The goal is to introduce and personalize various symbology from selected world religions to students K-12.

Symbology from the Buddhist, Shinto, and Christian religions, will be introduced individually over time. The goal of introducing and personalizing the symbology will not be emphasized to the students. Rather, the activity itself will serve as the introduction.

Buddhist Symbology
 

1. Students are given 2 large pieces of drawing paper and available coloring materials ie. Crayons, marking pens, watercolors. They are asked to take off their shoes and trace both their feet onto one piece of paper and then color or decorate the feet. On the other piece of paper they are to draw or invent a flower that represents them. Names of the students should be written lightly on the back of the papers.

2. These papers may be displayed in the classroom and used in amusing ways to represent the various students. Perhaps for one week several can be displayed and guesses entertained as to who the drawing represents. During class time the teacher can point to a drawing rather than call on students for questioning or comment on the matter at hand.

For Independent Study students these drawings can be collected by the teacher and then shared at weekly meetings, asking students who they think created the drawings.

In either learning situation, the teacher may want to recreate some of the drawings on scratch paper or with colored chalk and ask which of the original drawings are represented.

3. After a week or at the end of the meeting time, a re-creation of a Buddhist foot design and/or lotus ( ftp://ftp.buddhanet.net/artbud/lotus.gif )may be shown, with the innocent question of "who did this one?" From this may come a discussion of the use of these visual clues in Buddhist culture and society. Comments on the use of similar visual clues in or from other religions can be encouraged.

4. Various examples of the lotus and foot motif can be displayed in the class room or at subsequent student meetings for students to become acquainted with. For younger children, displaying the phrase "to walk a mile in his shoes" can be discussed. For older students the quotation from Shakespeare, Henry the IV, Part 1 " In those holy fields

Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet,.."

can be shown without an identifier, the teacher asking the question of the students if they can recall where this verse may have appeared. Alternatively it can be used as a Western example of the veneration shown Holy Beings.
 

1. Students gather the following materials: sand, small stones, a larger stone or stick, a rectangular container for these items.

2. The gathering of the materials can be an experience or not. Excursions to gather the natural materials add to the specialness of the creation.

3. Students are asked to add the sand to the container to make a rectangular clearing. Within the space small rocks are placed. The larger rock or wood piece is placed so it may be used as an alignment tool.

4. The following day the students are shown how to align the larger stone or wood with a point on the horizon, a giant tree or other outstanding natural feature.

5. The teacher explains that the creation is similar to a Shinto mini-shrine based on Shinto's earliest form: himorogi/seichi. The words are clearly displayed for the students and left in place for a day or so. (If a reproduction of the Japanese character is available, it is displayed also.) The character/words mean "listening to the voice of the Kami/deity in a sacred place".

6. Shinto is discussed as time and teacher understanding permits. Emphasis is put on the harmony between deities, man, and nature that is primary in Shinto. The idea of " kami" is introduced in its widest meaning--mythological beings as well as divinity as found in nature. This divinity can be shown in natural places, objects or living things. http://orias.berkeley.edu/visuals/japan_visuals/shinto.HTM

7. Students interested in building a larger model of a himorogi/seichi do so outside. It is constructed within a rectangular space delineated by four marked corners that are linked by vine or string. The space is cleared and filled with little stones. A large "marker" is placed in alignment with an unusual natural feature or point on the horizon.

8. A special walk in nature is taken with the expressed intention of finding a place that might serve as a Shinto shrine. Each student decides for themselves where the shrine would be placed.
 

1. Ask the students to suggest symbols to you and record them for all to see.

2. Tell the students that we are all going to play a game. It is a nonverbal game and we must be careful how we play it. Explain that graffitti is against the law and has a destructive result. Graffitti can really bother people and that is not the intent of this game.

3. This game is about communication without words. The students choose a symbol that has no context within their culture or community. It should be a very abstract, neutral symbol that can be easily drawn. The students will communicate their presence using this symbol. Using paper drawings or chalk or other non-graffitti means, students will place the symbol in places other students will notice. The students who observe the symbol will, in turn, place a tally mark or repeat the symbol. All this should be done without words. No one needs to indicate where they have placed the symbol until the game is over. Bulletin boards, kiosks, entrance ways and sidewalks have been used for the symbols.

4. After a week or so, the teacher introduces the sign of the fish, explaining that when they were being heavily persecuted, Christians relied upon this symbol to communicate. Images from the period of the Catacombs can then be introduced. http://www.catacombe.roma.it/

5. Discussion of the student experience of placing their symbols follows. How did they place them, where and why. How many "hits" did their symbol receive?
 

Evaluation and Assessment of this project is through the production of the individual products and through inclusive discussion.

Sources
 

John Nelson of University of San Francisco, Anthropology Department, lecture notes from his presentation on Shinto "Sacred Space and Time", for the Himorogi/seichi outdoor mini-shrine and description

Orias links

Http://orias.berkeley.edu/visuals/buddha/life.html for Buddha images http://orias.berkeley.edu/visuals/japan_visuals/shinto.HTM

General Links

Ftp://ftp.buddhanet.net/artbud/lotus.gif , for lotus image.

http://www.catacombe.roma.it/