International Conference on Buddhist Education(9th)=國際佛教教育研討會(第9屆)
出版日期
1994.07.16-20
頁次
73 - 74
出版者
Institute for Sino-Indian Buddhist Studies=華梵佛學研究所
出版地
臺北市, 臺灣 [Taipei shih, Taiwan]
資料類型
會議論文=Proceeding Article
使用語言
英文=English
附註項
Chinese and English Abstracts=中英文提要; 中文論文提要：頁71-72
關鍵詞
伽爾德; Gard, Richard A.
摘要
The paper will consist of five parts, summarized as follows: 1. A note on the interrelated conceptions of "man" and/or "human nature"，"education"，"scholarship" and "humanistic scholarship"，"the humanities"，and "culture". 2. A brief historical survey of these conceptions and their relationships in classical Greek and Roman times, the European mediaeval and Renaissance periods, the Western 19th -- 20th centuries, and the Chinese Confucian (Ju-chiao) tradition. 3. A brief description of the present-day predicament of "the humanities" in higher educational institutions world-wide. 4. A proposed Buddhist conception of "the humanities"：(1) metaphysical basis, (2) inherent morality，(3) educational direction，and (4) correlation of human society and the natural environment. 5. An envisaged integration of "Buddhist humanities" and technological studies in the Huafan College curricula.
With regard to paragraph 3 above，there are disturbing trends in the field of higher education，noted particularly in the United States but also elsewhere in the present-day world：the bureaucratisation of college and university administration; the evaluation of educators as financiers; the commercialisation of the curricula to expand student enrolment for budgetary goals; the subordination of teaching to research (e.g. "publish or perish") and of the latter to the media (e.g. "disregard scholarly book reviews and seek national media coverage"); the need to restore decorum among faculty and student body alike in dress, speech, and manners; the disregard of socially established morality (cf. secular antinomianism); the physical deterioration of library materials and the decline of library and information science schools as computerized information systems and database services are adopted by individual and network users; the diminution of reading habits and writing skills as video technology challenges the traditional role of printed literature; and so forth.
In view of these dire circumstances and predicaments worldwide，and since troubled existence (dukkhata/duhkhata) is a primary concern to Buddhism，young Buddhist scholars should ask themselves, and be prepared to explain to others; how does Buddhism regard this situation? How can it respond? What Buddhist doctrines, practices, values, ideals, historical experience in societies -- its past political，social，cultural，and educational role -- and present-day studies may be relevant and applicable?
The answers lie in the quality and direction of Buddhist scholarship：fundamental preparation and pertinent application can achieve great objectives. In Buddhist terms, panna/prajna and karuna are interdependent：panna/prajna guides karuna while karuna exemplifies panna/prajna on the path to Nibbana/Nirvana.
