{"id":20,"date":"2019-06-09T06:14:54","date_gmt":"2019-06-09T10:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/encompassindia\/?page_id=20"},"modified":"2019-06-13T01:19:39","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T05:19:39","slug":"children","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/encompassindia\/children\/","title":{"rendered":"Children"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post contains material from Dr. Pierce\u2019s blog, https:\/\/piscience.wordpress.com\/<\/a>, written after his India trip in 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n

I was under the misconception that the monastery just housed monks. Not only do many non-monk Tibetan exiles live around the monastic settlement, but there are a many\u00a0children who go\u00a0to school at the monastery. The school-age children\u00a0have the traditional robes and shaved heads, like the monks. What families\u00a0send these children to the monastery? Remember, many\u00a0Tibetans are living in exile in various parts of India<\/a>. Traditionally, every first born Tibetan son is sent to become a monk (while daughters can become nuns), as early as age five, though this is not the case for every family. In my understanding of the Buddhist tradition, the body is a vessel for the spirit, and therefore it is viewed as a great\u00a0honor to join the monastery. This monastic life is ultimately a choice, however, and monks or nuns are allowed to leave at any time.<\/p>\n

\"2014-06-06<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure how many children\u00a0are going to school at Sera Jey, but I\u2019d guess it\u2019s\u00a0in the thousands. \u00a0The\u00a0school website<\/a>\u00a0is really interesting, especially the highlighted student work on the lefthand side \u2014 fair warning, though, some of the stories are heart-wrenching.<\/p>\n

\"about_students\"<\/a><\/p>\n

serajeschool.net<\/a><\/p>\n

The children students learn a traditional Buddhist curriculum, and have a very regimented schedule (see below). Debates are a large part of the curriculum, though it is not a traditional Western debate with a winner and loser; rather, debates are designed as an opportunity to share knowledge \u2014 I\u2019ll address debates more in an additional post.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

serajeschool.net<\/a><\/p>\n

\"2014-06-08<\/p>\n

My first day at the monastery was also the day off for the\u00a0children (and the monastery\u00a0as a whole). Looking out of my room, I could see lots of children playing in the courtyard \u2014 it wasn\u2019t hard to imagine my son joining in\u00a0the games they were inventing!<\/p>\n

\"2014-06-03<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post contains material from Dr. Pierce\u2019s blog, https:\/\/piscience.wordpress.com\/, written after his India trip in 2016. I was under the misconception that the monastery just housed monks. Not only do many non-monk Tibetan exiles live around the monastic settlement, but … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4420,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-20","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/encompassindia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/encompassindia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/encompassindia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/encompassindia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4420"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/encompassindia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/encompassindia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/20\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/encompassindia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}