E L L I . F I N D L Y

The following feature article appeared in the campus publication Mosaic in December, 1996.

Elli Findly

Seeking meaning in human experience

Teaching the traditions of Asian religions and responding to her students' needs is in some ways, according to Ellison (Elli) Findly, like serving two masters. Though rarely at odds, the material and her students provide the professor of religion and international studies with what she describes as a tension that expresses one and the same thing: the quest for meaning in human experience.

"My commitment to teaching arises from two sources: my commitment to the material and my commitment to growth in my students. In each class, I am reminded of how important it is to render the materials I am entrusted with as faithfully and honestly as possible. One of the most challenging parts of what I do is to open up the richness of the traditions in ways that are accessible and meaningful to all types of students," she said.

When Findly first came to Trinity in 1980, teaching Asian religions involved opening up foreign worlds to a largely Western audience, she said. Today, with a trend toward increasing numbers of students in her classes who are of Asian ancestry, or who are non-Asians raised in Asian traditions, the task of teaching has become more complex. Students come seeking deeper understanding and knowledge about their particular cultural traditions or about the philosophy of the rituals they have grown up practicing, she said.

One such student is Rhitu Siddharth '97, an Asian studies and political science double-major whose Indian heritage drew her to Findly's classroom. "I have family in India and visit them frequently, but I didn't know a lot about my background until I came here. Before taking ÔBuddhist Thought,' I knew quite a bit about certain traditions but not much about the philosophy behind them," she said. Understanding those traditions in context has given her a new appreciation for her background. "It's been great!" she added.

Unique student projects

In her teaching of Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Asian religions, Findly has earned a reputation as an enthusiastic, accessible professor who has helped bring a number of unique student-initiated projects to fruition. The most visible of these Ñ two mandalas, or sand paintings used in meditation, created by two Tibetan Buddhist monks Ñ added a vibrant, new dimension to classroom discussions, Findly said. Consistent with the Buddhist concept of impermanence, the sand from the completed mandalas was cast into the Connecticut River in a ceremony attended by students (and covered by The Hartford Courant). Her students thus had the opportunity to observe a philosophy in practice and gain a firsthand appreciation of an Asian tradition. Findly said such student-inspired projects are excellent instructional vehicles and allow the exploration of, for example, gender, visual art, and community-outreach issues.

A liberal arts microcosm

In learning about Asian traditions and Indian art, students delve into the history, literature, philosophy, science, and economics of the countries where these religions originated. These interdisciplinary explorations afford students the opportunity to think critically and broadly, and thus represent a microcosm of the liberal arts experience, Findly contends.

Because of the breadth in which her students are challenged to think and learn, key terms and concepts must be mastered. "Once there is shared material, there is discussion about what it means, and then there is an appropriation by students of the material for their own use," she said.

Author of one book on Indian miniature art and another on an empress of Mughal India who ruled from 1611 through 1627, Findly currently is working on a book-length manuscript which focuses on the support of lay patrons to Buddhist institutions. Her scholarly pursuits and pedagogical philosophy merge and reflect the lifestyle of the Gautama Buddha. "The Buddha's lifestyle was always one of responding to a situation and never applying an absolute set of rules," she said. In a similar way, Findly is guided in her teaching by the needs of her students. "I am committed to taking any good, clear, passionately held idea a student may have and finding some way to make it happen," she said.

Religion department chair Professor Leslie Desmangles credits Findly with "the unusual ability of being able to look at one topic from a variety of perspectives. She is a good scholar who can look at the Mughal period from an economic standpoint, a political standpoint, as well as an artistic one."

Joanna Frost,'05, an Individualized Degree Program (IDP) religion major enrolled in Findly's "Religions of Asia" course, praises her professor's enthusiasm and creative teaching techniques. "In revealing a world I know very little about, she has encouraged us to interact and make our study more personal by, for example, having us reproduce Buddhist concepts like mudras, or hand gestures, and recite mantras, or vocal incantations."

And while reciting mantras as a classroom activity may strike some as unusual, to Findly it is nothing more than being true to her material, material that allows her to keep learning and remain a student herself. "I love what I teach and I want my students to love it as much as I do. That's what has been most intriguing and rewarding about being at Trinity. I can keep on living in the material," she said.

-- Suzanne Zack

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