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This chapter examines the content of the textbooks compiled by the nuns at the Incense Light Buddhist Seminary for the three levels of adult classes and the teaching methods they use. It was Wuyin who realized that the only way to help the faithful to understand Buddhism and practice Buddhist teachings in daily life was to create an adult education program that would introduce Buddhism systematically. Using her experience attending the adult English classes in Honolulu seven years earlier, she decided to design a Buddhism curriculum for adults. This way of teaching Buddhism was quite innovative at that time, and the very setup of the classes was unusual in Taiwan. This chapter describes the design of the class materials and assignments at the Incense Light Buddhist Seminary and analyzes enrollment data from the classes to provide a profile of the student body. It also considers some hypotheses concerning the effectiveness of the classes by studying samples of homework assignments and exam essays written by the students.

This chapter tells the history of the adult Bible class movement, a nationwide effort among evangelical Protestants to increase lay Bible study at the turn of the twentieth century. While scholars have long studied the Bible in American life as the source of conflict between fundamentalist and modernist theologians, this chapter argues that for ordinary Protestants the Bible has long been a deeply communal text. Drawing on the records of individual Bible classes and regional Sunday school associations, the chapter charts the lived religion of lay Bible study, which was bound up in the social life of the class. It concludes by considering how the adult Bible class movement’s interest in fostering close-knit, devotional friendships served as the idiomatic foundation of modern America’s evangelical subculture. Bible classes became the grassroots base of the fundamentalist movement of the early 1900s, organizing local revival campaigns, marching in Prohibition demonstrations, and propagating the ideas of prominent fundamentalists. When William Jennings Bryan attempted to revive his career after exiting politics, he did so by organizing his own Bible class and going on nationwide Bible class speaking tours.

There is no single solution to the moral crisis of childhood in our culture. This chapter includes personal experiences of the author of this book who runs an adult education classes. The parents, teachers, pastors, and rabbis whom he teaches want something better for their children and are tired of hearing lamentation and excuses. To begin with, reading good stories to children is explored in this chapter. Hans Christian Anderson's ‘The Ugly Duckling’ is a masterpiece that also contains searing social criticism and profound insights into human nature and conduct. ‘The Ugly Duckling’ is a story that captivates children because it is also about growing up.

This chapter provides profiles of several Buddhist nuns of the Incense Light community, focusing on their family backgrounds, their motives for joining the sangha, their accomplishments and setbacks, hopes and frustrations. They include Xinzhi, Wuyin, and Mingjia as well as nuns who contributed to the formation and development of Incense Light as a distinctive female monastic community. One of the nuns did not have any specific religious upbringing and did not know the difference between popular religion and Buddhism. Looking back on the changes the community had undergone since 1985, she felt the introduction of the Institute of Cultural Affairs teaching method, termed “conscious conversation,” was probably the most important. This was because it was used in both the seminary and the Buddhist adult classes.