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SHARE THE VISION ON BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
Authors: Ven. Mediyawe Piyarathana Thero
Number of views: 477
The objective of this research paper is to share the vision on Buddhist Philosophy of
Education. At the time of the Buddha, the education system was considered mainly as a
religious one, although the education concept was a pre-Buddhist one. The main objective of
the Buddha was not to introduce an education system to the world; however, The Buddha
was really a religious teacher who introduced a practical and living philosophy to the entire
human community. Since Buddha was a person who understood reality fully as an
Enlightened One, he introduced a living philosophy targeting the entire human beings
through various teaching methods. It is possible to explore the Buddhist Philosophy of
Education by exploring the teachings of the Buddha.
Educability is accepted in Buddhism at a great level as a principle. The Buddhism
emphasizes in the Eight-Fold Path that volition and try, enthusiasm and courage are
necessary factors. The way a person should act to end demerit and for the improvement of
merit is given under Four Great Efforts. Educability is not a possibility to receive from a
religion, not accepting the potentiality of person. The Buddhism has emphasised through
many discourses that a person has to achieve objectives without resorting to any external
elements. From the teachings of the Buddha, educability and potential energy of a person
have been included as essential components in Buddhist Philosophy on Education.
According to Buddhism, personality can be presented as the only strength that a person
possesses to act with volition and self-confidence. Buddhism first teaches person to create
good conduct by disciplining the organs like body, speech etc. then advises for his spiritual
development. The personality of the one who has become an Arahant is more than all those
persons. The whole purpose of the Buddhist education is to develop the personality of
person. When it is compared with the objectives of modern education, Buddhist education
objective seems to be a wide and deep one. If the features of personality are seen with
students, it can be considered great. The society with them is peaceful. Buddhism has
presented the facts like liquor, gambling and misconduct that cause personality into decay
and destroy. It is clear that all the necessary advice for a student to develop personality is
given by Buddhism.
Buddhist education is a way to end all the mental ills like lust, faults and ignorance through
the entire physical and mental discipline and can be a way of gaining spiritual purity.
Discipline, an important education objective, is the controlling body and speech. The
knowledge that a person gains on crafts without any discipline is not for the good of society,
but the Buddhist view is that it should be with ethics. The intelligence of the person, who is
without virtue and discipline, is fruitless. It is clear from one of the main activities of an
education process is training members to live honouring the other members of the society.
The object of Buddhist education is to teach person keeping him as the centre and
subordinates in various social status by keeping close relationship with them from childhood
and how to live a fruitful life
One important thing that Buddhism expects is to create a person with high self-confidence.
According to Buddhism, the greatest self-confident person is not to worry even facing with
Eight Worldly Conditions. Teaching how to face eight worldly conditions is trained with the
objectives of Buddhist education.
Asia Pacific Institute of Advanced Research (APIAR) DOI:10.25275/apjabssv3i2ss6
Page219
Discourse on Loving-kindness states which presents person to live a wealthy life, education,
family life condition, living environment, the position of his parents and by thinking about
them to live with what is available. Confirming a lifestyle of good conduct is the objective of
Buddhist education. Another objective of Buddhist education is to train person to look at
oneself and others with love and respect. Without being selfish and leading to act selflessly is
done with this objective. The main code of ethics of Buddhism, Pancasīla (Five Precepts), is
the principle of protecting human right. The objective of Buddhist education is to create the
well-being or benefit of person and society. It is very clear now that five precepts are
necessary to create world peace and to end the worldwide spread environment of unrest or
intolerance and for the human right protection
Where Buddhist education aims and objectives are concerned, there are few important facts
in the Discourse on Blessing ‘Vast learning, perfect handicraft, a high trained discipline, and
pleasant speech. This is the Highest Blessing. Vast learning means gaining a vast knowledge.
In a religious sense, it is learning about nine-fold Dispensation and the ability to describe
them in various ways. The objective of Buddhist education is not only to give this energy, but
it is necessary to put those theories into practice. Buddhist education philosophy is with the
objective of creating complete lifestyles of the masses.
It is very clear that the initial and final objective of Buddhist education is purifying mind.
The Buddhist education system has been formed in a way that it shows life objectives and
education objectives. By cultivating all the things of the character of the student who gets
education, the objective of education is to create a good person to the society. So, there
should be a service to the society and it is the main concept of the Buddhist education. If the
society is formed with the above mentioned education objectives, there won’t be any social
problem, complexity or any corruption. In this manner, for the benefit of social expertise, it
is possible to understand how people get help and support from Buddhist doctrine. The
researcher expects to share the vision on Buddhist Philosophy of Education for the benefit of
society through this research.