Buddhist Approach to Global Education in Ethics
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
297 BUDDHIST APPROACH TO GLOBAL EDUCATION IN ETHICS This volume is a collection of papers presented at the international workshop on “Buddhist Approach to Global Education in Ethics” which is being held on May 13, 2019, at International Conference Center Tam Chuc, Ha Nam, Vietnam on the occasion of the 16th United Nations Day of Vesak Celebrations 2019. The aim is to throw new light on the values of the global ethical system with a focus on the Buddhist approach in deepening our understanding of how Buddhist ethics can deliver a social change in the globalized world. REVIEW OF CONTENTS Prof. P. D. Premasiri in his paper titled “Universally valid ethical norms of Buddhism applicable to global education in ethics” deals with hindrance in determining the basis for global education in ethics and providing undeniable facts about the diversity involved in ethical norms, principles and attitudes of various global communities. The author also discusses the characteristics of Buddhist teaching on a humanistic approach to the moral life with perceptions of enlightened humans, i.e. ‘Knowledgeable Persons’ (vi¤¤å purisà). The paper places further emphasis on the necessity to draw the attention of educators to train the minds of humans on ethical choices in accordance with such decisions. The paper entitled Teaching“ Buddhist Ethics through the Life of the Buddha and Jesus” by Abraham Velez De Cea has proposed a new approach to the Buddhist ethical way of teaching and its application through interpretations of the Buddha’s life from the perspective of virtue ethics and meditation. The purpose is to heighten the Buddhist contribution being made to global education in ethical issues. The paper is divided into two parts, Buddhist ethics as a 298 BOOK OF MESSAGES: UNITED NATIONS DAY OF VESAK 2019 form of virtue ethics and secondly, interpretation of the Buddha’s teachings from the perspective of virtue ethics and meditation. Prof. G. A. Somaratne’s research paper entitled “Early Buddhist Moral Theory for Global Education in Ethics” focuses on early Buddhist moral theory based on three equally important principles covering; the principle of efficacy of intentional actions that comes to constitute the early Buddhist moral theory, the principle of the necessity for doing good deeds (kiriya-vāda), and the principle of exercising energy to do morally right actions (viriya-vāda) with expertise. Emphasis is placed on the importance of each principle and the real meaning of Buddhist moral theory. M. A. R. S. Marasinghe in his paper “A Buddhist Contribution to the Global Education of Ethics: A Non-Metaphysical Basis for Ethics” has explored Buddhism’s universal basis of morality in the light of the five precepts and important discourses of the Buddha to explain his views on a larger canvas. The author further explains his point of view with the help of the Kālāma-sutta (Aṅguttara-nikāya) to explain the character of any specific religious teacher. The author discussed the significance of the message of the discourses and the five precepts with the purpose to highlight the global education of ethics. Jeff Waistell explores a different and new approach toThich “ Nhat Hanh’s Approach to Global Education in Ethics” with focus on the educator as the starting principle instead of the student. It further focuses on the importance of the teacher to be mindful in the way they talk, listen and teach to the student so that they can effectively teach mindfulness. As Thich Nhat Hanh stated, “if we are mindful, it shows”. The paper also explores the benefit of this approach with emphasis upon the importance of the educator’s need to work on their own mindfulness before educating others. The paper Role“ of Buddhist Ethics for Better A Education” by D. M. K. Dharmasiri explores how Buddhist ethics can help to build a better education for society, which can be learned from every subtle thing in our daily life. The educational aspect of Buddhist teachings has been highlighted with reference to three types of Buddhist concepts, i.e. Dhamma-desanā (preaching of Buddhist teachings), BOOK OF MESSAGES: UNITED NATIONS DAY OF VESAK 2019 299 Dhammasavana (listening of Buddhist teachings), and Dhamma Sakachcha (discussion of Buddhist teachings). At the same time, the paper also explores the four sublime thoughts (Brahma Vihara) as a guideline to become an ideal person in the society with a focus on the psychological transformation of one’s behavior that leads the person from general life (Lokiya) up to the Lokuttara (spiritual level). The aim of the paper titled Understanding“ the Concept of the ‘Educated Person’: A Buddhist Perspective” by Kazal Barua is to understand the concept of the educated person from the Buddhist viewpoint and perspective. The paper goes on to deal with the embodiments of an educated person with a combination between practical skills required for sustaining everyday life and intellectual abilities needed for spiritual development and realization of the full potential. Finally, the author has drawn references from the Buddhist sources and suggested that Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) is an effective method to train learners to trigger the intrinsic ability to achieve the full potentiality of human beings. “Buddhist Ethical Approach to Sustainable Societies” of Kanchan Saxena examines this topic with an aim at liberating a suffering mankind (stress on social and worldly) and life. The author recommends cultivating amity, loving friendship, compassion, service to fellowmen and such other qualities and sentiments. The paper goes on to discuss the Buddhist way of life with an emphasis on social morality and spiritual discipline as taught by the Buddha. In his paper “Buddhist Approach to Ethical Education”, Prof. Baidyanath Labh has explored the significance of moral or ethical education as perceived in Buddhism and its impact on the education system based on ethical values and morality. The author first distinguishes between morals and conducts and concludes that ethics is necessary for a noble and meaningful life, which goes hand in glove with ethics and knowledge. Rev. Mediyawepiyarathana in his paper namely “Teaching methods used by the Buddha to Globalize ethics for creating a sustainable society” focuses on researching and evaluating the teaching methods of the Buddha for globalized ethics and a sustainable world. The paper further analyses the methods used by the Buddha with the 300 BOOK OF MESSAGES: UNITED NATIONS DAY OF VESAK 2019 aim to know how the methods can be used for globalizing ethics to create a new sustainable society. In the paper “Methods to Overcome Impediments of Memorizing in the Buddhist Philosophy of Education” Sanjeewa Vijitha Kumara stresses the importance of memorization abilities (no paper, electronic notes) of the student in today’s world as part of creating a sustainable world. The article explores the five hindrances of the memorizing process and further proposes a reliable, but practical solution in terms of overcoming varied facets of current impediments for building a sustainable society. A comparison is made between modern memory theory and the Pali canonical text with their commentaries as the primary source. Wimal Hewamanage focuses on the Universal Assumption for Good and Bad: Buddhist Perspective, which is the central theme of his paper and answers the question of what is good and what is bad. The paper is based on early Buddhist discourses and he identifies four common characteristics on the matter in question which are; 1) there is no morally right or wrong viewpoint, 2) there is no universal moral truth, 3) there are biologically same ethics and 4) there is one universal moral code and it is called hard universalism or absolutism. The author concludes his paper with the Buddhist standpoint on good and bad in considering the psychological base, the result of actions and fact and value component that provides a remarkable and universal light to the subject. Ven. K. Vineetha Thero’s in his paper Buddhist“ Approach to the Student Centered Education” explores the characteristics of the Buddhist approach to educational theories and its application to the student-centered theory of education for millennium development goals with a comparative study of Buddhist theories. The paper also discusses about the teaching theories and related discourse (desanā), argumentative theories (pañhapanā), revision (paṭṭhapanā), analysis or reaction (vibhajanā), interpretation (vivaranā), explain (uttanikamma), discussion (sākacchā) solving questing (pañha visajjana), etc. The author is of the view that modern education theories have been in the process of change with the scholars or policymakers, so it is difficult to achieve the goals. BOOK OF MESSAGES: UNITED NATIONS DAY OF VESAK 2019 301 The next paper in this Section is of Heinz-Dieter Meyer entitled Education as Heart-Mind Transformation: Can we work towards a global ethic of education? The paper explores Buddhist and Aristotelian perspectives that emphasize the need to shape and transform the student’s sensibilities so that morally appropriate (virtuous) behaviour becomes a matter of rational cognition. The author deals with key assumptions and formative strategies, which differ in interesting and illuminating ways. Bhikkhuni Dr. Dieu Hieu’s paper on “The Buddhist Analysis of the Significance of Meditation (Bhāvanā) in Promoting Ethical Education in the Modern Society” presents the argument that meditation should be an important component of ethical education and the foundation of ethics. Essentially, moral virtue (sīla) and meditation (bhāvanā) are components of the Buddhist way of life. The paper further argues that the practice of one is not complete without the other and gives other examples from the discourse and tries to prove that the virtue and meditation cannot exist in a mutually exclusive way. Sarah Shaw continues the evaluation and significance of ethics in her paper titled Ethics and the Jātakas: Can Narrative Support a Secular Ethical Code? She picks up the threads of ethical codes as depicted in the Jātakas which is an informal rule of law.