Universal Education - Seeing the Big Vision

LAMA THUBTEN YESHE - THE BIG VISION

Interview with Connie Miller on Universal Education at Pomaia in 1982 (transcript from the video-tape. Abbreviations used: yk = "you know",   yu = "you understand"  UEP = Universal Education Project)

Connie Miller: Then perhaps we continue with questions on the Universal Education project.

Lama Yeshe: You need anything, you're welcome.

CM: Thank you. When many people first heard about the UEP and its purpose, they understood it to be for the purpose of formulating educational goals and methods for youth in FPMT centers and to generate a Mahayana-based education for center children and others. But since the conference last October and in light of His Holiness's contribution, it now seems that we can understand the purpose as being much broader than this. Can you enlighten this, can you tell us the goals of the UEP and in what way it is in fact universal?

LY: Mh. Well, first of all, I explain you first beginning UEP - we need new education for the world, because all the education is no longer up-to-date for the present intelligent people, yk. And present education produces world conflict and dissatisfaction for the new generation. So I believe this project is long time, I believe even 7-8 years start already, looking for somebody to take over. Somehow is too late, nobody is act. Then fortunately you accepted and told you that time, this is, the reason I call universal, it means something universal people understood, entire human reality. 
     
Now, now many people in the world don't understand totality of human reality, they don't understand their totality. They don't want to accept spirituality, yk, and when they do accept spirituality, they don't accept scientific reality. This conflict I can see in the Western world. Commonly this, according this, the corresponds, I determinate, there must be way to go middle way, and people educate both spiritual and, yk, what I mean, and both scientific, these two. And human being have to be, sort of capable to take care of themselves physically and mentally, to liberate from any kind of problem of physical or mind.

And so, what I mean is with education now, what you need is, I think, is, present stage, there are lot of intelligence and wisdom but presentation is too narrow and too, sort of dogmatic way present to student of the world. So they conflict each other. Reflect whatever is, dualistic reflection, not only dualistic but conflict reflect. I feel we should eliminate conflict situation by using words, by using terminology, yu, yu? Let's say I tell you, eg. we can teach entire Lam.Rim and something Tantra without using any terminology of Buddhist, I think, I can do. You can do it too.

Yu, so it doesn't have category, yk, sort of category. Instead of producing category self-pity imagination themselves, can have free, free from the category distinction, mh, self-pity identification, yu? Eliminate that situation, be free being, free universal living being, and completely understand own psychology of oneself, one's own physics, or oneself, yu? That's what I call Universal Education.

Then I told you, Buddhism, we have this quality, Universal Education in Buddhism, we do have. But I want you change clothes, cut these terminology, Buddhist words. Yk, don't using like nirvana, yu what I mean, which is Sanskrit religious word, and use just simple scientific language and which does not have any religious connotation, which does not have any, kind of belongs such category. Just explaining neutrally, isn't it? Something. Communicating?

CM: Very helpful.

LY: Because all concepts, I tell you, projection, because human being already projecting such way, narrow connotation. Yk, label already. This have to take out, to have new imagination, new broad view, by eliminating concept-words and clothes. Not sure, understand or no?

CM: Yes, Lama.

LY: That's what universal meaning. So now, I'm telling you, Universal Education doesn't means: "I'm Universal Education organization, I cannot be Buddhist nun." Wrong. Really. You are Buddhist nun, isn't it, by keeping Buddhist ethics. But you have universal understanding, aiming these things, you can plan, otherwise nobody can do, nobody can do. Then everybody says, "No, I can't do, you cannot do, because you are not universal, you. English cannot do, American cannot do, because Americans this way. Tibetans cannot do because Tibet is nowhere, Himalaya world, Shangri-la, nobody knows what is happening in the world." So nobody can do, isn't it? That is no question. 

But we have clean-clear vision, dimension, what we should be. Ok? Now, Universal Education student not requirement to become nun, not requirement to become monk. Can happen monk, can happen nun, can happen marriage, can have everybody, entire universal world is universal, world, education student. Hm. Clear?

CM: I think so, Lama.

LY: So what we have is, I feel, Buddhism, we have universal attitude and we have teachings to give universal reality. So these need to take shape and language and some kind of universal image, have to take, yu, and that is important. Then we can contribute. So this resource is our student, they understand, realistic point of view. I tell you, dedication comes from our student, you let them understanding.

That's why I told you, Universal Education is from children up to death-time, and after death, next life, next life. How to be educated? This has to be planned. Therefore I say, you have to start gradually, same time you have great project. Exercise, you should be slowly, you cannot only intellect. You should realistic start from somewhere, small way. Then I telling you, if something for the children, deep understanding of human being and same time, express somehow very simple language. And you produce A,B,C,D books, some extent contribute, the resource by the ... our student, and they listen. 

I think, slowly, slowly, they can do. So then, they can see benefit is, yk, I think this is quite a bit long distance, many generations sort of, finished for us, children education. We don't need now, we are too old already. But you have to think about new children, new baby, who not yet come out of mother's womb. Yes. And so we are, we think about, really think about with great concern. Don't think new children not come because nuclear disharmony, destroy - not true. Don't worry, new children come.

CM: Thank you, Lama.

LY: You're welcome.

CM: Specifically then, in the process of integrating the Dharma into Western education, then how can we try to be sure not to lose the essence of the Dharma?

LY: That you need good understanding, Dharma people, to work your education board. Right. Agree. Definitely. That need incredible sort of skill. Again I tell you one thing. When we say, when we make new education, that does not mean we give up old education totally. We use old education, but we take out in this old education the words which is, which makes dumb and closed, those things you take out - putting new shape. Communicating or not? Yes, and add more flavor, deeper understanding of human nature, yk. That's why Universal Education does not mean we give up mathematics education which Western offer, give up those things - no sense! That is not true. It has sense and value. 

Same thing, other Western education has value. But many need some kind of flavor, more totality, more deeper nature. Each subject has totality, method and wisdom contained as we described. Remember? We talk about Tantra, always two things to go, method and wisdom, isn't it? Every energy has method and wisdom go together. So the same thing you have to introduce into that situation scientifically, Ok? Ya. Then what other thing, that question, you finished your question?

CM: I finished my question.

LY:  All right. You're satisfied with your question? All right.

CM: Thank you very much.

LY: You are welcome, dear.

(end of the interview with Connie Miller)

copyright Universal Education for Compassion and Wisdom

          

                                       

Lama Thubten Yeshe was born in Tibet in 1935. At the age of six, he entered Sera Monastic University in Tibet where he studied until 1959. As Lama Yeshe himself expressed it, "in that year the Chinese kindly told us that it was time to leave Tibet and meet the outside world."

Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa came together as teacher and disciple while in exile in India, and met their first Western students in 1965. Lama Yeshe immediately took a lively and profoundly intelligent interest in Western culture, and within ten years had begun to tour extensively and teach students in Australasia, Europe and North America. This network of students eventually became The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). Lama Yeshe's vision for "a new kind of universal education" was launched at a conference in Italy in 1982 attended by leading spiritual leaders, psychologists and educators, including HH The Dalai Lama, now Patron of the Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom. Following Lama Yeshe's early death in 1984, this vision is now being taken forward by his successor Lama Zopa, the Honorary President of the Foundation.

For more see: www.lamayeshe.com 
and more about Universal education:  www.essential-education.org

Secular Ethics

By His Holiness Dalai Lama

I am an old man now. I was born in 1935 in a small village in northeastern Tibet. For reasons beyond my control, I have lived most of my adult life as a stateless refugee in India, which has been my second home for over 50 years. I often joke that I am India’s longest-staying guest. In common with other people of my age, I have witnessed many of the dramatic events that have shaped the world we live in. Since the late 1960s, I have also traveled a great deal, and have had the honor to meet people from many different backgrounds: not just presidents and prime ministers, kings and queens, and leaders from all the world’s great religious traditions, but also a great number of ordinary people from all walks of life.

Looking back over the past decades, I find many reasons to rejoice. Through advances in medical science, deadly diseases have been eradicated. Millions of people have been lifted from poverty and have gained access to modern education and health care. We have a universal declaration of human rights, and awareness of the importance of such rights has grown tremendously. As a result, the ideals of freedom and democracy have spread around the world, and there is increasing recognition of the oneness of humanity. There is also growing awareness of the importance of a healthy environment. In very many ways, the last half-century or so has been one of progress and positive change.

At the same time, despite tremendous advances in so many fields, there is still great suffering, and humanity continues to face enormous difficulties and problems. While in the more affluent parts of the world people enjoy lifestyles of high consumption, there remain countless millions whose basic needs are not met. With the end of the Cold War, the threat of global nuclear destruction has receded, but many continue to endure the sufferings and tragedy of armed conflict. In many areas, too, people are having to deal with environmental problems and, with these, threats to their livelihood and worse. At the same time, many others are struggling to get by in the face of inequality, corruption and injustice.

These problems are not limited to the developing world. In the richer countries, too, there are many difficulties, including widespread social problems: alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence, family breakdown. People are worried about their children, about their education and what the world holds in store for them. Now, too, we have to recognize the possibility that human activity is damaging our planet beyond a point of no return, a threat which creates further fear. And all the pressures of modern life bring with them stress, anxiety, depression, and, increasingly, loneliness. As a result, everywhere I go, people are complaining. Even I find myself complaining from time to time!

It is clear that something is seriously lacking in the way we humans are going about things. But what is it that we lack? The fundamental problem, I believe, is that at every level we are giving too much attention to the external material aspects of life while neglecting moral ethics and inner values.

By inner values I mean the qualities that we all appreciate in others, and toward which we all have a natural instinct, bequeathed by our biological nature as animals that survive and thrive only in an environment of concern, affection and warmheartedness -- or in a single word, compassion. The essence of compassion is a desire to alleviate the suffering of others and to promote their well-being.

This is the spiritual principle from which all other positive inner values emerge. We all appreciate in others the inner qualities of kindness, patience, tolerance, forgiveness and generosity, and in the same way we are all averse to displays of greed, malice, hatred and bigotry. So actively promoting the positive inner qualities of the human heart that arise from our core disposition toward compassion, and learning to combat our more destructive propensities, will be appreciated by all. And the first beneficiaries of such a strengthening of our inner values will, no doubt, be ourselves. Our inner lives are something we ignore at our own peril, and many of the greatest problems we face in today’s world are the result of such neglect.

Not long ago I visited Orissa, a region in eastern India. The poverty in this part of the country, especially among tribal people, has recently led to growing conflict and insurgency. I met with a member of parliament from the region and discussed these issues. From him I gathered that there are a number legal mechanisms and well-funded government projects already in place aimed at protecting the rights of tribal people and even giving them material assistance. The problem, he said, was that the funds provided by the government were not reaching those they were intended to help. When such projects are subverted by corruption, inefficiency and irresponsibility on the part of those charged with implementing them, they become worthless.

This example shows very clearly that even when a system is sound, its effectiveness depends on the way it is used. Ultimately, any system, any set of laws or procedures, can only be as effective as the individuals responsible for its implementation. If, owing to failures of personal integrity, a good system is misused, it can easily become a source of harm rather than a source of benefit. This is a general truth which applies to all fields of human activity, even religion. Though religion certainly has the potential to help people lead meaningful and happy lives, it too, when misused, can become a source of conflict and division. Similarly, in the fields of commerce and finance, the systems themselves may be sound, but if the people using them are unscrupulous and driven by self-serving greed, the benefits of those systems will be undermined. Unfortunately, we see this happening in many kinds of human activities: even in international sports, where corruption threatens the very notion of fair play.

Of course, many discerning people are aware of these problems and are working sincerely to redress them from within their own areas of expertise. Politicians, civil servants, lawyers, educators, environmentalists, activists and so on -- people from all sides are already engaged in this effort. This is very good so far as it goes, but the fact is, we will never solve our problems simply by instituting new laws and regulations. Ultimately, the source of our problems lies at the level of the individual. If people lack moral values and integrity, no system of laws and regulations will be adequate. So long as people give priority to material values, then injustice, inequity, intolerance and greed -- all the outward manifestations of neglect of inner values -- will persist.

So what are we to do? Where are we to turn for help? Science, for all the benefits it has brought to our external world, has not yet provided scientific grounding for the development of the foundations of personal integrity -- the basic inner human values that we appreciate in others and would do well to promote in ourselves. Perhaps we should seek inner values from religion, as people have done for millennia? Certainly religion has helped millions of people in the past, helps millions today and will continue to help millions in the future. But for all its benefits in offering moral guidance and meaning in life, in today’s secular world religion alone is no longer adequate as a basis for ethics.

One reason for this is that many people in the world no longer follow any particular religion. Another reason is that, as the peoples of the world become ever more closely interconnected in an age of globalization and in multicultural societies, ethics based in any one religion would only appeal to some of us; it would not be meaningful for all. In the past, when peoples lived in relative isolation from one another -- as we Tibetans lived quite happily for many centuries behind our wall of mountains -- the fact that groups pursued their own religiously based approaches to ethics posed no difficulties. Today, however, any religion-based answer to the problem of our neglect of inner values can never be universal, and so will be inadequate. What we need today is an approach to ethics which makes no recourse to religion and can be equally acceptable to those with faith and those without: a secular ethics.

This statement may seem strange coming from someone who from a very early age has lived as a monk in robes. Yet I see no contradiction here. My faith enjoins me to strive for the welfare and benefit of all sentient beings, and reaching out beyond my own tradition, to those of other religions and those of none, is entirely in keeping with this.

I am confident that it is both possible and worthwhile to attempt a new secular approach to universal ethics. My confidence comes from my conviction that all of us, all human beings, are basically inclined or disposed toward what we perceive to be good. Whatever we do, we do because we think it will be of some benefit. At the same time, we all appreciate the kindness of others. We are all, by nature, oriented toward the basic human values of love and compassion. We all prefer the love of others to their hatred. We all prefer others’ generosity to their meanness. And who among us does not prefer tolerance, respect and forgiveness of our failings to bigotry, disrespect and resentment?

In view of this, I am of the firm opinion that we have within our grasp a way, and a means, to ground inner values without contradicting any religion and yet, crucially, without depending on religion. The development and practice of this new system of ethics is what I propose to elaborate in the course of this book. It is my hope that doing so will help to promote understanding of the need for ethical awareness and inner values in this age of excessive materialism.

At the outset I should make it clear that my intention is not to dictate moral values. Doing that would be of no benefit. To try to impose moral principles from outside, to impose them, as it were, by command, can never be effective. Instead, I call for each of us to come to our own understanding of the importance of inner values. For it is these inner values which are the source of both an ethically harmonious world and the individual peace of mind, confidence and happiness we all seek. Of course, all the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance and forgiveness, can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I believe the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics that is beyond religion.

Extracted from "Beyond Religion" by H.H. Dalai Lama, copyright 2011 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

His Holiness Dalai Lama; archetypal Bodhisattva, Nobel laureate, Master scholar, Meditation master, simple Buddhist monk. However viewed, His Holiness's boundless compassionate wisdom echoes from the vast activity he engages in for the benefit of beings world wide. For information visit: www.dalailama.com