4. Buddhist education

"Equally, to strive for leisure as an alternative to work would be considered a complete misunderstanding of one of the basic truths of human existence, namely that work and leisure are complementary parts of the same living process and cannot be separated without destroying the joy of work and the bliss of leisure."
(Schumacher 1999, 38-39)

The tragedy of the developing countries is that they have been encouraged by the West during the colonial era, and by their own Western-educated elites in the post-colonial era, to copy the Western social institutions into the smallest detail. In most cases they have failed miserably, whether they were copying the British parliamentarian system or the Western educational system.

The educational system has usually failed in the developing countries, often simply because too little money is invested in it, governments are too poor or disinterested in investing more; textbooks are propagandistic and outdated; educational authorities ignorant and corrupted, teachers underpaid and undertrained. The Western-type of approach alienates the children from their own environment.

Traditional education was destroyed by the colonial authorities, or, in the modernisation process, by the Westernised elite. Traditional education has, however, experienced a revival in many parts of the world, where Western education has turned out to be a failure. In the Theravada Buddhist world, traditional education was given by the monks to the boys in the temples.

Nowadays, many Thai children study in schools located in the temple compounds, but they follow the Western-inspired curriculum. In the Asoke schools, the children do study English, natural sciences and computer skills, but they also learn to appreciate the traditional skills of the rural Thais.

4.1 Samma sikkha - the right study

"It is clear therefore, that Buddhist economics must be very different from the economics of modern materialism, since the Buddhist sees the essence of civilisation not in multiplication of wants but in the purification of human character, at the same time, is formed primarily by a man's work. And work, properly conducted in conditions of human dignity and freedom, blesses those who do it and equally their products."
(Schumacher 1999, 39)

The Asoke schools are called Samma Sikkha schools, with reference to the Noble Eightfold Path and its steps of Right Understanding, Right Thought etc. The secondary schools were established some 10 years ago and, at the moment, there are more than 500 students in the Samma Sikkha secondary schools. Recently, also primary schools and vocational schools have been opened.

All teachers work as volunteers. Some of the teachers originate from the outside schools and try sometimes push the Asoke schools more to the line of state schools. Many monks and nuns work as teachers in the Asoke schools, teaching everything from Buddhism to English and Mathematics.

The Samma Sikkha schools are in constant process of change as new teachers join the schools wanting to reform them along the lines of their private visions. The children learn to become quite tough and are well-prepared to defend their rights and interests. The school children have regular meetings where they learn to discuss their problems, negotiate solutions to conflicts and take certain responsibility for their own behaviour and for the behaviour of their fellow students. This process is supported by the teachers.

Many students leave Asoke schools for various reasons. The ones who stay, often stay on in the Asoke communities even after graduating. Some join the vocational schools at the Asoke centres, some study at the Asoke "university" (Sammasikkhalaya Wang Jiwit) or at the open universities like Ramkhamhaeng University. Very few leave the community permanently, it is more common to stay in the geographic and spiritual vicinity.

Asoke schools take a holistic approach to education where theoretical knowledge goes together with practical skills such as gardening, cooking, cleaning, producing and selling goods, repairing cars and engines, sewing, and nursing. The Asoke centres are presently also training their own "barefoot doctors" in cooperation with a hospital in the Northeast.

Asoke school is a place for the lay practitioners to show devotion, which is regarded as an important part of Asoke Buddhism. To donate money to the Asoke temples or foundations is not enforced. Visitors who come for the first time are not at all allowed to donate money before they have visited the temple seven times and understand the teachings of the temple. Working for the temple is valued higher than any material contribution, as work is regarded as spiritual practice.

4.2 Nirvana - now!

"Simplicity and non-violence are obviously closely related. The optimal pattern of consumption, producing a high degree of human satisfaction by means of relatively low rate of consumption, allows people to live without great pressure and strain and to fulfill the primary injunction of Buddhist teaching: Cease to do evil; try to do good."
(Schumacher 1999, 42)

To donate one's devotion and labour to the temple originates from the Asoke teaching about Enlightenment or Nirvana. (Thai: Niphaan). Enlightenment is the highest goal of all Buddhists, but, in many Buddhist countries, it is usually regarded as unattainable for an ordinary lay person. An American researcher specialised in Burmese Buddhism, Melford Spiro has therefore divided Buddhist practice into two different categories: Karmic Buddhism and Nibbanic Buddhism. Karmic Buddhism strives to improve one's karma for this life and for the next life, whereas Nibbanic Buddhism is reserved only for the monks.
< Melford Spiro 1970. Michael Ames talks about laukika and lokuttara as this-worldly and other-worldly orientations in Buddhism. Ames 1964. >

Asoke interpretation has demystified the concept by dividing nirvana into "small" and "big" nirvana (parinirvana). The small nirvana is here and now and can be reached by getting rid of defilements (kilet). In the present life, nirvana is signified as a state of mind. The development into the state of nirvana goes through certain stages, which Buddhists can reach through their own struggle.

In mainstream Buddhism these stages are seen as steps on the long path of several rebirths (samsara). The first stage is a sotapanna (Thai: Sodaban), a stream enterer who will become a saint (araha) within seven rebirths. The next stage is a sakadagami (Thai: Sakitakhami) a once-returner, who has destroyed the intermediate forms of sensual delight and ill-will. The next stage will be an anagami (Thai: Anakhami), a non-returner, and the highest stage is finally an araha, who will enter nirvana at the time of his death.
< Ruth-Inge Heinze 1977. >

The Asoke members are all encouraged to strive to become enlightened. According to the Asoke interpretation, these stages can be reached within this present life: the lowest stage sotapanna requires that the person is free from the following six vices: addiction, roaming at unseemly hours, frequenting shows, gambling, association of bad companions, and idleness. In addition, the person should be able to follow the five precepts - abstain from killing, stealing, practising illicit sex, lying and becoming addicted. The person should also pay respect to the "Triple Gem" (Ratana Trai), i.e. to be a good practising Buddhist respecting the Buddha, the dhamma and the sangha. According to the Asoke interpretation even a married person can practise to become a sotapanna. To practise by working in the temple gives the person a chance to reach the nirvana of a sotapanna.

The next stage, sakadagami, can be reached by becoming free of passion and anger. The person should be able to follow the eight precepts. This requires that the person can, first of all, follow the five precepts, and furthermore this requires him or her to reduce the number of daily meals, refrain from singing, dancing and decorating him/herself, and to refrain from sleeping on elevated beds and sofas. The third precept in this case requires celibacy.

The next step is anagami, when the person has become free from all worldly affairs, the person feels no temptation to worldly pleasures and worldly events do not have any effect on him or her. The person at this level still has some defilements within his or her mind, but they are not shown outside. The final stage is araha, when the person is completely free from the idea of "self", and can work for the benefit of others because he or she is not selfish any longer. This stage is nirvana, which is a state of mind, in which the person has no selfishness, anger, greediness or delusion.
< For a further discussion, see Heikkilä-Horn:
Buddhism with Open Eyes. Belief and Practice of Santi Asoke. pp. 111-121, 1997. >

The concept of nirvana differs in the Asoke ideology from the general ideas of the Thai Buddhists. Nirvana is traditionally described as being something very distant, unimaginable and unreachable. Only monks might have a realistic chance of reaching nirvana. Ordinary lay people do not even orientate themselves towards nirvana, instead they concentrate on earning enough merit (bun) to be born in more favourable socio-economic conditions in the next life. Asoke group teaches that nirvana can be reached in this life since it is a state of mind. Nirvana is not something supernatural or otherworldly. To be enlightened means to be peaceful and calm due to having no more selfishness.

Conclusion next