Welcome to our Ethics Class

Module 1:Introductions and models of spiritual care   

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Reflection Questions:

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• What do you think of the working definitions? Do you use these words in any other ways? What further texture might you add to these terms?

• What do you think of the difference between spiritual care and religious care? Do you think it is valuable to sometimes make this distinction for your own work?

• Why might you want to distinguish these two categories from psychological pain? What examples can you think of in each of the three areas of religious, spiritual, and psychological pain?

• What might the benefits and drawbacks be of separating between spiritual and religious care?

• On Taniyama’s model of the eight relationships, what areas of spiritual pain do you personally struggle more with? Which do you not struggle as much with? When listening to the issues of others, are there any of these dimensions which you find more challenging than others? If so, why do you think that is?

• In your own setting for providing spiritual care, who are the primary other people or departments who also provide care for those at the university in different ways? What relationships or connections to you maintain with them? In beginning to think more about the ethics, what ethics do you think underlie those various relationships?

• Is there a model that you prefer or that speaks more to you? If so, why?

• What would your own model of spiritual care or spiritual pain look like?

Module 2: Ethics of Spiritual Care Relations

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Reflection Questions:

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• What are the ways I talk about other religions? What are the ways I talk about traditions of Buddhism different from my own? Do I use any language, terms, gestures, etc. that might unintentionally push my own religious views over another’s?

• How much am I aware of the religious representation within my community? Is my awareness of other traditions sufficient enough to ensure that I am not offending others or accidentally proselytizing my views upon others?

• Do we have any dual roles with people in the community (i.e. campus chaplain and temple minister/priest)? Are we able to balance the roles and act appropriately for each role within each setting?

• To what degree do I consistently “be with” others who are sharing their experiences? Do I slip into providing responses from my own experience as opposed to truly listening to their own experience and helping them explore that personal experience?

• Who do I know from other religious traditions in my surrounding community or even other Buddhist traditions in my surrounding community? In what ways might I strengthen those relationships? Who might I rely on for questions on those traditions?

• Am I being sufficiently open to the diverse traditions present around me? Even within Buddhism, am I open enough to the diverse Buddhisms present around me?

• What is your own “Dharmology” of chaplaincy? What underlying views of your own Buddhism help dictate your own approach to chaplaincy? Do such views fit with the principles of chaplaincy as well, and in what way?

• What ethical dimensions arise in your own work between psychological, spiritual, and religious care?

• How do my word choices open or close my activities and actions to various segments of the campus population?

• What ethical considerations are involved in the various campus community relationships? Am I properly aware of when I should refer out to other departments or individuals? Are there ways in which I might better collaborate with other people, départements, or community members to be of better service?

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Module 3: Money and Financial Ethics

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Reflection Questions:

• What are the precepts or rules around money from my own Buddhist tradition? What are the rules and policies around money from my employing institution? Are those ever in conflict? Are they complimentary?

• Have I learned all the necessary financial policies and rules at my institution? Do I review them regularly enough?

• What kind of budgets or other financially related responsibilities do I have?

• Are there any grey areas within such policies or rules which I should further clarify within my institution?

• Are there any little ways in which I might ignore what I perceive as small or minor financial policy issues? Is there any danger of those issues becoming bigger as habits develop or times go on? Should I be checking in with any administrators or staff to clarify rules and practices around such issues?

• Do any students or other staff help me with financial elements? If so, are those financial or budgetary practices clear enough? Are the relationships and oversight clear enough? Have I reviewed any policies recently enough to ensure there are no oversight holes? Do I check with others to make sure that such rules and policies are clear with them as well?

• With the various cultures present around me, what differing views and concepts around money and finances might there be? Are there any ways in which such differences might result in misunderstandings? Are there potential linguistic differences (i.e. English as a second language) which might result in such misunderstandings? If so, do I properly address those potential misunderstandings to prevent problems before they occur as best as possible?

• What other issues or concerns around money, finances, or budgets do I have that should be considered and addressed?

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Module 4: Meditation Ethics 

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Reflection Questions:

• What are my own strengths in meditation or areas that I need to work on? What are my own strengths in guiding/leading/teaching meditation and what areas do I need to work on? (just because you might have a strength in your own practice does not necessarily mean it is also a strength in teaching others how to do it – remember that practice and teaching it to others are two different skill sets)

• What different faith traditions are present in my community and what connections might I help them draw to their own traditions? Do I have resources around me to help me familiarize myself with those other practices (ideally in-person teachers and places, but otherwise remote connections, books, or websites)?

• What state of mind do I often have when leading or guiding a meditation session? What is my ideal state of mind for leading or guiding a meditation session? What might I do to bridge that gap if there is one?

• To what degree do I secularize meditation for my audiences? When trying to open up Buddhist meditations for a broader audience, do I still include any of the ethical aspects that used to come part and parcel with it (i.e. right speech, right action, right intention)? How important are the various ethical components to the meditation practice itself? For those ethical components I include, in what ways might they be more or less open to broader audiences?

• In the meditations I practice and the meditations I lead, in what ways do those address social ills or not, social justice or not? Where should the meditations be on that spectrum at different times?

• Have I had challenging or negative meditation experiences? If so, what kinds? Do I face difficult or dark spaces within meditation and what is that like? Am I prepared to help participants through such experiences? Am I prepared to help participants through difficult or challenging meditation experiences that I have not personally experienced? How might I prepare myself for such possibilities?

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Module 5: Ceremonial and Ritual Ethics

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Reflection Questions:

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• What are the direct and indirect roles that rituals and ceremonies play for my community?

• What communities are involved in the ceremonies or rituals that I help lead on campus?

• What additional ceremonies might fit campus needs?

• How aware am I of the religious/cultural etiquette of communities represented?

• What resources (human/material/etc.) do I check in with while constructing a ceremony? What other resources might I have available?

• What are the most critical ritual elements of key religious ceremonies from communities around me?

• If using sacred texts from other traditions, have I checked the reliability/accuracy of those particular books with knowledgeable people from that tradition?

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Module 6:  Self-Care and Healthy Compassion as a Foundation of Ethics . 

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Reflection Questions:

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• How do I personally generally understand the word compassion?

• Does compassion ever wear me out?

• Between the three types of compassion mentioned above (reflective, cognitive, hopeful), what do I tend most toward? Are there different circumstances during which I tend more toward one than another?

• To what degree is my compassion truly directed at others’ needs?

• Upon honest, deeper reflection, at what times might my compassion also include selfish points? At what times might my focus shift to my own experiences with suffering rather than the person in front of me?

• In what ways can I better purify my heart and mind in preparation to facing another and their suffering?

• What times might I need to carry a ‘tough love’ with the person in front of me?

• When I need to be more strict or stern, can I still maintain my compassion?

• In which such cases might I handle easier? In which cases might I need more inner work?

• Are my compassionate responses a ‘one-size-fits-all’ or do they change in the situation? If so, to what degree?

• How can I better adapt to others’ needs as they shift through time, even from moment-to-moment?

• How can I better adapt my compassionate responses to different people?

• Is my own compassion properly balanced with wisdom and equanimity? Do I tend more toward one or another?

• Am I able to transition smoothly from compassion to sympathetic joy as an individual in front of me transitions between negative and positive reflections and stories?