Spiti School Visit

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Feb 19 2022- Feb 26 2022

His Holiness the Dalai Lama always say, “Modern education is premised strongly on materialistic values. It is vital that when educating our children's brains that we do not neglect to educate their hearts, a key element of which has to be the nurturing of our compassionate nature.” Just as the saying goes, the Secular Ethics department of Tong-Len strives it’s best to work on educating the hearts of the children to nurture their compassionate nature through raising awareness on the importance of ethical education and that too through a secular philosophy which being the Secular Ethics Philosophy proposed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, which can be applied to all, irrespective of differences of ethnicity and which also serves as a means to embrace our commonness rather than our differences.

The Secular Ethics team of Tong-Len proposed the Secular Ethics curriculum to the Spiti admins from 2021 mid-February and after their approval in July 2021 the curriculum of Universal Ethics in education by Ayur Gyan Nyas is accepted to follow in 73 school, government as well as private school. The curriculum was immediately started in the 73 schools of Spiti after a 2 days’ workshop on the curriculum from 2021 July 2 to 5.

Though the team followed up on the running of the curriculum through phone calls and video calls, but after much discussion, it was felt that an in person visit is very much needed for the teachers in Spiti for a better performance boost. So, after 7 months of curriculum being started in schools, the Secular Ethics team has planned in person visit and made a visit of 9 days in the Spiti region from 2022 February 19 to 26. The visit was also to address problems of the school teachers regarding the delivering of the curriculum in class and to inspect the schools with their progress in the curriculums and to check if they need any assistance from the developers. After evaluating the schools during the visit, it is found that the teachers and the children’s are very intrigued by curriculum and they believe that this is really helping them in developing themselves as a positive, compassionate and a kinder person.

The Kindness APP is Launched

10th December 2021

In commemoration of the 32nd Anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tong-Len launched its "Kindness App" on this auspicious day. Tong-Len is wholly dedicated to working on His Holiness global vision for a Peaceful and Kinder world.

This app is not developed for any commercial purpose, it is solely developed for the common cause to create a kinder and a more peaceful society for all.

Mission and vision

In life we all seek happiness. Kindness is a source of this happiness which brings joy to ourselves and to others. Kindness will eventually allow the whole world to flourish.

‘Be kind whenever possible. It is always Possible.’ H.H The 14th Dalai Lama

By taking inspiration from H.H the Dalai Lama’s vision of kindness and compassion, Tong-

Len’s Secular Ethics Department takes one step forward by developing this app to fulfil his

vision to develop a kinder society or kinder world at large.

Workshop/Teachers Training In Spiti Valley

2nd July 2021 - 5th July 2021

The workshop envisioned to provide the participants with practical teaching strategies and strategies that can be incorporated into their regular teachings at the school through an approach of the philosophy of Secular Ethics with the help of curriculum developed on the philosophy.

During the registration for the upcoming training program “Ethics in Education” for primary school teachers conducted by Secular Ethics Department Tong-Len Charitable Trust and Ayur Gyan Nyas, all the teachers were divided into two batches to follow the social distancing guidelines due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This whole program was conducted to create awareness about the “Secular Ethics” taught by His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama himself. The official program started on 02/07/2021, graced by HE Lochen Tulku Rinpoche, followed by the Lamp Lighting Ceremony. Then the program continued by thanking all the people who attended by Ven. Lobsang Jamyang, Director of Tong-Len Charitable Trust. In the next session after lunch, Sh. Deepak Tiwari and Saida Sana started the main workshop for the first batch of 50 teachers, which consisted of four parts. The first part of the workshop focused on exploring the term “Universal Ethics,” understanding the need for universal ethics in the current education system, and understanding the emotions and ethics of restraint. In the next part, instructors elaborated on the importance of understanding the Ethics of Virtue and the Application of restraint and virtue in our daily lives. On the next day, in the morning session, the instructors started with various activities followed by discussions to make the teachers understand the Ethics of Compassion, the link between Virtue and Compassion, and the Ethics of Universal Responsibility. In the final session, the discussion was related to understanding the Ethics of Discernment, followed by a concluding session on How to deal with Ethical Dilemmas, Building a connection among all the five ethics, and Reflection on how these concepts play out in our lives and teacher implication. As the teachers were divided into two batches, the next two days of the workshop consisted of repeating the same four sessions mentioned above to the new batch of teachers. The participants in both the batches worked cooperatively as directed by the instructors responding to questions in between and through the comments. Each part of the workshop started and ended with a quick introduction and summary, respectively. The participants also showed remarkable enthusiasm 3 during their learning which involved a deep discussion among them about the lectures, and a lot of questions were also raised. They took only short breaks, and some of them skipped the breaks in their enthusiastic response to the approach.

The Tribute project: Environment conservation and helping people in need

July- August

In the mist of this COVID19 pandemic, many people have lost their job and many more are on the verge of losing their livelihood. Among the sufferers, it has been the poor and the marginalized section of the society who have suffered the most. Many of them have not been able to manage a decent meal a day.

So, as a tribute to His Holiness the Dalai Lama for his undying love and compassion for all the sentient beings, the Secular Ethics Department of Tong-Len Charitable Trust, based in Sarah launched the project of environmental cleaning as a part of H.H the Dalai Lama’s 85th birthday celebration. This project is a one year project, 6th July 2020 to 6th July 2021.

The project creates work for the slum people of Chetru or the poor people, they are given work of cleaning the areas from Maan tea estate to Tong-Len school and they are paid on daily basis as daily wage. The main work they do is collect wastes from those areas and separate reusable waste and non-degradable waste (wrappers, glass bottle) and helps in keeping the environment clean and green. The children of Tong-Len installed boards and dustbin around the area specified above.

The project was launched solely to help the poor and the needy of Sarah area to help them lead a sustainable life as the project aim to help them lead a sustainable life as the project is aimed at creating job opportunities for such people. It’s hoped that project will go a long way in removing the financial strain caused by the ongoing pandemic.

A Tribute to His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama on his 85th Birthday

SECULAR ETHICS WORKSHOP

6th July 2020

As a tribute to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his 85th birthday, the secular ethics department of Tong-Len charitable Trust organised some activities to empower being kind with environment and helping the people in need by providing food. The activities were linked to the basic human values of helping others or being kind towards environment as well as people in need and these 2 activities are taken from 2 of the 5 dimensions from our kindness project.

We would like to wish you a very happy 85th birthday and may you live as long as almost 113 years as the prophecy or longer if possible and be able to fulfil all your commitments.

A total of 85 plants (13 trees and 72 flowers) were planted as a representation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama turning towards his 85th Birthday. The plants were planted inside Tong-Len campus. It was followed by a lunch in the slum community of Chetru, where almost 250 to 350 people were fed. The event was successful as it fulfilled the activities goal, sending out a message of importance of environment conservation and helping the needy or the message of kindness.

1st and 2nd February 2020

The Secular Ethics Department of Tong-Len participated in the 2 days conference on 'Universal Ethics for the 21st century: Towards a common Understanding'.

Ven.Jamyang la presented a paper on the 'Common Humanity: The key to develop a kind, compassionate and peaceful society', relating the topic to the work of secular ethics department of the Tong-Len Charitable trust.

The Conference was very well organised, both logistically and in terms of its contents (reports, panels, etc.) The panelist were all renowned social scientists, activists, social entrepreneurs, educators from different parts of India. It was a very knowledgeable experience for all.

ABSTRACT: Common Humanity: The key to develop a kind, compassionate and peaceful society

To understand the third way path as introduced by His Holiness the Dalai Lama for an ethical and happy life and to develop a global community based on mutual understanding and respect, it needs an understanding of the common humanity. By developing consciousness on cultivation of empathy, warm heartedness and understanding the people's preference of happiness over suffering and developing a sense of equality, we can develop the sense of oneness in all which will contribute to a peaceful and compassionate society. In this world of religious diversity, every day we come across news of religious conflicts and the riots based on it. What is the point of having conflict when all the religions are based on kindness and compassion and So, in order to transcend from this religious conflict, developing a sense of oneness through building a common ground on our shared humanity and value seems more helpful in creating a compassionate and peaceful society.

SECULAR ETHICS TALK IN UPPER TCV

December 7, 2019

Ven. Jamyang la, accompanied by Mr. Tsering Tenzin la and 2 Secular Ethics team members gave a talk on the concept of Secular Ethics to the students of Upper T.C.V School. Around 700 children, from class 6th to 12th standard participated in this Talk along with their respective teachers.

The talk covered the philosophy's introduction to the world by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the reason for introducing the philosophy and how this philosophy will be beneficial to create a peaceful and harmonious society. The students from the Secular Ethics team shared how the philosophy proved to be helpful for them in their day to day life and how it brought a positive change in their life as well.

The talk also had a question answer session where the students doubts were cleared, but due to lack of time only a few got chance. The talk ended well with thank you scarf ceremony.

Secular Ethics Workshop

July 10, 2019

Three days ‘Secular Ethics’ Workshop was organized for the teachers and tertiary students (college going students) of Tong-Len Charitable Trust.

The workshop started with a private audience with H.H the 14th Dalai Lama for the Tertiary students and some slum community representatives.

The workshop was conducted to aware the teachers about the concept of secular ethics and why it is important. As for the tertiary students, it is to make them recall what they have learned till now, how to embody it and put it to practice.

Day wise concept covering are as follow:

Day 1 – The concept of Secular Ethics, its Importance, groundings and the pedagogy was covered in the first day. It was an interactive session where all gets an opportunity to speak out their queries as well as ideas.

Day 2 – The concept of Discernment was covered. Lots of group discussion and activities were conducted for better understanding.

Day 3 – An excursion to the Central Tibetan Administration was organized to make them understand how two governments coexist in one country and runs cooperatively.

The three days workshop ended successfully with the excursion.

Private Audience of His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama

July 7, 2019

As the children of Tong-Len have firsthand experience of the difficulties in the society, the philosophy of Secular Ethics fits perfectly with the children of Tong-Len. So through a private audience of H.H the 14th Dalai Lama, a citation and a memento was presented to him by the tertiary students of Tong-Len Charitable Trust and the slum representatives. It was offered to express gratitude for his philosophy of Secular Ethics, his undying support for the slum communities, the children of Tong-Len and for his commitment to make the world a better and harmonious place. Along with the private audience, his holiness also gave a short talk on the Secular Ethics and its importance.

Geshe Negi, Executive Director of SEE Learning Visits Tong-Len

30th May 2019:

It was a pleasure and a privilege to have Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, Executive Director of Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics at Emory University visit our school recently. We got the chance to be able to share the work that our students and staff have been doing with SEE Learning.

He signed our student made SEE logo and it was added to the mural in the grade 8 classroom.

Kindness interactive session

Discernment Workshop

28th May 2019:

An interactive session on the kindness topic was carried out in Dayanand school.

The purpose of organising this interactive session was to instill a deeper understanding of Kindness in the children. And to encouraging the children to cultivate the seed of kindness to develop Dharamshala as a kind city.

The session was carried out with different activities and skits and with group discussions and sharing.

All the students actively participated in the session and they all showed full interest in the session and enjoyed throughout the session with full attention.

On April 28th, 2019, the Secular Ethics Outreach program, under Tong-Len Charitable Trust, hosted a 3 hour workshop entitled “Critical Thinking Development”. The main topic of the workshop was discernment (the skill which enables us to ensure that our choices and decisions are in tune with reality and we have fully considered the consequences).

The purpose of the workshop was to address poor skills in discernment which inadvertently affect final decisions. The students were taught about the concept of Discernment, the role of discernment and how we can tackle the factors which are influencing our decision making by being aware of them Participants were introduced to the idea of having a process which can help to come to the best decision and to be able to discern between good and best.

To make the content clearer and for better understanding, techniques such as group discussions, skits and videos were used. The workshop was delivered over two sessions with a short break in between. The students were engaged into group discussions to help them think through a problem from all the possible perspectives. They were given a chance to share their decisions and discuss as a whole group. Students were asked to use a provided process in the second group discussion. They were given the opportunity to talk about and evaluate the process and if it was useful to them or could it be improved.

We requested that all participants complete a feedback form. Lunch and refreshments were provided after the completion of the workshop.