Illuminating+the+Amida+Sutra

=**Title: Illuminating the Amida Sutra**=

**Status: NOT YET MODERATED**

Objective:

 * After this lesson, the student will
 * know the name of their section of the Smaller Amida Sutra
 * create an illumination (representation) of this section of the Amida Sutra

Materials:

 * Blank paper
 * Color markers
 * Pens
 * Worksheet [[file:Worksheet.pdf]]
 * Amida Sutra Translation [[file:Smaller_Amida_Sutra.pdf]]
 * Other media depending on the illumination
 * Small plastic bags
 * Small pieces of towel paper (2 x 2 inches roughly)

Preparation:

 * Day 1:
 * Make copies of the worksheet for the class (depends on # of teams)
 * Distribute a set of color markers to each table
 * Prepare "smells"
 * Saturate a paper towel square with cinnamon and little bit of water
 * Saturate a square with after-shave lotion
 * Saturate a square with lemon or orange juice
 * Day 2+:
 * Prepare the materials for whatever the form of the illumination

Method:

 * 1) Day 1
 * 2) Opening Gassho
 * 3) Welcome
 * 4) Explain that today we're going to do an illumination of the Amida Sutra which is one of the 3 Pure Land Sutras upon which Jodo Shinshu is based on.
 * 5) Of course, illuminations in ancient times were: paintings on walls, paintings on paper and sandpainting.
 * 6) We'll start today with sitting meditation to clear our minds
 * 7) Sitting Mediation
 * 8) Pass out blank paper to each student; Explain that this is for the next exercise
 * 9) Explain that the whole objective is to clear the mind by slowing it down
 * 10) Ask students to close their eyes.
 * 11) You will have thoughts and ideas. Just acknowledge it and "let it go"
 * 12) Start by breathing in and out on count of 10
 * 13) Should be at most 5 minutes (you choice on stretching/shortening this).
 * 14) Imagination Exercise
 * 15) Go directly into this from Sitting Meditation
 * 16) Tell students that you will read a word, then they should open their eyes and draw a picture or write words to describe what comes to mind.
 * 17) Give 30 seconds to draw/write
 * 18) Tell student to close their eyes
 * 19) Words: "Amida", "Pure Land", "Enlightenment", "Wonderful Fragrance", "Wondrous Colors"
 * 20) Tell the student to smell a bag and write down/draw what thought it invokes
 * 21) Worksheet
 * 22) Describe the project: Use your imagination to "illuminate" the Amida Sutra. This could be a picture, poem, video, webpage, song, music, rap, etc.
 * 23) Get into teams (3 or 4 people)
 * 24) Each team fills out a Worksheet. Assign section of Amida Sutra.
 * 25) Each team does research. (This may be done outside of class)
 * 26) Write down "What we are going to do"
 * 27) Present
 * 28) Each team presents their proposal
 * 29) Other teams provide constructive comments
 * 30) Remind students of what's going to happen on other days
 * 31) Closing Gassho
 * 32) Day 2+
 * 33) Opening Gassho
 * 34) Pass out the Worksheet to the Team
 * 35) Teams do research or work on the project
 * 36) Closing Gassho
 * 37) Presentation Day
 * 38) Opening Gassho
 * 39) Each team prepare what they will say in the presentation. Their section of the Amida Sutra must be recited.
 * 40) Each team presents (If desired this may be recorded)
 * 41) Discussion of what they learned/what section they liked
 * 42) Closing Gassho

Evaluation:

 * Ask what they learned during the Presentation Day discussion.

Note:
This is possibly a 3 day or even a 4 day lesson depending on the way that the students choose to illuminate the Amida Sutra

Author:
{One line: First & Last name, Email address(if you have one), Affiliated Temple/Church, Year written} Mas Nishimura, nish221.at.gmail.dot.com, San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin, 2015 ||