Tu Viện Quảng Đức105 Lynch Rd, Fawkner, Vic 3060. Australia. Tel: 9357 3544. quangduc@quangduc.com* Viện Chủ: HT Tâm Phương, Trụ Trì: TT Nguyên Tạng   

Global Citizenship Education: A Buddhist Version

05/07/201806:53(Xem: 6720)
Global Citizenship Education: A Buddhist Version
Phat thuyet phap 4
Global Citizenship Education: A Buddhist Version
written by Tue Man (Tram Nguyen, Ph.D.)
Saigon, July 5, 2018

 

In recent years, the concept of global citizenship education has become very popular in Western countries, especially in North America and Europe. However, there are different definitions and understandings of global citizenship and hence various models of global citizenship education. Despite some particular differences, these versions share one thing: being aimed at finding a good answer to the big question, “How to build, through education, a better world?” Therefore, global citizenship education is a comprehensive domain, and one of its dominant aspects is helping others. In this regard, I will give a snapshot of Western global citizenship education practices, together with their strengths and limitations, and then explain why Buddhism may add a dimension to contemporary global citizenship education by pointing to the nature of selfhood and thus facilitating a rethinking of the notion of “help.”

Helping initiatives in Western global education programs are perceived to have both strengths and limitations. As mentioned earlier, building a better world through education is the primary aim of global education. For this reason, raising students’ awareness of global sufferings, including poverty, natural disasters, wars, and so on, is at the top of Western universities’ agenda. As global citizens, students are expected to do something to help relieve global sufferings. In this aspect, many universities have programs to send students to the Third World to do charitable work or help people in these countries. Needless to say, these practices are helpful and desirable because through these programs people from less developed countries have a chance to receive both material and educational support. Thus, poverty, starvation and illiteracy are partly reduced. Although the programs are helpful, they are believed to have limitations. Some researchers discover that while helping others, a number of students tend to have a sense of superiority over the helped. More specifically, they are likely to think that “I,  superior, advantaged and civilized, uplift the other, who is inferior, disadvantaged and uncivilized” or “I really feel sorry for them.” A close examination of these helping initiatives reveals that true respect and compassion may not occur in these students’ act of helping, and thus global sufferings, including global injustices, are not actually disrupted. Notably, there is a warning about a potential confusion between “pity” and “compassion.” Buddhist scholar Jack Kornfield said that the near enemy of compassion is pity (2012), explaining further that pity connotes a sense of separation and alienation while compassion is indicative of connection and openness. Thus, in the context above, when students feel sorry for the people they help, they express a sense of pity underpinned by feelings of discrimination and contempt for others. True compassion is not found in their actions. Indeed, Buddhist scholar Chogyam Trungpa (1973) held that compassion “is not feeling sorry for someone. It is basic warmth” (p. 97). Buddhist monk Dhammanada also put that with compassion, while helping others, people “should not perform charity as an act of their body alone, but with their heart and mind as well” (2002, p. 235). From these Buddhist perspectives, we can see that the work towards global betterment in some global education programs is not complete due to the absence of compassion and respect for others in some students’ actions. That said, how to nurture true respect and compassion for others is still a big question. In this aspect, Buddhism may have something to offer.

As described earlier, it is obvious that the duality of Self and Other underlies some students’ help and therefore brings about a huge gap between the helper and the helped. Wherever there is a border between ‘self’ and ‘others’, there is no room for true respect and compassion.  For this reason, it is necessary to disrupt this duality. However, it would be very challenging to do this without an appropriate view of self/other. The Buddhist conception of self may be very helpful in this regard.

For Buddhists, the belief in a discrete and solid self is actually a delusion. Self is comprised of impermanent constituents called Five Aggregates including material form, sensations, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness. These constituents are brought into being by causes and conditions, which are always changing. With reference to the absence of a separate and permanent self, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh offers a nice explanation. Nhat Hanh (1988) posited that self is interdependent with others. To illustrate this point, he gives a metaphor commonly known in Buddhist communities. That is, a sheet of paper cannot exist by itself. Rather, it is interdependent with the sunshine, the cloud, the forest and so on. Generally put, this means that one cannot exist without others. In another aspect, Nhat Hanh affirms that in one’s self there are others through his metaphors of a rose and garbage, arguing that in a rose there is (potential) garbage and vice versa. This could be understood in several ways. For example, a rose, no matter how beautiful it is now, will perish and ultimately become garbage; or, a rose at present grows thanks to garbage as a form of fertilizer. Conversely, garbage is not always bad as it seems, it can be transformed into a rose in the hands of skillful gardeners. Since the rose and the garbage inter-are, for Nhat Hanh they are equal; hence, there is not a clear-cut boundary between goodness and badness.

Let us return to the context of charitable programs described earlier. In Buddhist views, it does not make sense to believe that one is independent of or superior to others. It also means that students, while practicing global citizenship, should have deep respect for others because in the absolute sense they cannot be separate from others and especially because there is no clear-cut border between superiority and inferiority or between any perceived goodness and badness. As for the latter, the metaphors of a rose and garbage may make them aware that their richness and ‘superiority’ are probably grounded in others’ poverty and ‘inferiority.’ With this in mind, instead of feeling sorry (and disdain) for others, students may have not only deep respect for but also gratitude to people from less developed countries.

Buddhist view of self also helps cultivate genuine compassion for others. As articulated, the right view on self is the realization of the absence of a permanent and separate self. In other words, self is interdependent with others; therefore, in this Buddhist scenario there is no dividing line between self and others, and there is no discrimination, contempt or arrogance in any charity performed. With real compassion, people simply follow the impulse of their hearts to free others from their suffering. Having a similar point, Buddhist monk Gyatso (2001) once put that “[c]ompassion is a mind that is motivated by cherishing other living beings and wishes to release them from their suffering” (p. 174).

In summary, I have presented a short description of helping initiatives as one of many important aspects in Western global citizenship education programs. These practices are definitely effective and helpful. However, there is still an issue to consider; that is the absence of real respect and compassion in some acts of helping. To deal with this problem, Buddhism offers a right view of selfhood, which challenges any belief in the duality of ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ and consequently facilitates the emergence of deep respect and compassion. This Buddhist global citizenship education version may bring a new hope for a brighter future of a possible loving, compassionate and enlightened world.

 

References

Dhammanada, K. S. (2002). What Buddhists believe. Kuala Lumpur: Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia.

Gyatso, G. K. (2001). Transform your life: A blissful journey. New York: Tharpa Publications.

Kornfield, J. (2012). Bringing home the Dharma: Awakening right where you are. Boston and London: Shambhala.

Nhat Hanh, T. (1988). The heart of understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra. California: Parallax Press.

Trungpa, C. (1973). Cutting through spiritual materialism. California: Shambhala publications.

 

 

Gửi ý kiến của bạn
Tắt
Telex
VNI
Tên của bạn
Email của bạn
14/05/2015(Xem: 17607)
Amitabha Buddha’s name chanting is an easy method of cultivation in which beliefs are difficult to have, especially in this age of information technology when people care more about material comfort than the spiritual life. However, as in the Buddha’s teachings: Buddhahood is a nature of mind and it’s the mind that possesses the Buddhahood, ringing about enlightenment. Therefore, as Buddhists, we have to believe in Buddha’s teachings. The Flower Adornment Sutra stated: “Beliefs are the mother of all the good merits.”. No other merits are greater than making a vow to be reborn in the Pure Land and to become a Buddha. On the occasion of this year’s retreat, we would like to briefly tell you about an old lady having a belief in Amitabha Buddha’s name chanting
21/01/2015(Xem: 9207)
NO CHARGE Melba Montgomery Writer: HARLAN HOWARD Recitation: My little boy came into the kitchen this evenin' While I was fixin' supper And he handed me a piece of paper he'd been writin' on And after wipin' my hands on my apron I read it - and this is what it said: For mowin' the yard - five dollars And for makin' my own bed this week - one dollar And for goin' to the store - fifty cents An' playin' with little brother, while you went shoppin' - twenty-five cents Takin' out the trash - one dollar Gettin' a good report card - five dollars And for rakin' the yard - two dollars Total owed - fourteen seventy-five. Well, I looked at 'im standin' there expectantly And a thousand mem'ries flashed through my mind So I picked up the pen, turnin' the paper over, This is what I wrote: For nine months I carried you Growin' inside me - NO CHARGE For the nights I've sat up with you, Doctored you, prayed for you - NO CHARGE For the time and the tears. And the cost through the years, there's NO CHARG
21/11/2014(Xem: 17081)
As a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, working as a Buddhist chaplain at several of Melbourne's hospitals and as well as Melbourne assessment prison, I have witnessed many personal tragedies faced by the living and of course the very process of dying and that of death and many of these poor people faced their death with fear, with misery and pain before departing this world. With the images of all these in my mind, on this occasion, I wish to share my view from the perspective of a Buddhist and we hope that people would feel far more relaxed in facing this inevitable end since it is really not the end of life, according to our belief.
17/04/2014(Xem: 10858)
Sampson "Sam" Gordon Berns (October 23, 1996 – January 10, 2014) was an American who suffered from progeria and helped raise awareness about the disease.He was the subject of the HBO documentary Life According to Sam.[1][3] His parents, Scott Berns and Leslie Gordon, both pediatricians, received their son's diagnosis when he was less than two years of age.[4] Roughly a year later, they established the Progeria Research Foundation[5] in an effort to increase awareness of the condition, to promote research into the underlying causes of and possible treatments for the disease, and to offer resources for the support of sufferers and their families.Sam Berns is a Junior at Foxboro High School in Foxboro, Massachusetts, where he has achieved highest honors and is currently a percussion section leader in the high school marching band. He recently achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. Sam was diagnosed with Progeria, a rare, rapid aging disease, at the age of 2. He
17/04/2014(Xem: 7464)
Video:Being a refugee is not a choice: Carina Hoang at TEDxPe, Refugees are often marginalised, their humanity ignored as their stories go untold. In this remarkable and emotional talk, however, author and former refugee Carina Hoang discusses her experience as a "boat person". It's a powerful account that is impossible to ignore. At age 16 Carina escaped war--torn Vietnam on a wooden boat with her two younger siblings and 370 other people. She survived harrowing conditions in a refugee camp in Indonesia before being given the opportunity to go to the US. Since then, she has earned a Bachelor of Chemistry, Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Gender and Cultural Studies, and a Masters in Business Administration and has worked in the semi-conductor, biotechnology, and healthcare industries. After settling in Perth five years ago she has made a pledge to raise the awareness of 'boat people' and their stories. She also assists families from different parts of the world to search for g
11/03/2014(Xem: 3616)
Anyone acquainted with either the Paali suttas or the Theravaada tradition as a whole, if asked for an opinion on the spiritual status of ta.nhaa, usually translated as 'craving', would most likely answer along the lines that ta.nhaa is entirely antithetical to the Buddhist spiritual quest, the brahmacariya, and is almost akin to the Christian notion of 'original sin', in the sense that no one is born without it.
11/03/2014(Xem: 3993)
People are often surprised to find it is difficult to meditate. Outwardly it seems to be such a simple matter, to just sit down on a little pillow and watch one's breath. What could be hard about that? The difficulty lies in the fact that one's whole being is totally unprepared. Our mind, senses, and feelings are used to trade in the market place, namely the world we live in. But meditation cannot be done in a market place.
11/03/2014(Xem: 3685)
At 8.15 a.m. Japanese time, on August 6th 1945, a U.S. plane dropped a bomb named "Little Boy" over the center of the city of Hiroshima. The total number of people who were killed immediately and in the following months was probably close to 200,000. Some claim that this bomb and the one which fell on Nagasaki ended the war quickly and saved American and Japanese lives...
09/04/2013(Xem: 33408)
Yae-Hong Hsu, better known by his Buddhist name Chin Kung Shi, was born in February of 1927 in Lujiang County, Anhui Province of China. He attended the National Third Guizhou Junior High School and Nanjing First Municipal High School. In 1949, he went to Taiwan and worked in the Shijian Institution.
facebook youtube google-plus linkedin twitter blog
Nguyện đem công đức này, trang nghiêm Phật Tịnh Độ, trên đền bốn ơn nặng, dưới cứu khổ ba đường,
nếu có người thấy nghe, đều phát lòng Bồ Đề, hết một báo thân này, sinh qua cõi Cực Lạc.

May the Merit and virtue,accrued from this work, adorn the Buddhas pureland,
Repay the four great kindnesses above, andrelieve the suffering of those on the three paths below,
may those who see or hear of these efforts generates Bodhi Mind, spend their lives devoted to the Buddha Dharma,
the Land of Ultimate Bliss.

Quang Duc Buddhist Welfare Association of Victoria
Tu Viện Quảng Đức | Quang Duc Monastery
Senior Venerable Thich Tam Phuong | Senior Venerable Thich Nguyen Tang
Address: Quang Duc Monastery, 105 Lynch Road, Fawkner, Vic.3060 Australia
Tel: 61.03.9357 3544 ; Fax: 61.03.9357 3600
Website: http://www.quangduc.com ; http://www.tuvienquangduc.com.au (old)
Xin gửi Xin gửi bài mới và ý kiến đóng góp đến Ban Biên Tập qua địa chỉ:
quangduc@quangduc.com , tvquangduc@bigpond.com
VISITOR
110,220,567