The compassion continued as we moved to Science class. I had lost my voice the day before and was not able to be much help in the classroom. The teacher reassured me that it was okay and he understood. He taught the class in Nepali so that it was easier for the students to understand, but he would occasionally pause to explain to me what they are learning in English.

Then, he gave the students something to study and came to talk to me. He explained some of his teaching tactics to me, which I thought were very insightful, and he encouraged me to ask any questions I had about the school. 

Lastly, he related to my sickness and wished that I would feel better quickly. His outflow of loving-kindness made my day even better. As defined by Phakchok Rinpoche in his book Awakening Dignity, “Loving-kindness is the intention and capacityto bring joy and happiness to oneself or other persons” (Rinpoche 102). I appreciated that he could tell I had been unwell and needed to rest, and he was not upset with me for just taking notes while in his classroom the day before. This encouraged me to extend loving-kindness to others because everyone experiences suffering and deserves to be alleviated from it. 

The last class we had was Tibetan. The teacher took us outside to study. He acknowledged me once with a head nod, then proceeded to teach the class purely in Tibetan. 

The students saw other, younger classes outside playing games while they were working quietly. I noticed some of them looking frequently with a longing look in their eyes, but they never asked to play instead of work, nor did they act out. They just kept studying. 

It wasn’t until the bell rang that they began inquiring about different activities. The sixth graders turned to me and asked to have another dance class, like we had on the first day we met. They said they had Tibetan and Nepali dances to teach me. Unfortunately the bell that had just rung was also my queue to leave. We shared our schedules and found a time to meet later in the day. They seemed satisfied with this and ran off to lunch. 

This morning nine of us volunteered at the monastery school for the second time. I, Sadie, was once again surprised by the “discipline” and self-sufficiency that all the students displayed. Before I even got to the class, and while we were figuring out whether or not there would be teachers, the students were already all seated in the classroom and working on class material or homework assignments using their textbooks. This is something that I think would be extremely rare to see in an elementary school classroom in the United States. It showed their initiative, respect, and desire to learn, which I think is related or can be connected to Buddhist principles and culture that we have been learning about and experiencing.

I noticed this same level of “discipline” in the morning assembly that we got to experience, before classes, today and yesterday. In this assembly, one student would stand in the front of the group, first instructing them in the different arm and corresponding leg changes and then through a series of different chants, songs, and anthems. The attention and obedience of all the students, down to the nursery students, in all of the assemblies was awe-inspiring. 

Today, I also really noticed the genuine compassion and care or focus of others from both the students and teachers towards me as well. During the first period, the teacher spent the entire period essentially teaching me different things about his teaching style and facts about Nepal, like the climate and temperature of different regions of Nepal. Although I appreciated learning more about the culture and education of Nepal, to the best of my ability, I felt bad that the teacher was taking up class time to explain this to me, instead of teaching Nepali to the students. 

I noticed this same respect for others with the second teacher, for social studies, but in a different way. He explained to me that Social Studies is taught in Tibetan and was concerned that I would be bored, but I was able to assure him that I was very interested in observing. 

I recognized the “flexible” mentality that all the students have throughout the day. During the first class, the secretary of the school came in and announced that for the next month, the woman who was with him, who I believe is from Denmark, would be teaching them English during the time of their Tibetan handwriting class, because that teacher was still in India. They all just accepted it, saying “okay,” and moved on, going back to their work, when I would have expected them to have a larger reaction. 

There were also differences between the teaching styles and approaches of the different teachers for each of the subjects, demonstrating flexibility. The social studies teacher essentially “lectured” for the whole class period, asking some questions for the students to answer. In contrast, the third-period English teacher specifically pointed out that he teaches his classes by reading and explaining a story but the rest of the time is given to the students to work on their homework assignments. During that time, they had the “freedom,” in his words, to sing, talk, etc., which seemed slightly different than a typical classroom in the United States.

When I came back to meet the class after school they seemed both excited and nervous to teach me. We had gathered outside, but they decided they didn’t want to dance outside. So, before their classroom reopened for self-study, they showed me a video of a dance that had been performed in the courtyard we were standing in. The video can be found here. While this wasn’t the dance they ended up teaching me, I appreciated seeing the beautiful production, and I was happy that they wanted to share their culture with me. 

Then, it was finally time to go back to their classroom. When we got there, some of the students got out study materials while the rest came to teach me the dance. 

The kids taught me a Tibetan dance that is used in ceremonies or rituals; the bows and slow claps are signs of respect. I am sure that I was not as fluid or smooth as those who taught me, but they seemed excited that I was able to do their dance. The Tibetan dance definitely took skills that I am not well versed in, but I really enjoyed learning it. 

This dance had a meaning unlike any other piece I’ve been a part of. I am used to doing dances with deep personal meanings or even a social commentary, but I have never seen or learned a dance that is meant to help its audience in such a profound way. The kid’s ability to be such diligent students during class time and then have such fun after school is a beautiful example of balance, a staple of Buddhism. 

The Buddha found that it was best to not live in extremes; if you pull a guitar string too tight, it will break, but if it is too loose it will not play. This concept is known as “The Middle Way”. The sixth graders are very studious but not so much that they can’t experience other joys. On the other side, they are able to have fun but not so much that they get carried away and forget their studies. We can all learn from their ability to live with balance.

Before going to our classes today, we observed the morning assembly at the monastery school. This, again, felt like a very unifying and community-centered experience, similar to the sense of community and focus on others that we have experienced throughout Nepal so far, as well as at the Bay Area Buddhist Centers. 

Regarding the concept of “discipline,” to which the definition was expanded upon in our discussion and reading in Chapter 10 of Awakening Dignity yesterday, to encompass “being responsible for our actions” (Rinpoche & Wu 2022, pg. 155) as opposed to meaning just rigid or structured, 

I noticed today how the students once again came in and started learning without having to be asked to, and asked permission to enter or exit the classroom, once there was a teacher, and said/sung “Hello ___” and “Thank you___” when the teacher, or I for that matter, entered and exited the classroom. These are types of behaviors I would not expect, or haven’t seen, in a fourth-grade classroom in the United States. 

My experience in the first-period, Nepali, class was very similar to my experience yesterday. The teacher for the most part talked to me in English, this time telling me a story that, from what I could tell, was about a student in a low caste in Nepal who could not receive an education. He went on to explain how a good teacher will teach all the students equally, or “paralleling” as he put it, regardless of what caste they are from. 

Unlike yesterday, the teacher also briefly talked to the students in Nepali, I believe giving them instructions on what to be working on. 

During this period also, the secretary brought in new blue pens for the students and teacher, and offered me one as well. This was something similar to an experience that Alyssa had described occurring in her classroom with new pencils the previous day, in that all the students seemed very excited. The secretary also explained to the students that he wanted them to write in their notebooks with blue instead of black ink, which I was curious to learn more about the reasoning behind. 

I also was surprised, feeling a sense of open compassion and care for others, when I was also offered a pen. Even though I was not one of the school’s students or teachers, they wanted to make sure I still had a pen if I needed one.

My experience in the second-period Social Studies class was the same as yesterday: the teacher taught in Tibetan for the entirety of the class. I am a little unsure what my role in this period should be if it is anything in addition to observing. 

Something I have noticed the past couple of days at this school, which is something that differs from schools with different class periods, like in Junior High/Middle School or High School, in the United States, is that here the students stay in the same classroom while the teachers switch or rotate classrooms for different periods -- exactly the opposite of what happens in the United States. 

During this time, when the teachers were switching from the second to third-period classes, I was able to connect with the students, for what I think was the first time, regarding Pokémon cards. This is something that other people who have been volunteering at this school have also noticed their students are interested in, which is an interesting cultural similarity between school students here and in the United States. 

For the third-period English class today, the teacher and students showed me their school library. One of the students read me one book in English and then one in Tibetan. 

The teacher then handed me the book, “Tibet and Tibetan Muslims,” by Dr. Abu Bakr Amir-uddin Nadia, to read for myself. I only got through the introduction but found it interesting how it described the focus of Tibetan religious books, which I found to be connected to Buddhist principles we have discussed, such  impermanence, detachment or disowning, and “awakening compassion” through Bodhichitta (Chödrön 2019, pg. 8), so I am curious to see how else these principles appear in our explorations.