The Abiding Heart's
Experiential Buddhist Education™ Approach

The Abiding Heart Education™️ approach offers a specially made or bespoke Experiential Buddhist Education for Buddhist communities around the world. Over the past past 7 years we developed this Bespoke Experiential Buddhist Curriculum and Teacher Training catering to kindergarten, primary (class 1-8) and high school (class 9-12). In this unique Experiential Buddhist Education, all subjects taught from kindergarten through to class 12 are fully immersed within the Buddhist view, meditation and how that informs everyday life activities and being.

The Abiding Heart Education approach and its has been developed and improved over two and a half decades. This approach is designed to develop bespoke education that is immersed in the community it is intended for. Dr Meyrav Mor developed a method to create bespoke curriculum and teacher education courses that meets the specific needs of any community from any tradition around the world. Our teacher education courses include teaching the method of how to create such a bespoke curriculum and content that takes into consideration the specific community's: sense of place, spiritual heritage, traditional cultural knowledge, as well as specific sociological and governmental requirements. Abiding Heart’s Experiential Buddhist Education is a wonderful example of one of our bespoke curriculum and teacher training courses for Buddhist communities.

A pilgrimage with year 2 students to Namo Buddha, the birth place of Bodhichitta.

The primary purpose of the Abiding Heart Education™️ approach is to (re)connect to our innate goodness or Buddha nature according to each individuals’ capabilities. We are guided by the Buddhist path of inner development and awakening; a process that is both experiential and transformative. We do this through the content of the children’s curriculum, the teacher training courses and the methodology or skilful means. By immersing ourselves in this way of being and process of learning, teachers and children alike, discover a space within themselves that is open, soft and radiant. The essence of this openness is love, which is at the core of all true spiritual endeavour and ultimately transcends desire and concern for oneself. It is the very heart of enlightened wisdom.

Understanding

Abiding Heart's Experiential Buddhist Education

The path chosen here has its roots in the experiential and transformative Buddhist wisdom. It is a process of re-discovering our inner well-being. The path to such determination begins with understanding and deepens through direct experience. In this approach, we learn to apply our insights or heart understanding in everyday life, gradually forming new habits that are motivated by bodhichitta. This style of learning is in common with Steiner’s children’s pedagogy that engages the head, heart and doing, and teaches us to learn about life from life, in the journey towards spiritual awakening.

The Abiding Heart's Experiential Buddhist Education™️ approach rests on the understanding that inner development, from the Buddhist perspective, means the spirit of enlightenment motivated by love and compassion for the individual (for oneself and others) or by the power of goodness. This wholesome way of learning through engaging the head (understanding/knowing) and the heart (experiential/meditation), promotes and nurtures healthy habits and ways of being in every aspect of our lives. True transformation occurs when our innate qualities of wisdom and compassion are fully expressed, enabling us to care deeply for ourselves, for each other, and for the world.

A teacher trainee working on a Thangka painting in the Himalayan Buddhist Arts class as part of our 2022-23 teacher training. This forms part of the Abiding Heart's Experiential Buddhist curriculum for primary.

The Four Pillars
of the Abiding Heart's Experiential Buddhist Education Approach

Ground

Worldview

Human Development

Path

Inner Development of the Teacher

Learning Approach

Curriculum

Healing Contemplative Practices

Teacher Training

Experiential Buddhist Foundation Studies

Human Development and Education

Learning Theories and Methodologies

Abiding Heart’s Experiential Buddhist Curriculum

Understanding Children with Additional Needs

Community Building and Working with Parents

School Organisation and Management

The Well-Being of the Child

Meeting Governments Rules and Regulations

Child Study and Assessment

Fruition

Experiential Buddhist Education

Results

Healing and Transformation

With the Abiding Heart Education™️ approach, the teacher is central to the quality and relevance of the education that a child receives. The process by which teachers are being prepared for this task is a critical indicator, not only of the future quality and depth of learning but the potential for self-transformation and healing. In this way, our educational approach encourages accumulating merit with the heart's wish that the right causes and conditions allow children and teachers to remain and progress on the path to liberation. To support this, Abiding Heart’s pedagogical approach and curriculum content encourage a celebration of our common humanity and inspires creativity, curiosity, kindness and contemplation, all in the service of nurturing children’s and teachers' inner awakening.

Trainee teachers at the Abiding Heart Education™️ education courses are engaged in an approach to learning that is situated in the contemplative traditions view, meditation and practices and which has been translated into a unique children’s contemplative pedagogical approach. The needs of the child are considered in relation to each phase of their development and in doing so, the contemplative traditions learning and teaching methodologies are translated through the Waldorf transformative methodology and progressive education approaches.

A glimpse into Experiential Buddhist Primary Teacher Training Course

The Waldorf transformational learning approach includes Steiner’s insights into the child’s changing consciousness and how this knowledge is translated into pedagogy and used to nurture the child’s inner development. This is interlinked with Steiner’s children’s pedagogical tools and that aim towards supporting their spiritual development towards inner freedom.

Education can be understood in relation to uncovering the very nature of our mind. Our innate basic goodness is not merely an empty vessel that requires filling with endless information. Rather, our innate goodness, replete with qualities and wisdom, is waiting to be expressed and to shine through the cracks in our (seemingly) solidified sense of self.