in Britain.

What was done?

A survey questionnaire was completed by 417 self-identifying teenage Buddhists. The sample consisted of 225 males (54%) and 192 females (46%) aged between 13 and 20, with an ethnic composition of Asian (52%), White (34%), Mixed (11%), Chinese (2%), and Black (1%). In terms of the temple institutions they attended, to give some idea of the national Buddhist traditions included, the sample included Sinhalese (23%), Thai (16%), Tibetan (12%), Burmese (11%), Vietnamese (9%), Japanese (5%), Bangladeshi (3%), Western (2%), Chinese (2%), Nepalese (2%), and Cambodian (1%).

Main findings and outputs

• 70% of British Buddhist teenagers had a shrine in their homes.
• Having a shrine was likely to correspond generally with heightened religiosity but lower mystical orientation.
• Those with a shrine at home were significantly more likely to have a daily religious practice (22%) than those without a shrine (7%). Those with a shrine were also significantly more likely to bow to their parents (66%) than those without shrines (36%). Those with a shrine were significantly less likely to attend a temple on a weekly basis (41%) than those who had no home shrine (74%).
• Home shrines are significantly linked with Buddhist religiosity in female, heritage Buddhists in their late teens.
• For these Buddhists in particular, the shrine helps remind them about the Buddha and Buddhist clergy as symbols of their religion.
• This includes feeling that life has a sense of purpose, considering oneself a ‘proper’ Buddhist, and thinking that Buddhist monks do a good job.
• For male, convert, and early teen Buddhists particularly, the presence of the shrine can be seen as a symbol of the self or identity formation.

Relevance to RE

The research is relevant to RE practice because it shows how teachers need to be sensitive to different factors about religion – it is specifically about Buddhism but has relevance regarding religious traditions in general. The researcher warns about the danger in presenting Buddhism as simply a set of beliefs, which is a distortion because ritual practice in the home as well as the temple is clearly significant to Buddhists. Yet he also presents evidence that ritual practice in the case of a home shrine is significant in different ways to different Buddhists; that it differs by gender, for instance, or whether one is a heritage or a convert Buddhist, is a reminder of the need to explore the diversity within religions when teaching about them.

Generalisability and potential limitations

This is a fairly large and differentiated survey. The researcher does identify some questions for future research, not yet addressed, which could elaborate upon the study of shrine-related practice using qualitative research. It might explore details such as observation of the daily context in which Buddhists practise in relation to their shrines, how they practise, what they worship, what they chant, how often they chant, whether they are alone when they practise or with their family, and so on.

Find out more

The original article is: Phra Nicholas Thanissaro (2018) Buddhist shrines: bringing sacred context and shared memory into the home, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 33:2, 319-335.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537903.2018.1469277

Research Summary

Marking and feedback are essential parts of the teaching process, which allow teachers to know whether what they have taught has been learnt and therefore allow teachers to address the needs of pupils. They are also requirements for all teachers. However, they are time consuming and burdensome upon teachers. Technology has the potential to transform education, for teachers and for pupils. This study aims to investigate the role that technology has in the assessment of RE with the expectation that any benefits would also be felt in other curriculum subjects.

Researchers

Sam McKavanagh & Dr James Robson

Research Institution

University of Oxford

What is this about?

The planning was guided by these questions.

• In assessment, what can technology do that traditional methods cannot?
• How can the use of technology for assessment be beneficial to pupils?
• How can the use of technology for assessment be beneficial to teachers?
• How can technology allow us to meet the assessment objectives of RE?

What was done?

The three action cycles used different tools to assess pupils; multiple choice questions were used for each assessment.

• Cycle One (Traditional): pupils completed assessments using pen and paper.
• Cycle Two (Plickers): pupils held up unique pieces of card in different orientations to indicate their answer. The teacher’s smartphone could read and record the pupils’ response.
• Cycle Three (EDpuzzle) – through this website pupils watched videos that the teacher had embedded with questions. Scores were recorded so the teacher could track progress over time.

At the end of each cycle the following were conducted:

• whole-cohort questionnaires;
• small-group interviews; and
• teacher interviews.

Main findings and outputs

The findings show that technology:

• saved time;
• helped give quick and useful feedback;
• collated results;
• improved record keeping;
• reduced teacher workload; and
• increased pupil engagement.

In contrast, traditional methods of assessment failed to offer these benefits. Marking and feedback remained burdensome tasks for teachers and pupils did not respond favourably to them.

Technology has an important role in the assessment of RE. Pupils assessed using traditional methods and those assessed with technology showed no discernable differences in their results. The benefits to the teacher were clear: they saw a reduction in workload and were able to give immediate feedback and discuss issues with pupils which would not have had been possible with traditional methods. As Plickers and EDpuzzle can collate pupils’ results teachers can easily keep track of pupils’ performance across time, with minimal effort on their part. It is expected that these advantages would not only apply to RE and that teachers of other subjects, and in other school settings, would also benefit.

Relevance to RE

This was a piece of practitioner research and other teachers were involved in the collection of data. Therefore it will have real applicability to other teachers of RE.

The technology used is free to obtain and use and does not require pupil ownership of devices – this increases the accessibility to the technology.

One of the key findings was the savings in time for teachers whilst assessing and the production of useful real-time data, which they could use immediately to provide effective feedback to pupils.

Generalisability and potential limitations

Given the method of answer collection which the technology used, the research focussed on AT1/A01 (‘factual’ knowledge) the research did not attempt to assess AT2/A02 (‘learning from religion’) – whilst this should be possible, it was deemed that it would be stretching the research too thinly and that less clear results would be drawn. It would therefore be beneficial to retrial these technologies to attempt to assess AT2/A02 as well.

Given the length of the research project it was not possible to tell if pupils would become ‘bored’ or less enthused with the technologies the more normalised they became. A longer research process would uncover whether this is the case.

Find out more

McKavanagh, S. (2017). The role of technology in the assessment of RE (Master’s thesis). University of Oxford.

https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:27d8b9ef-0cab-4116-827a-d9b615627860

Research Summary

We Need to Talk about RE (London: Jessica Kingsley, 2017) is a collection of essays by established and emerging RE leaders commenting on theory, practice and policy around RE. The book focuses mainly on the English system, with European and wider global contexts referred to. Each chapter is a grounded, research-informed provocation. The book is edited by Dr Mike Castelli (currently Executive Chair of the Association of University Lectuters in Religion and Education) and Dr Mark Chater (currently Director of a charitable trust supporting RE).

Researchers

Mike Castelli, Mark Chater & Linda Woodhead

Research Institution

Several

What is this about?

The book as a whole promotes public discussion on what is needed from a new model of RE. The book argues that we need to talk about RE for several reasons: because so much is changing in the culture of schools; because teachers of RE are ‘cultural and religious heroes caught up in a conflicted education system’; because the kind of RE practised UK is unique, but gravely in danger of dismemberment and neglect; because of the urgent need to find consensus about the purpose and place of RE; and because wider society needs better ways of dealing with religious and cultural ‘otherness’.

What was done?

Each of the fifteen authors uses a distinctive methodology based on their own professional experience as teachers, researchers, practitioners, policy makers or consultants.

Main findings and outputs

Each chapter, written by a different author, offers a manifesto for change. The postscript, written by a serving teacher of RE, argues passionately for change based on clarity of purpose.

Relevance to RE

Trainee and serving teachers will find the book a stimulating, provocative and hope-inspiring daily companion to their practice.

Generalisability and potential limitations

There is no programmatic set of findings or recommendations.

Find out more

Castelli, M. And Chater, M (2017) ed. We Need to Talk about Religious Education: Manifestos for the Future of RE.London: Jessica Kingsley Publishing.

Research Summary

Traditionally, Buddhism has emphasised compassion for animals, without always giving clear messages on vegetarianism (e.g. monks have been permitted to eat the meat of animals not killed on their behalf). This research is about speeches and writings by one of the most influential Buddhist cleric-scholars in Tibet today, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö of Larung Buddhist Academy. The article surveys the Khenpo’s broad-based advocacy for animal welfare and details his discrete appeals to nomads in eastern Tibet to forgo selling livestock for slaughter, to eat a vegetarian diet when possible, to relinquish wearing animal fur, to protect wildlife habitat, and to liberate the lives of animals. Tsultrim Lodrö goes beyond traditional scare tactics that emphasize the karmic effects of negative deeds in future lives and instead invokes compassion by attending to the lived experience and suffering of animals. In doing so, he promotes Buddhism as a civilizing force, in order to reform certain Tibetan customs and to control the influence of China on Tibet. RE teachers’ subject knowledge will be increased through this example of contemporary Buddhist ethical commitment. Moreover, we can use parts of the research’s material as teaching points (see below, Relevance to RE).

Researcher

Holly Gayley

Research Institution

University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

What is this about?

• What are Buddhist attitudes to animal welfare and vegetarianism?
• Who is Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö, and why does he have a considerable influence on Buddhist attitudes to animal welfare and vegetarianism in contemporary Tibet?
• What does Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö teach about animal welfare and vegetarianism?
•  How does he communicate his teachings?

What was done?

The research methodology involves analysis of Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s writings and speeches, and the researcher also appears to have carried out fieldwork in Eastern Tibet, though without giving details of this.

Main findings and outputs

• Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö is an influential Buddhist teacher in today’s Tibet, known particularly for his teachings on animal welfare and social reform.
• Buddhism, over time, has failed to emphasise vegetarianism consistently, despite teachings on non-injury, compassion and reincarnation. Monks and nuns have been permitted to eat meat offered to them provided the animals had not been slaughtered for them.
• Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö teaches a set of ten precepts: not to sell livestock for slaughter, not to steal, not to fight with weapons, not to consort with prostitutes, not to sell weapons or drugs, not to smoke, not to drink, not to gamble, not to hunt, and not to wear animal fur on the trim of traditional Tibetan coats. The precepts have spread widely through mass vow-taking ceremonies.
• He encourages vegetarianism amongst monks and nuns and asks lay Buddhists to refrain from meat-eating as much as they possibly can. If they have to kill livestock for economic reasons they should do it humanely.
• Rather than threatening those who are cruel to animals with bad karma or bad reincarnation, Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö tries to use compassion. Asking people to give up the practice of slaughter by suffocation (it can take fifteen minutes), he says:
  “You can see for yourself by covering your mouth and nose with your hand. Without the breath coming in and out, it doesn’t take much time. Just remain like that for a minute, and you understand what the experience is like.”

Relevance to RE

Knowledge of the research will increase RE teachers’ specialist subject knowledge of Buddhism and ethics. Moreover, parts of the research’s findings can be used as teaching points. Teachers can provide an outline of Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s life and teachings – see (http://www.luminouswisdom.org/ . Pupils could carry out follow-up research of their own. Classroom activities could be focused on some celebrated aspects of Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö’s teaching, e.g. persuading Tibetans to give up the practice of suffocating animals by asking them to imagine being suffocated (i.e. going without breath for one minute). We need to stress that we are not recommending or suggesting that colleagues ask pupils to simulate this. However, questions for discussion and debate arise from it: what is Khenpo Tsultrim Lodrö trying to achieve through this exercise? How effective do you think it would be? Is it right to apply the ‘Golden Rule’ to animals as well as people? What differences would it make to people’s lives in the UK? What advantages and disadvantages would it bring?

Find out more

The Compassionate Treatment of Animals: a Contemporary Buddhist Approach in Eastern Tibet Journal of Religious Ethics 45.1 pages 29-57 (published online 18 February 2017)

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jore.12167/epdf

Research Summary

Different Buddhist texts and beliefs offer different kinds of attitudes to nature. Sometimes Buddhism appears to view all living beings as equal, whilst at other times it seems to place human beings at the centre of its universe and to give particular significance to them. The difference appears in the philosophy and norms of Buddhism, and this researcher wanted to investigate how it is worked out in daily life. Therefore he carried out a study of a Vietnamese Buddhist monastery in the USA, observing its daily life closely for about sixty days in total. He found that whilst in theory the monastery is eco-centric, in practice, there are aspects of its life in which humans are valued more than other life-forms, in which its motivations for environmental lifestyles are to benefit humans and in which it limits non-violence in order to favour humans. The research offers interesting material for RE teachers to consider when presenting Buddhism; and interesting questions about religion and the environment for pupils to discuss and analyse.

Researcher

Daniel Capper

Research Institution

University of Southern Mississippi

What is this about?

•  This is about problems faced by Buddhists when they try to put very pure spiritual ideals into practice. You could say that it is about the relationship between spiritual ideals and life in the material world, more generally.
• The background is the Buddhist teaching of the interdependence of all life, especially as represented in the ecological Buddhism of the Vietnamese teacher Thıch Nhat Hanh (“every Buddhist practitioner should be a protector of the environment”).
• According to this teaching, everything in the universe is interconnected, humans are equal partners in a larger system and no distinction should be made between inanimate and animate beings.
• The Buddhists in this monastery see natural beings as enlightened and as spiritual teachers to people. Consumption is kept to a minimum, the diet is vegan and strenuous efforts are made to avoid harming life-forms.
• However, compromises are sometimes made. The researcher finds that inevitably, human interests surface and that when pushed, the sangha (community) members have to recognise this. (More detail is given below, in Main findings and outputs.)

What was done?

The researcher observed the life of a Vietnamese Buddhist monastery in the USA for about sixty days in total, participating in many of its activities, also carrying out formal interviews with ten monks.

Main findings and outputs

• Different Buddhist beliefs offer different attitudes to nature. In Thailand, trees have been symbolically ordained as monks; but still, it is taught that for purposes of attaining enlightenment, a human rebirth is the most favourable of all.
• The sangha members studied are strongly committed to the Buddhist teaching of the interdependence of all life. Their form of Buddhism has itself been influenced by the ‘Western’ conservation and ecology movement.
• According to Thıch Nhat Hanh’s teaching, everything in the universe is interconnected, humans are equal partners in a larger system and no distinction should be made between inanimate and animate beings.
• The Buddhists in this monastery see natural beings as enlightened spiritual teachers. Spiritual practice such as walking meditation involves a deep appreciation of the natural enivironment. Consumption of natural resources such as water is kept to a minimum, the diet is vegan and strenuous efforts are made to avoid harming even animals that might normally be regarded as pests.
• However, compromises are sometimes made. Two stray dogs who were interfering with the contemplative atmosphere of the monastery were eventually removed (the researcher was asked to do this). Pesticides are used against red fire ants whose bites are very painful and can be fatal. Thus, the monastery puts human comfort and safety higher than the intrinsic value of the ants. Generally the researcher wonders how pure the Buddhists’ ideals can be, in that their ecological lifestyle sometimes seems motivated by their own spiritual wishes.

Relevance to RE

• The material could be of great use to RE teachers when planning curriculum and in pedagogy – the issues raised invite critical pupil engagement.
• At one level, the problems met by the Buddhists in practising their beliefs can be used as evidence of the challanges faced by people in sustaining an ideals-based religious lifestyle. When pupils learn about the problems it will deepen their understanding of the beliefs.
• At a more critical level the problems can be offered to pupils to analyse, once they have heard and spent some time discussing the ‘story’. (They could first look up the monastery online at http://magnoliagrovemonastery.org/ ) This level of work may suit older or more able secondary pupils. If you believe that all of life is equal and interconnected, can the use of pesticides be justified? If you believe that all of life is equal and interconnected.

Generalisability and potential limitations

This research identifies some mixed messages in Buddhism in general, then investigates how – or whether – the issues are resolved in a single monastery. Rather than high generalisability, it offers a very interesting illustrative example.

Find out more

Learning Love from a Tiger: Approaches to Nature in an American Buddhist Monastery, Journal of Contemporary Religion, 30:1, 55-71 (published online 23 December 2014) dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2015.986976

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2015.986976