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Running head: DISCOVERING DIVERSITY

Discovering Diversity Project

Katarina Harbich
EDUC 450 S12
March 10, 2017
Submitted to
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“I can see myself in all things and all people around me,” - Sanskrit Phrase (Ni, 2013)

The Event
I attended an event at the Akshobya Kadampa Buddhist Centre. This centre is a part of

the New Kadampa Tradition of the International Kadampa Buddhist Union which was

established by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Kadampa Dharma is also referred to as “Modern

Buddhism” because it is especially designed to meet the needs for people of this current world

and their daily experiences (Akshobya Kadampa Buddhist Centre, n.d).

I went alone to one of the weekly studies that was a part of the “How to Transform Your

Life: A Blissful Journey” sessions. The topic for the study I attended was about “Purifying

Negative Karma”. The facilitator of this event is resident teacher Gen Kelsang Dema. She can be

contacted at AKBCInfo@gmail.com. There was also a woman helping her with the study by

greeting people at the door and retrieving any texts Gen Kelsang Dema needed to facilitate the

session. Nine other people attended the study. From my observations, I saw that about five of

them had attended the weekly study sessions before and the other participants were at the center

for the first time.

The study for that day began with a sung prayer and then Gen Kelsang Dema led us

through a short meditation. After meditating Gen Kelsang Dema reviewed the teachings from the

week before which was about karma. She then talked about how we could purify our negative

karma. The main points from this lesson were that we could do this through the power of regret,

power of resilience, the power of opponent force, and the power of promise (Gen Kelsang Dema,

2017). She offered us suggestions of ways we could purify our negative karma such as fasting,
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saying mantras, or attending other events at the center (Gen Kelsang Dema, 2017). The study

ended with a question period and the helper of the session offered us tea and cookies.

As evident by the newcomers to the center, many people today are finding value in the

Buddhist teachings. Today only 1.9% of people in Calgary identify as Buddhist (Brazel,2017)

but it is an emerging and growing religion. The number of Buddhists around the world is

expected to rise by 2030, from 488 million to 511 million (“The Future of World Religions”,

2015). One day I could have students in my class who have decided to become Buddhist or my

student’s parents could be Buddhist. I think it is important to gain awareness of this growing

belief system to demonstrate sensitivity toward individual and cultural differences. Through

developing these attitudes, when I interact with students and parents I will have a better

understanding of where they are coming from and therefore be better able to form strong

relationships.

Depth of Understanding: Answered Questions and Post-Event Meeting

I chose this event because it is not a part of the religion I follow. I am Catholic and have

never attended an event for a different religion. I have also learned from the Schlosser (2003)

article that as a Christian I have many privileges. This includes that as a Christian I do not have

to worry about working during a religious holiday and I can assume other people will most likely

have some knowledge about Christianity (Schlosser, 2003). Consequently, I wanted to attend an

event out of the faith I followed to help me understand my privileges as well as gain awareness

of another religion. I formulated some questions going into the event to help me gain a deeper

understanding of Buddhists and their practices. These questions were: are Buddhist women

treated differently than men in Buddhism?, what leads someone to choose to follow Buddhism?,

and how do Buddhists practice meditation?.

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My question about treatment of Buddhist women, was inspired by quote from Sensoy

addressing intersectionality “while all women experience sexism, they experience it differently

based on its interaction with their other social group identities,” (2012, p. 75). As far as I knew

many Buddhist leaders are male and so I wanted to see if Buddhist women experienced sexism

differently than other women. However, my thoughts about Buddhist women being treated

differently was discredited because at this session, most of the participants were women

including the facilitator! There were only three men out of the twelve people at the study. I asked

someone at the study about this, she said that at some other study session there are more men

present and that she had never felt like she had been treated differently in the Buddhist

community (Anonymous, personal communication, February 20, 2017).

I did some research on women in Buddhism to see if this held true for all women.

Although Buddhism originates from ancient India where women were historically seen as a

burden, Buddhism does not consider women as being inferior to men. Buddhism accepts the

biological and physical differences between the two sexes, and considers men and women to be

equally useful to the society (Buddha Net, 2008). Discovering that Buddhist women have

different and even positive experiences from other women has brought awareness to my

understanding that people belonging to some social groups may have different set of beliefs than

others because of their religion or roles. Becoming aware of how intersectionality relates to this

is important in understanding my future students who fall into two or more social groups as their

experiences are going to be unique

For my second question, I spoke to someone and learned that they chose Buddhism

because they were seeking a new way to living and understanding life. She said that Buddhism
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offers this by encouraging Buddhists to analyze its own teachings. She also told me that she

knew some other Buddhists who were attracted to the compassion of Buddhism or the ability to

cultivate your mind through meditation (Anonymous, personal communication, February 20,

2017). There can be many reasons why someone chooses to follow a religion, becoming aware

of these reasons is important to understanding them as it is an integral part of who they are as a

person. As a teacher, it is important to for me to understand and appreciate my students’ different

religious beliefs to cultivate a kind and respectful classroom.

My last question was answered through the information given about meditation practices

at the centre. I learned that, meditation is the main component of Buddhist practice. It is meant to

keep your mind clear of intrusive thoughts so you can focus on the moment. Buddhists try to

meditate daily and they may participate in group meditation sessions. (Gen Kelsang Dema,

2017). Many non-Buddhists are seeing the health benefits of meditation because of its health

benefits in relieving stress (Stöppler, 2014). From attending the study, I have learned that while

meditation can be beneficial it is important to remember where its origins come from. In the

future, I want my students to feel free to explore diversity through class projects or their own

interests. However, I also want them to learn to respectful as it may not be from a group they are

a part of.

After participating in this event, I connected with a member of the Buddhist community.

He gave me a book on the Buddhist tradition he follows and told me that when he does not have

the time to go to a weekly practice he practices at the small altar he has in his home. He said that

people are usually surprised when he tells them that he is Buddhist. Most outsiders have the idea

that being Buddhist means that you are probably vegetarian, do yoga, and travel a lot. He said
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that Buddhism to him has less to do about living a perfectly pure life and more about taking

control of your own life by becoming aware of your thoughts. This in turn makes your

relationships better and contributes to a better quality of life overall (Anonymous, personal

communication, February 25, 2017). This outsider perspective on Buddhists is a stereotype.

Sensoy (2012) describes stereotypes as “reduced or simplified characteristics attributed to a

group,” (p.30). By simplifying Buddhists through these attributes, we are forming a

representation about them that can be harmful and unfair because they stop us from seeing

Buddhists as individuals.

These stereotypes relate to a quote by Sensoy (2012), “like a fish that is immersed in

water from the moment of consciousness and thus cannot know that it is separate from the water,

we too are immersed from birth in the deep water of our culture,” (p.15). For people who are not

socialized in the Buddhist culture, all we see are the superficial elements such as the clothing

worn by monks and some of the Buddhist iconography. Unless we look for the deeper

understandings of the Buddhist religion we are going to remain the fish swimming through our

own waters and will probably not see a glimpse of what individual Buddhists do and think. In

other words, if we do not make an attempt to understand other’s viewpoints then we will remain

ignorant and misinformed to the realities of their worlds.

Personal Extension

Attending this event brought awareness to the privileges I have as a Christian and by

doing so, broke my “nonconscious ideology” (Bem & Bem, 1970, p.89). Schlosser describes

nonconscious ideology in terms of Christianity as “Christians are not likely to know (or believe)

that the environment is oppressive because that environment for them has never been oppressive

to them for being Christian,” (2003, p.47). One way Christianity has developed nonconscious
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ideology is through it being a large religion “the majority of Americans are Christian,

Christianity is the dominant religion in the United States. Because of their numerical superiority

and long-standing political positions, Christians have more power than all of the minority

religious groups combined,” (Schlosser, 2003, p.46). The Buddhist study I attended was in a

small room on the second floor of a building. There were only twelve people in attendance

including the facilitator and the helper. As a Christian, I can easily find large churches to practice

in and find others who follow my faith. I can go to schools that cater to my faith and continue

learning about my religious beliefs (Schlosser, 2003). I realize now that for Buddhists and

followers of other smaller religions, you may have to travel far to find your place of practice.

Your place of worship may be small with not a lot of resources, and there may not be as many

people you can connect with.

During the event’s question period, a couple of people asked questions containing

phrases like “what do Buddhist do/think…?”. Schlosser lists one privilege Christians have is that

“I am never asked to speak for all the people of my religious group,” (Schlosser, 2003, p. 49). I

found it unfair that people who were interested in Buddhism were asking these questions because

how could they expect one person to answer on behalf of what all Buddhists do? There are

different Buddhist sects and even within these groups I’m sure Buddhists engage in different

practices to achieve their own personal goals. No one has ever asked me “what do Christians

do..?” and honestly I would feel strangely if they did. I will be mindful of this in the future and

try not to say something similar. I think by doing so, my students will be able to see that I

appreciate them as a person and see them as more than the group they are a part of. I would also

like to do my best to encourage my students to stop themselves if they think they are going to say

something like this.

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Final Reflection

From participating in this event, I encountered a different belief system and became more

aware of the privileges I have. I learned that Buddhists are very friendly and accepting. No one

was turned away and all questions were dealt with respectfully. I thought that the ideas presented

in the study were useful and I saw that I could incorporate them into my own life. Overall, I

enjoyed the event and I would like to go again. I have discovered that to appreciate anyone’s

belief system, I must do so without stereotypes and break my nonconscious ideology (Bem &

Bem, 1970, p.89). Through this, I can continue transforming as a person and be better able to

teach my students whose lives will be very different from mine. By attending this event as an

outsider, I think I could get a better understanding of Buddhism. I think it would also be

interesting to visit some Buddhist pilgrimage sites and experience Buddhist festivals so that I can

continue discovering diversity.

A new question I have developed, is how does Buddhism relate to other religions?

Buddhism seems to be different from many other religions because there is no personal god.

However, from attending the event I could see that Buddhists are very spiritual people and have

similar beliefs to other religions. One example would be the Buddhist belief of treating every

living being with compassion which is like the Catholic idea of treating everyone the way you

would like to be treated. By finding similarities between religions rather than differences I think

we would be able to appreciate each other. Even though we are all different, we also have many

similarities and by finding them we can connect with each other. By seeing myself in all people

(Ni, 2013) this should help me as a teacher to connect with the diverse students and families I

will encounter.
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As a future physical education teacher who also teaches yoga, I would like to include

meditation practices into my classes because of the health benefits it provides. However, I know

that I must be mindful of where these practices originate from. One way I could do this in class

would be to include a history of the meditation so that my students can appreciate diversity.

Since a part of job will be keeping my students active, I should be mindful of beliefs and

practices that could influence movement. For example, I should become aware if a student is

fasting and accommodate for them because they will not be able to do strenuous activity. If a

fasting student is in a class earlier in the day then they can probably be active because they will

have more energy (Brazel, 2017). If their gym class is later in the day, then I can plan for other

activities such as score keeping. I also want to be inclusive to students who need the space to

practice their religion and make my classroom and open space for them to share with others. This

will make an inclusive and diverse environment because my students will not be afraid to be

themselves and all students can learn from each other’s experiences.
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References

Akshobya Kadampa Buddhist Center: About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved March 3, 2017, from

http://www.meditationalberta.org/about-us/

Anonymous. (2017, February 20). Personal Communication.

Anonymous. (2017, February 25). Personal Communication.

Bem, S. L., & Bem, D. J. (1970). Case study of a nonconscious ideology: Training the woman to know

her place. In D. J. Bem (Ed.), Beliefs, altitudes, and human affairs (pp. 89-99). Belmont, CA:

Brooks/Cole.

Brazel, E., (2017). Religion in the Classroom [Prezi]. Retrieved March 8, 2017 from

https://prezi.com/jcqp3lp8twmc/religion-in-the-

classroom/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Buddhism and Women. (2008). Retrieved March 2, 2017, from http://www.buddhanet.net/e-

learning/history/position.htm

Gen Kelsang Dema. (2017). Purifying Negative Karma [notes and collected documents]. Retrieved from

photos attached to Dropbox submission of notes and documents.

Ni, P. (2013, January 21). Inspirational and Humorous Diversity Quotes. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/communication-success/201301/inspirational-and-

humorous-diversity-quotes

Schlosser, L. Z. (2003). Christian privilege: Breaking a sacred taboo. Journal of Multicultural Counseling

& Development, 31(1), 44-51. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912. 2003.tb00530.x

Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2012). Is everyone really equal? An introduction to key concepts in social

justice education. New York: Teachers College Press.

Stöppler. (2014). Meditation May Reduce Stress and Improve Health. Retrieved March 10, 2017, from

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=46268

The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050. (2015, April 2). Retrieved

March 10, 2017, from http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/buddhists/