Dharma school students on Buddhist path to knowledge

Calming the mind: Students at Daylesford's Dharma School begin their day with 15 minutes of meditation. Photo: Angela Wylie
 
The dawn of a new day at the Daylesford Dharma School begins not with the bark of an automated bell, nor with a loudspeaker, but with gentle reverberations of a Tibetan singing bowl.
For the past five years, this traditional harmonic gong has acted as the sign for children to line up outside, to quiet themselves, before entering Australia's first (and only) mainstream Buddhist school.
The prep through grade 5 students - 40 of them begin term one this week, up from 15 when the school opened in 2009 - then file into the meditation room and find a comfy cushion on the floor.
''They know that it's a time of respect,'' said principal Joel Hines. ''There's a bit of reverence for the space. The kids sit in front of the altar - eyes closed, legs crossed, hands in lap - and take a few deep breaths.''

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There, under the watchful eye of the golden Buddha and the Buddha of compassionate action, a small bell chimes, signalling the start of morning meditation.
''They may be asked to imagine their family or friends in front of them,'' Mr Hines said. ''Or to visualise a ball of light in their hands - to feel it rise up and then send that positive energy or golden light out to other beings - insects and animals and people in the world.''
After 15 minutes comes the weekly themed ''awareness program'', which could include anything from teachers role-playing an act of generosity, to kids telling stories about kindness.
Then comes literacy and numeracy. This is a primary school, after all. They stick to the national curriculum and consistently post above-average results in NAPLAN data.
Lisa Brock of Hepburn Springs couldn't be happier with the education Holly, 10, Anika, 8, and Mischa, 7, have received since they came here in prep and began developing ''their own innate wisdom''.
Ms Brock considered schools in Daylesford, Hepburn Springs, Yandoit, Drummond and Bullarto, but ultimately wanted intellectual rigour with ''a more gentle beginning''.
''We wanted a place where we knew they would be nurtured like they would at home,'' Ms Brock said. ''They encourage them to speak their own truth.''
Dr Zane Ma Rhea of Monash University spent 18 months researching the early days of the school, supporting the staff and exploring how a mostly non-religious cohort of teachers could conduct classes in a ''Buddhistic sort of way'' without turning it into a religious school with monks for tutors.
Dave Edmunds has been teaching at the school for 18 months. A former Xavier College boy raised Catholic in Brighton, Mr Edmunds said the Dharma school doesn't push religion, but rather embeds a philosophy.
''You receive Buddhism almost by osmosis,'' said Mr Edmunds, 40, a typical spa country tree-changer who has been everything from inner-city rocker and cycle messenger to barista and youth worker. ''Everything revolves around our five precepts - deep listening and loving speech, generosity, body responsibility, mindful consumption, and reverence for all life. There's a lot of cause and effect.''
Mindfulness is one of the new buzzwords in early years education, but there are subtle extensions here including the ''conflict resolution circle'' and the more intimate ''peace table'', where children discuss the facts of any incident or act of aggression.
From fights to cliquishness, they talk through how it made both parties feel, and how problems can be avoided. Kids in the older grades recently started sitting down without staff, unprompted, running their own dialogue.
The school is small, but specialist teachers come for Chinese classes, violin and guitar lessons, and to supervise sport. Competition is not discouraged. ''Our kids are incredibly physically active,'' said school founder and former principal Andrea Furness. ''Losing with grace and honour is something we teach.''
The school charges $2800 a year for full-fee-paying students, which helps pay for the long-term lease on the quirky premises: the school is housed inside the local tennis club social rooms. They have two portable classrooms on site, courtesy of BER funding, and they mean to expand.
A fund-raiser this month at the Quang Minh Temple in Braybrook saw 350 people raise $15,000 towards the purchase of idyllic forested land in nearby Musk.
Melbourne has taken notice of the model, too, with Vietnamese, Thai and Sir Lankan communities planning two more Dharma schools in Braybrook and Springvale. In Daylesford, there are plans for a high school.
In the meantime, they have a perfectly sound home with the town's best view of Wombat Hill. The vegie patch is burgeoning out back, and there is a big Buddha out front, resting under a weeping cherry tree.
It would be natural to fear that these children may get eaten alive at high school, where ''unpacking your own reality'' is not exactly part of the pre-teen lexicon. But, anecdotally at least, the transition has been fine.
''There's always this idea that you're putting kids in a bubble,'' Ms Furness said. ''But we hold them accountable to everything they do. They know that kids can be nasty, and they have the language to deal with that. We're actually smashing the bubble wide open.''
■konrad.marshall@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Twitter: @KonradMarshall
source: theage.com.au