MABS-604: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

A Ccomparative Sstudy of the Aaim and

Ggoals in Wwestern and Buddhist
Education

Lecturer – Senior lecturer Dr. Vijitha Kumara

Rev. Medirigiriye Nandarathana Thero

Department of Buddhist studies,

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 University of Colombo.

A comparative study of the aim and goals in

western and Buddhist Education

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 Content

pages

Topic 2

Content 3

Offering 4

Discussion 5

The goal of Buddhist education and western education 5-08

Conclusion 08

Bibliography 08

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 OFFERING

To my perentsparents

And

All family members....

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 1. Discussion
The Education in the traditional sense means controlling or disciplining the behavior of an
individual. The term “Vidya” has originated from “Bid” meaning knowledge. If we mention
certain definitions of education of great educators of the east and the west, we may have a clear
picture of the nature and meaning of the term education. The term “Education” has derived
from two Latin word. Educatum. and Educare “Educare” means to train or mold. And also
means to bring up or to lead out or to draw out, force from inward to outward. The education
becomes a vague and informal process aiming at nothing but allowing the child uncontrolled
freedom for arbitrary activities. The term “Educatum” represents the act of teaching. It throws
light on the principals and practice of teaching. The term Educare or Educere mainly indicates
development of the hidden faculties of the child. But child does not know these possibilities. It
is the educator or the teacher who can know these and take appropriate methods to develop
those powers. In Hindi, the term “Siksha” has come from the Sanskrit word “shash” Means to
discipline, to control, to order, to direct, to rule etc Education is the manifestation of perfection
already in man. Education is the process of living through a continuous reconstruction of
experiences. It is the development of all those capacities in the individual which will enable
him to control his environment and fulfil his possibilities.

The goal of Buddhist education and western education

The chief aim of Buddhist education is all round development of child’s personality. The goal
of Buddhist education is to attain wisdom. The Buddhist wisdom gain perfect ultimate wisdom.
Buddhist Education are to make a free man, a wise, intelligent, moral, non-violent & secular
man. This includes person’s physical, mental, moral and intellectual development. With
wisdom, we can then solve all our problems and turn suffering into happiness. In modern days
Buddhist Education became wide open and embraced people of all walks of life. Buddhist
Education made revolutionary change in the society. The Buddhists in the world first made

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Education open to all. An education will develop both the child and the society to higher and
higher positions of glory and cultural eminence.

The Buddhist education aimed at regaining our intrinsic nature. Discipline through observing
the precepts, is the method that helps one to achieve deep meditation; wisdom will then be
realized naturally. The chief aim of education was propagation of religion and inculcation of
religious feelings and education served as a mean to achieve liberation or nirvana. The reason
philosophers. Have different views about the aim of life According to Idealists, the aim of life
spiritual development. As such, they regard education as a spiritual process which aims at
bringing together the soul and the creator leading to self-realization.

Buddhist Education system developed on the basis of some basic principles. This education
gave emphasis on the moral, mental and physical development and also to divert the students
towards the Sangha rules and guide them to follow it. Buddhist Education came out from the
religious arena and went out for the benefit of the mankind. The point mentioned here is the
change of moral and spiritual values in human society, which takes its root in the change of
education. Buddhist education upon human society during the course of its development, For
the past decades the Buddhist Sanghas together with their lay devotees in many different
countries have made their great efforts to preserve and develop this educational tradition. We
have few ideas of giving any remarks on its pragmatic value in modern living.

The education was primarily physical. In Athens the individual occupied the pivotal positions
in the educational field. Athenian education aimed at harmonious development of personality,
physical, intellectual, moral and aesthetic. It secured harmony between individual and the state,
between physical and mental development, between thought and action. Its immediate aim was
to develop a beautiful mind in a beautiful body. Education was absolutely formal in character
and religious in outlook.

The educational tradition, Based on the universal development of the world today, it may be
said that their efforts aim at not only preserving an educational tradition that was founded more
than two thousand years ago but also making, through this tradition, some possible
contributions to the development of the world, Today, this development, in spite of its different
forms in different countries and regions of the World, has a common point with the West —
since the Renaissance and the East in the past century - both have developed along materialistic
lines.

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Education or knowledge one gathers, the more separated from reality one is; the more
personally – engaged with the phenomenal world, both physical and psychology, the more
strongly one is controlled by “name” (nama) and ''from'' (rupa) – losing control of himself
unconsciously. By '' unconsciously'' we mean that he is not aware that feelings are being
controlled not by oneself but by patterns defined by educational and social conventions.

The education-system, a student is educated not to free himself out of his negative states of
mind, which arise from the two abiding, deep-rooted ideas within himself, which is: self-
protection and self-preservation. For self-protection he has to depend upon the force of
something else as a safe support, such as a family, a gathering of friends, a group of colleagues,
a community of people sharing the same race or belief or nationality, and so forth.

The word “education” literally means “to bring forth,” which indicates that the true task of this
process is to draw forth from the mind its innate potential for understanding. The urge to learn,
to know and comprehend is a basic human trait, as intrinsic to our minds as hunger and thirst
are to our bodies.

Ideally, education is the principal tool of human growth, essential for transforming the
unlettered child into a mature and responsible adult. Yet everywhere today, booth in the
developed world and the developing world, we can see that formal education is in serious
trouble. One major reason for this sad state of affairs is a loss of vision regarding the proper
aims of education.

In today’s turbulent world, however, this hunger to learn is often deformed by the same moral
twists that afflict the winder society. From the Buddhist view: the modem education, in spite
of its variety of systems and structures in different countries in the world, will not and cannot
help to stop crises and conflicts caused by current world developments. The single reason for
this is that it is not intended to do this. All that may be felt, conceived, or grasped by human
beings are viewed in Buddhism as conditioned; that is to say, they are formed by at least two
conditions. They can arise neither from only one condition nor from no condition at all.

The noteworthy point is that if his love or service arises from his consciousness of self-
protection and self- preservation, it may inevitably cause negative frustrations or conflicts, first
within himself and then in the world around. Accordingly, when he is educated to love or serve,
for instance, there is no doubt that he must love or serve himself first, then his relatives, his
friends, his colleagues, his native land, his country, etc. Such a love or service is, of course,
quite reasonable because it accords with many concepts he has been taught concerning the

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protection and preservation of himself, of his family, of his organization, of his company, of
his nation, and so on. In this connection, a conditioned thing arises in a twofold existence: it’s
from and its nature.

The individualistic concept of education and defined education as the process by which man
becomes man through his voluntary efforts. While such education may be necessary to
guarantee societal stability, it does little to fulfill the higher end of learning, the illumination of
the mind with the light of truth and goodness.

CONCLUSIONS
The jorneyjourney towerdstowards knowledge is in gaining resolve, diligence & requires steadfastness,
concentration and humility. Also Thethe main aim of Buddhist Education is to make a free man,
an intelligent man, a wise, moral, talented, non-violent and secular man. Buddhist Education
makes man judicious, humanist, logical and free from superstitions. Eastern systems often instill
moral value in education.

Students in Eastern countries have a deep sense of the collective, which subsequently drive them to
amass knowledge and apply this acquired learnings to improve their societies. They are much more
collective-oriented than their independent counterparts in the West. The Western system focuses on
the individual as the sole entity for success. Students from this system then are more often inclined
to challenge ideas presented to them in the classroom setting. This may root from the ideals of
freedom and democracy that have sprung up and have reigned in Western land for centuries. East and
West students who operate under this moral code believe that learning is the most important thing
in life and that it is life’s purpose.

Bibliography
1. Adhikaram,E.W(1994 second impression) Early History of Buddhism in
Ceylon, Dehiwala, Buddhist cultural Centre

2. Ananda, W P Gurge, (1971), The Contribution of Buddhism to Education.

(A paper presented in International Seminar on Buddhism, Delhi

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3. Goyal S. R. (1987), A History of Indian Buddhism, , Meerut, Kusumanjali
Prakasan

4. Senanayaka karuna ( 2003) Baudda Chinthawe Ithihasaya, Dehiwala; Buddhist

cultural centre