Zane M.

Diamond

Gautama
Buddha
Education for Wisdom
Gautama Buddha
Zane M. Diamond

Gautama Buddha
Education for Wisdom
Zane M. Diamond
Faculty of Education
Monash University
Frankston, VIC, Australia

ISBN 978-981-16-1764-5 ISBN 978-981-16-1765-2 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1765-2

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Funding Support Acknowledgement

Research such as this does not occur without financial and research infrastructure
support.
I want to acknowledge the financial support for this project over nearly 30
years starting with an Australian Ph.D. scholarship and an Australian Government
Research in Asia Award 1994–1996 that supported me to undertake my Ph.D. in
Thailand with the expectation that I contribute to Australia’s efforts to better engage
with its Asian neighbours.
To the generosity of the donors of the Phayon-Thonghau Eiamlapa Award for
supporting my research regarding the transferability of Theravādan Buddhist peda-
gogies in teacher education between Thailand and Australia and for their ongoing
support with the underpinning research for this monograph, I offer my deepest
gratitude.
I also want to acknowledge the Faculty of Education, Monash University for
their ongoing support for this project with gratitude and profound thanks. As a
research-intensive faculty, I have been given access to research infrastructure, time,
and research funding to pursue my understanding of how the pathway to the devel-
opment of inner wisdom can be transplanted from these ancient roots into modern,
multicultural, Australia with its vibrant diversity and larrikin spirit. I am grateful
each day for this continued support and encouragement.

v
May the benefit of this work be shared with all sentient beings for the good of all.
Pat.hamapuññābhisandasutta
Mahodadhim . aparimitam . mahāsaram .,
Bahubheravam . ratanavarānamālayam .;
Najjo yathā naragan.asaṅghasevitā,
Puthū savantı̄ upayanti sāgaram
..
Evam. naram . annadapānavatthadam .,
Seyyānisajjattharan.assa dāyakam.;
Puññassa dhārā upayanti pan.d.itam.,
Najjo yathā vārivahāva sāgaran”ti.
(AN 4.51, SuttaCentral 2020, paras 11 & 12)
Streams of Merit
Just as the many rivers used by the hosts of people,
flowing downstream, reach the ocean,
the great mass of water, the boundless sea,
the fearsome receptacle of heaps of gems;
so the streams of merit reach the wise man
who is a giver of food, drink, and cloth;
they reach the donor of beds, seats, and covers
like rivers carrying their waters to the sea.
(AN 4.51, SuttaCentral 2020, paras 11 & 12, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Trans.)

References

SuttaCentral. (2020). Aṅguttara Nikāya 4.51. Pat.hamapuññābhisandasutta. Retrieved December

31 2020 from https://suttacentral.net/an4.51/pli/ms. Pāli text from the Mahāsaṅgı̄ti Tipit.aka
Buddhavasse 2500: World Tipit.aka Edition in Roman Script. Edited and published by The M.L.
Maniratana Bunnag Dhamma Society Fund, 2005. Based on the digital edition of the Chat.t.ha
 Saṅgāyana published by the Vipassana Research Institute, with corrections and proofreading by
the Dhamma Society.
SuttaCentral. (2020). Aṅguttara Nikāya 4.51. Streams of Merit. Retrieved December 31 2020 from
https://suttacentral.net/an4.51/en/bodhi. © Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Numerical Discourses of the
Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2012). This excerpt from The Numerical Discourses of the
Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on the work The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha at
Wisdom Publications. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Wisdom
Publications. Prepared for H by Blake Walsh.
Acknowledgments

I dedicate this work to all past teachers of the Buddha’s pathway to the development
of inner wisdom, in particular, my teacher Ayya Khema Bhikkhuni (August 25, 1923–
November 2, 1997), and the monks and nuns of the many temples and monasteries
who have guided my understanding of the Buddha and his teachings. They taught
me how to understand the Buddha’s teachings and explained to me and showed me
their methods of teaching the Buddha-Dhamma. I offer them a deep respect for their
painstaking work to carry the Buddha-Dhamma into the 21st century in a way that we
can still be guided by it towards nibbāna enlightenment. I offer my sincere thanks for
their willingness to allow me to live and study amongst them in forest monasteries
and retreat centres in Thailand, Germany, and Australia.
I offer my gratitude to the laypeople who support these precious centres of
teaching, learning, preservation, and transmission. To the teachers and academics in
modern education systems, in early years centres, schools, and universities trying to
maintain a pathway in their work towards developing inner wisdom in their students,
I offer my appreciation and respect.
I want to thank all my Thai friends and colleagues in Thailand and Australia
who, since the early years of my studies in Thailand, have guided my understanding
of Thai Buddhism and how it is taught in the mainstream formal Thai school and
university systems. To Professors Soraj Hongladarom and Krisadawan Hongladarom,
to my Phitsanulok family, the Suttisans, particularly my Thai sister Nong Jaaw who
tragically passed away too young. To the monks and nuns of Wat Suan Mokkh (https://
www.suanmokkh-idh.org/) for teaching me the true nature of Buddha-Dhamma, I
extend my most profound respect and gratitude.
I would like to thank the Japan International Education Society for their generous
encouragement for me to present my research over these past years and their warmth
and engagement in guiding me in the Japanese Way, 深い感謝と感謝の気持ちを込
めて with deep appreciation and gratitude. In particular, sincere thanks to Professor
Keijiro Tanaka, his son, Professor Junichi Tanaka, and Professor Chizu Sato, for
sharing their wisdom and their gift of guidance with my grappling with the interplay
of traditional, Indigenous, and Buddhist educational philosophy in Japan.
I also want to thank the monks, nuns, lay teachers and educators for their will-
ingness to participate in this research. I have bothered many people over these past
ix
x Acknowledgments

40 years, too many to mention, each of whom have shared their piece of this jigsaw
about the pathway to developing wisdom in the modern world. May you all share in
the merit of this work. In particular, I want to acknowledge Professor Bob Teasdale,
who saw the merit of my curiosity about the pedagogies for developing wisdom all
those years ago as my Ph.D. mentor. Gratitude also to Ānandajoti Bhikkhu for his
thorough and reliable research and the excellent maps he has generously shared with
me for this monograph (Bhante Ānandajoti: https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/
Miscellaneous/About.htm).
To the myriad translators of the Buddha-Dhamma over these past 2,500 years, I
owe the deepest gratitude. Having access to printed copies of the Buddha’s teachings
in a language that I can understand is a remarkable thing. In particular, I want to thank
the translators and donors of the Pāli Text Society, on whose English translations of
the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon I have come to rely (http://www.pāl.itext.com/). To
the Buddhist Publication Society (https://www.bps.lk/index.php) for their sustained
dissemination of English language versions of literature in hard copy, books and
leaflets that I still treasure, that came into my hands in my teenage years, thank
you. That I can share these hard copies in professional development workshops with
Australian teachers and university academics is something of a miracle.
I am also deeply indebted to the magnificent digitization work being undertaken
at SuttaCentral. I acknowledge those who have contributed to the significant work of
Mahāsaṅgı̄ti Tipit.aka Buddhavasse 2500: World Tipit.aka Edition in Roman Script.
Edited and published by The M.L. Maniratana Bunnag Dhamma Society Fund, 2005.
Based on the digital edition of the Chat.t.ha Saṅgāyana published by the Vipassana
Research Institute, with corrections and proofreading by the Dhamma Society. To
the translators of the Pāli, in particular Bhikkhu Sujato, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Bhikkhu
Brahmali, and Bhikkhu Ānandajoti whose translations into English I have relied on
for many of the quotations across these chapters, and for their determined, sustained
commitment to the preservation and dissemination of the Tipitaka, its commentaries
and translations into the numerous languages that now carry the teachings of the
Buddha to the world—thank you. To the Buddhist Publication Society (https://www.
bps.lk/index.php) for their donors’ generosity, thank you for now providing digital
access to many of your publications—with thanks for being preservers of the Buddha-
Dhamma and reliable guides.
I also want to acknowledge and thank the Daylesford Dharma School, Victoria,
Australia. Now entering its twelfth year, it is a school that is developing its pathway to
teaching in a manner inspired by the teachings of the Buddha and using the pedagog-
ical approaches that he developed. I want to acknowledge Andrea Furness, Chair of
the School Board and one of the school’s founders, the School Board members,
teachers and staff past and present, and the Dharma Education Sub-Committee
members, chaired by Dr. Sue Smith. Slowly, together, we are working out how to
support the Buddha’s teachings to thrive in Australia’s fertile soil while maintaining
the enduring spirit of the Buddha’s educational philosophy at the core.
Acknowledgments xi

I also acknowledge audiences, reviewers and editors of publications over the past
years who have sharpened my thinking and scholarship. The published works I have
quoted and referred to in this edition, have brought the Buddha’s ideas into new
focus:
Chapter 1
Ma Rhea, Z. (2018). Teaching and Learning for Multicultural Societies: Reimag-
ining Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Journal of International Education, Japan,
Vol. 24, pp. 87–98. Retrieved on December 31 2020 at https://www.jstage.jst.go.
jp/article/jies/24/0/24_87/_article/-char/en.
Chapter 2

Anderson, P. J., Maeda, K., Diamond, Z. M. and Sato, C. (Eds). (2021).

Post-Imperial Perspectives on Indigenous Education: Lessons from Japan and
Australia, Routledge.
Ma Rhea, Z. (2017). Wisdom, Knowledge, and the Postmodern University in Thai-
land. Palgrave Macmillan. (Online publication details: http://www.palgrave.com/
gp/book/9781137382924.)
Ma Rhea, Z. (2017). Buddhist Pedagogy in Teacher Education: Cultivating
Wisdom by Skilful Means, Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 1–18,
Retrieved on December 31 2020 at https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2017.139
9984.
Ma Rhea, Z. (2013). Buddhist Wisdom and Modernisation: Finding the balance
in globalized Thailand. Globalizations, 10(4), 635–650. Retrieved on December
31 2020 at https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2013.806739.
Ma Rhea, Z. (2010). Transmorphosis: Negotiating Discontinuities in Academic
Work, Policy Futures in Education, 8(6), 632–643.

Chapter 3

Diamond, Z. (2020). Hiyoku na dojō o motomete: furukute atarashii bukkyō

no kyōjyuhō, karikyuramu, kyōzai (Tanaka, J. Trans.), Journal of International
Education Society, No. 26, pp. 144–145.
Ma Rhea, Z. (2012). Thinking Galtha, Teaching Literacy: From Aboriginal Mother
Tongue to Strangers’ Texts and Beyond in Cree, A. (Ed). Aboriginal Educa-
tion: New Pathways for Teaching and Learning. Berowra: Australian Combined
University Press, 24–53.
Ma Rhea, Z. (2002). ‘The Economy of Ideas: Colonial Gift and Postcolonial
Product’ in A. Quayson and DT Goldberg (Eds). Relocating Postcoloniality
London, UK: Blackwells, 205–16.
Ma Rhea, Z. (1999). ‘Separate domains or hybrid worldview? Women’s Libera-
tion and Vimokkha Spiritual Liberation’, Australian Journal of Feminist Studies
14(30), 281–91.
Ma Rhea, Z. (1997). Gift, Commodity and Mutual Benefit: Analysing the Transfer
of University Knowledge between Thailand and Australia’. Higher Education
xii Acknowledgments

Policy: The Quarterly Journal of the International Association of Universities,

10(2), pp. 111–20.
Ma Rhea, Z. (1997). University Knowledge Exchange: Gift, Commodity and
Mutual Benefit’ Californian Sociologist 17/18, pp. 211–50.
Ma Rhea, Z. (1995). Changing Manifestations of Wisdom and Knowledge in
Thailand’. Prospects 25(4), December, pp. 669–82.
Ma Rhea, Z. (1994). Secular Postmodernity and Buddhist Modernisation:
Australia and Thailand’. In Religion Literature and the Arts. Edited by Michael
Griffith, Sydney, Australia: Berget Pty. Ltd., pp. 340–6.

Chapter 4

Ma Rhea, Z. (2012). Mindful Teaching: Laying the Dharma Foundations for

Buddhist Education in Australia, International Education Journal: Comparative
Perspectives, 11(1), pp. 35–51.
Ma Rhea, Z. (2001). Approaches to the development of critical analysis in the
university: The impact of culture. Manyusa: Journal of the Humanities and Social
Sciences, 1–2: 97-126.

Chapter 5
Anderson, P. J., Diamond, Z. & Diamond, J. (2018). Preservation and maintenance
of Indigenous histories, languages, and cultures: The role of education, Journal of
the Japanese Association for the Study of Learning Society, Japan, Vol. 14, pp. 26–
35. Retrieved on December 31 2020 at https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/gakusy
usyakai/14/0/14_26/_article/-char/en.
Ma Rhea, Z. (2014). Higher Education for a Wise Life: Wisdom Traditions and
the Modern University in Alvares, C. (Ed.). Multicultural Knowledge and the
University, India: Multiversity and Penang: Citizens International, Chapter 6,
159–173.
Ma Rhea, Z. (2004). The preservation and maintenance of the knowledge of
Indigenous peoples and local communities: The role of education in Journal of
Australian Indigenous Issues. 7(1), 3–18.
Teasdale, G.R. and Ma Rhea, Z. (Eds). (2000). Local Knowledge and Wisdom in
Higher Education. UK, USA: Pergamon Elsevier.

To my wife, Jeane Diamond, whose deep wisdom and keen mind have enlivened
this writing project, to you I will always owe debt of deep gratitude and thanks.
To Prasadi Hatanwila Liyana Arachchige, my research assistant whose penetrating
questions and clarifications have greatly contributed to my ideas being able to be
expressed clearly; thank you for your commitment to the preservation of an accurate
transmission of Buddha-Dhamma. To Andrea Furness, for reading versions of this
manuscript with your keen Dharma mind and heart—as always thank you for your
generous trust and support.
And finally, I want to thank Professor Paul Gibbs, Series Editor of the Key Thinkers
in Education, an academic series published by Springer and all the publication team
Acknowledgments xiii

at Springer for their support, encouragement and flexibility to allow me the time
and intellectual space to focus on this fascinating topic. To Professor Gibbs, I am
indebted to you for this opportunity.

Frankston South Professor Zane M. Diamond

2020
Contents

1 Introduction—Gautama Buddha in Historical Context . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 Introducing the Buddha as a Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The Historical Context of the Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2.1 As Human Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.2 As a Spiritual Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.3 As Something Between the Two: Becoming
a Kalyān.amitta Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.3 The Buddha’s Approach to the Development of Wisdom
from 2,500 Years Ago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 Emergence of Buddha’s 45-Year Educational Legacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1 Aspects Shaping Teaching and Learning in the Time
of the Buddha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1.1 Influence of Early Brahminical Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1.2 Tribal Roots of Buddhism and Buddha’s Pedagogy . . . . . . . 15
2.2 The Profound Influence of Wandering and Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3 What Was Spiritual Development in This Context? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.4 The Philosophical Foundation of the Buddha’s Education
Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.4.1 Understanding the Buddha’s Key Educational Ideas . . . . . . . 20
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland . . . . . . . . . 29
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.1.1 The Heartland of the Buddha’s Teaching Life . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.2 Important Places of Teaching and Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.3 Dhamma Education in the Heartland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3.1 Orality, Rhetorics, and Memorisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.3.2 Disseminating the Dhamma in the First Wave . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.4 Disseminating the Dhamma in the Second Wave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.4.1 Nalanda: From Monastery to Disseminator
of Buddhism Across Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
xv
xvi Contents

3.4.2 Consolidation of Dhamma Education Principles

in the Historical Realms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.5 Global dissemination of the Dhamma in the third wave . . . . . . . . . . 48
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4 Buddha’s Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by Skilful Means’ Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.1 Introduction with a Note on Methods of Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.1.1 Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
4.2 Buddha’s Ideas About Teaching and Learning: Key Findings . . . . . 58
4.3 The Buddha as a Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
4.4 Characteristics of a Skilful Teacher: Pavı̄n.aupāya by Skilful
Means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
4.5 Characteristics of a Good Student . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.6 The Majjhima Patipada Middle Way as Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.1 Methods for Teaching the Buddha-Dhamma Core Curriculum . . . . . 77
5.2 Stage 1: Pariyatti Learning the Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
5.2.1 Explicit Instruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
5.2.2 Teaching for Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
5.2.3 Teacher Pedagogical Techniques for Pariyatti Stage . . . . . . . 82
5.2.4 Learner Engagement Practices for Pariyatti Stage . . . . . . . . . 86
5.3 Stage 2: Pat.ipatti Practising the Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.3.1 Teacher Pedagogical Techniques for Pat.ipatti Stage . . . . . . . 88
5.3.2 Learner Engagement Practices for Pat.ipatti Stage . . . . . . . . . 91
5.4 Stage 3: Pat.ivedha Understanding the Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
5.4.1 Teacher Pedagogical Techniques for Pat.ivedha Stage . . . . . . 92
5.4.2 Learner Engagement Practices for Pat.ivedha Stage . . . . . . . . 93
5.5 Educating for Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Appendix A: Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Appendix B: Defining and Shaping the Buddha’s Education
Theories from Pāli and Sanskrit into English . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Appendix C: Buddha-Dhamma Core Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
About the Author

Professor Zane M. Diamond I have been researching

the relationship between Buddhism and education since
1992 and was a student of Ven. Ayya Khema Bhikkhuni
(now deceased). I am a recognised Dhamma teacher
in the Theravada tradition, am also a qualified teacher,
and an academic in the Faculty of Education at Monash
University.
I have nearly 30 years of teaching experience span-
ning primary, university, government, and corporate
education. My teaching has been shaped by the context
of my experiences in a remote Anangu (Aboriginal)
desert school, as a lecturer at various universities, as a
strategic organizational change educator with Australian
corporations, and as a program leader for international
leadership and management development courses.
My research investigates how inner wisdom might be
developed in modern education and professional devel-
opment, addressing the alienation from mainstream
education that people from non-dominant cultures
report. I observe that full participation as citizens
requires that education enables the inclusion of diverse
student needs and histories by understanding the impact
of ancestry, ethnicity, and lifeways on providing main-
stream education services. Full participation as citi-
zens also requires that children and young adults are
encouraged to develop their inner wisdom, laying firm
foundations for ongoing personal development through
adulthood. Citizens with inner wisdom can engage
optimistically and capably with the future.

xvii
xviii About the Author

I research the sociology of education (sub-fields

of leadership and pedagogical reform) and am inclu-
sive and comparativist in approach. I employ theo-
retical perspectives drawn from Indigenist, Buddhist,
social exchange, organizational change, and intelligent
complex adaptive systems theories to understand how
to incorporate a diversity of ethnoreligious cultural
perspectives about wisdom within mainstream educa-
tion and in the leadership and management of education
services.
My research is guiding the emergence of new forms
of wisdom education to address contemporary issues,
involving students and young adults, parents, teachers,
education bureaucrats, and teacher educators both in
Australia and across the Indo-Asia-Oceania region. I
am finding that the impact of diverse ethnoreligious
cultural expectations on education is as pressing in India,
Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China,
and Samoa. The missing element across all ethnoreli-
gious cultures is the disappearance of the cultivation of
stillness from which inner wisdom can arise.
My research scope encompasses: embedding Indige-
nous and traditional wisdom pedagogies into the work
of modern universities, schools, and other public service
organizations, particularly emphasising how cultures
develop stillness in their traditional education systems;
developing pluriculturally-appropriate pedagogies for
stillness education; negotiating Indigenous traditional
environmental knowledge into new approaches to
sustainable and wise land, water, and food education;
and, an overarching study of the pedagogies of inner
wisdom development for communities, universities, and
schools.
List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 Lumbini: UNESCO heritage site (Note Adapted

from “Lumbini, the birthplace of the Lord Buddha”
by UNESCO, 2020. [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/666/#:~:
text=The%20Lord%20Buddha%20was%20born,Emperor%
20Asoka%20in%20249%20BC]. Reprinted with permission) . . . . 31
Fig. 3.2 Places where the Buddha spent his teaching career (Note
Adapted from “The Realised One’s early career” by Ānandajoti
Bhikkhu, 2012 [https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Maps/
During-Buddhas-Time/Map-02-Early-Career.htm]. Reprinted
with permission [Credit Ānandajoti Bhikkhu]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Fig. 3.3 Sites of the Buddha’s Rains Retreats (Note Adapted from “The
Realised One’s rains retreats” by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, 2012
[https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Maps/During-Bud
dhas-Time/Map-08-Vassa.htm]. Reprinted with permission
[Credit Ānandajoti Bhikkhu]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Fig. 3.4 The spread of Buddhism (Note Adapted from “Buddhist
Expansion” by Gunawan Kartapranata (his work combined
and redrawn from various sources), 2014. [https://commons.
wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30905152]. CC License) . . . . . 44
Fig. 3.5 The pilgrimage of Xuanzang (Note Adapted from “Chinese
Pilgrims to Central Asia, India and SE Asia: Xuanzang,
600-664” by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, 2012 [https://www.ancient-
buddhist-texts.net/Maps/Silk-Routes/Chinese-Pilgrims.htm].
Reprinted with permission [Credit Ānandajoti Bhikkhu]) . . . . . . . . 45
Fig. 4.1 Overview of the Buddha’s education approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Fig. 4.2 Elements of the Buddha’s pedagogy: the Majjhima Patipada
Middle Way approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

xix
List of Tables

Table 4.1 Teach, Teacher, Instruction, and Training word counts

(English only; cross-checked with Pāli) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Table 5.1 Teaching strategies and techniques for Pariyatti learning
the doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Table 5.2 Teaching strategies and techniques for Pat.ipatti practising
the doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Table 5.3 Teaching strategies and techniques for Pat.ivedha
understanding of experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Table 5.4 Summary of key elements of the Buddha’s Majjhima
Patipada Middle Way pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

xxi
Chapter 1
Introduction—Gautama Buddha
in Historical Context

Abstract The introductory chapter sets the scene for exploring the life of the Buddha
as a teacher, the development of his teachings, and his teaching approach; the contem-
porary context of education, where immigrants from may ethnoreligious traditions
have established the many traditions of Buddhism across the globe, an introduction
to the Buddha as a person, a spiritual archetype, and, the focus of this monograph,
as an educational theorist and notable teacher of how humans can develop inner
wisdom.

Keywords Buddha · Teaching · Education theory · Wisdom

1.1 Introducing the Buddha as a Teacher

It is somewhat unusual to examine the Buddha’s legacy as an educational theorist and

exemplary teacher. Much has been written about the life and the spiritual teachings of
the Buddha over the last 2,500 years, but very few think about his work as a teacher.
Countless commentaries have been written about his life as a historical and spiritual
figure, in many languages, preserved in many traditions. This book’s focus takes these
aspects into account and focuses on the Buddha as a significant educational thinker
and a teacher of enduring renown. Even during the Buddha’s time, it was recognised
that he brought a distinctive skill to his journey of spiritual development: he was
blessed with the skills, knowledge, and understanding of his experiences such that
he could teach others. In the Buddhist Canon, there are references to individuals who
became a pacceka-buddha defined as being ‘one enlightened by himself, i.e. one who
has attained the supreme and perfect insight but dies without proclaiming the truth
to the world’ (SuttaCentral, 2020b, para. 3). By distinction, Gautama Siddhārtha, the
historical Buddha considered in this text, was recognised as a samma sambuddha.
He was able to teach what he had learned. In the Sammāsambuddhasutta (SN 22.58,
SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 3–8), the Buddha explains the distinction as being:
“Therein, bhikkhus, what is the distinction, what is the disparity, what is the difference
between the Tathagata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, and a bhikkhu liberated
by wisdom?” …

… The Blessed One said this:

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 1
Z. M. Diamond, Gautama Buddha, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1765-2_1
2 1 Introduction—Gautama Buddha in Historical Context

“The Tathagata, bhikkhus, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, is the originator of
the path unarisen before, the producer of the path unproduced before, the declarer of the
path undeclared before. He is the knower of the path, the discoverer of the path, the one
skilled in the path. And his disciples now dwell following that path and become possessed
of it afterwards.”

“This, bhikkhus, is the distinction, the disparity, the difference between the Tathagata, the
Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One, and a bhikkhu liberated by wisdom.”

It is also unusual to employ the modern language of education about teaching and
learning, curriculum, pedagogy, and formative assessment to consider the Buddha’s
contributions to the human weal. The knowledge he held and taught, as discussed in
this book, is ancient. The Buddha accepted a vocation to teach that became his life
until he died, a career spanning 45 years. His long teaching career stands in marked
distinction with others whose teaching span was considerably shorter, such as Jesus
Christ, and more recent, such as the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed, even as
their spiritual teachings have also gone on to be developed into formalised religions.
The more ancient Judaic, Upanishadic, Brahmanical, and Jain traditions shared many
similarities, with their teaching and learning approaches recorded in their respective
sacred texts but, as will be discussed throughout this book, distinct from the Buddha’s
approach. There are several unique aspects to the Buddha as an education thinker and
teacher that distinguish his teaching methods and curriculum for the development of
inner wisdom from earlier traditions and those that have followed.
Over his 45 years of teaching, like any good teacher, he developed an impressive
corpus of knowledge about his experiences of his path to inner spiritual develop-
ment and nibbāna enlightenment that he was able to refine into a practical and scal-
able pedagogical approach. To some extent, he undertook refinements through daily
practice and reflection. He also engaged daily with disciples and other learners in
well-documented teacher-learner interface where it is possible to see the emergence
and development of his teaching style. It is worth considering his educational ideas
simply because a career of 45 years as a teacher is impressive, and few people manage
to teach for these many years. In addition to this, his teachings and his pedagogy
have managed to survive into the contemporary era with surprising relevance and,
I would argue, of ongoing usefulness to the modern school teacher and university
lecturer. That his work has spread from its traditional region in Northern India where
he taught first, also regarded as the ‘heartland’ of his teachings, then spreading by
word-of-mouth across Asia north, east, and south and to Greece in the East, and
more recently to the West under conditions of globalisation and migration, should
command respect and interest of any educationalist. The Buddha offered education
innovation in philosophical and psychological terms, conveyed through an approach
of profound impact. People, young and old, continue to find the Buddha’s teachings
useful, and this monograph introduces the Buddha as an influential educationalist
with big ideas and sound pedagogical methods.
Globally, formal educations systems of schooling and higher education are failing.
Previously, I have argued that together with other educators, we need to focus more
on the development of wisdom in our students (Ma Rhea, 2017a, 2017b). I have
1.1 Introducing the Buddha as a Teacher 3

investigated the potential of pedagogy inspired by the Buddha’s educational philos-

ophy to inform teacher education and the teaching profession in a global economy
where nations are experiencing rapidly-changing demographics alongside cultural,
social, economic, and political upheaval. I have argued that education’s purpose is
under scrutiny as monolithic, nation state-defined approaches to education that were
developed out of colonial or anti-colonial logic and nation-building are vying with
insistent, emergent questions asked by globalised, postmodern, postcolonial, postim-
perial students: Why are you teaching us this? What use is it? What use is what we
are learning when our lives are being torn apart by global pandemics, ethnoreligious
wars, and the threat of planetary destruction?
My response to these questions is an age-old one that students need to develop
their inner wisdom alongside their more mundane, cognitive studies. The pathway to
the cultivation of inner wisdom needs to be brought into the contemporary education
malaise We need to refocus our attention beyond narrow political and econometric
determinants of our curriculum and pedagogies to the development of inner wisdom
in ourselves as educators, and by doing so, assist our students to lay the founda-
tions for the development of their inner wisdom through cognitively and affectively
appropriate methods. It is here that the education ideas of the Buddha excel attested
to through the experiential practices of millions of humans over the last 2,500 years.
Informing this book and my quest to bring inner wisdom development explicitly
into my teaching, whether face to face or virtually, are the answers given to me by my
students in initial teacher education programmes, participants in corporate leadership
development workshops and teacher professional development retreats, and senior
government policymakers and university leaders to the questions I ask them: What
will encourage you to learn about the development of your inner wisdom? What can
I offer you? What do you need to know or do to have confidence that this is a reliable
path? As we explore these questions, I find that almost everyone is motivated by
learning about well-being, meditation, and resilience. As I canvass the ideas about
the development of inner wisdom presented in this book, they become engaged and
disciplined learners who are excited about developing their inner wisdom and about
the education ideas of the Buddha that they can use to guide their students and
their organisations. I speak to them about the pedagogy behind this approach, and
week after week, we check in with their ideas and discoveries. We talk about what
happened on their practicum, in their classroom or workplace, and discern together
what evidence they saw of the development of their inner wisdom and how they are
then modelling different behaviour and approach to their life and work. They come
to such encounters engaged and excited by their discoveries, seeing evidence of their
personal growth.
I am also working with teachers whose performance and the achievements of their
students are judged by outcomes-based, metric-driven measures, and yet they work
in organisations that are aspiring to the holistic development of students. They are
including meditation, well-being, and mindfulness programmes as part of this holistic
approach but there is little structuring of the content of such activities beyond the
personal experiences and expertise in teaching such approaches held by the individual
teacher. Teachers know there is a need, but guidance drawn from a reliable source is
4 1 Introduction—Gautama Buddha in Historical Context

harder to establish. In the Buddha’s teachings, I have found such a reliable pathway
to support my work because he was specific in his assurance that his pedagogy and
content have the development of inner wisdom at its heart.
Located in Australia, a trained social worker, teacher, and now working as an initial
teacher educator at Monash University, over these last 40 years I have witnessed
significant changes in the ethnic and religious composition of Australian society.
In response to these changes, I have seen shifts and changes in how Australia has
approached the idea of multicultural education. I am in teacher education, and we
know that the challenge for teacher educators lies in their responses to the set of
challenges facing them as they prepare the next generation of school teachers within
complex, multicultural states. Many of the challenges were identified in the Brundt-
land Report (The World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). This
report provided something of a watershed moment in thinking about the future of
education in multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious nations (see also
Beare & Slaughter, 1993; Ma Rhea & Teasdale, 2000).
Australia, together with other lands that were colonised over the last 450 years,
now experiences an influx of immigrant philosophies and ways of life that are neither
Indigenous nor administratively asserted during the formations of colonial nations.
In the case of Australia, the ideas of the Buddha meet settler colonialism rather that
Indigenous lifeways as it was in the first and second waves of expansion (see later
chapters for a more detailed discussion of these waves).
The Australian education system, as is also the case with other English and French
colonies and ex-colonies, was designed and developed by the white settler and other
white immigrant communities from predominantly Christian religions. Approaches
to education, the establishment and development of mainstream, formal education
systems in many parts of the world have been shaped by this past.
Where do Buddha-inspired perspectives about education, and the cultivation of
inner wisdom as education’s highest purpose, fit into this picture?

1.2 The Historical Context of the Person

Conze (1957, pp. 34–38) provides a helpful approach to introduce the reader to the
Buddha. He rightly points out that the Buddha’s life that would be familiar to any
person brought up in Asia or with Asian cultural values but that such familiarity is
not reflected in Western understanding, that it is ‘anything but obvious … [to most
Westerners] … and requires careful explanation’ (Conze, 1957, p. 34). He suggests
considering the Buddha’s life from three points of view: as a human being, as a
spiritual principle, and as something in between the two. I have found it useful to
follow this advice for Western readers and make explicit what aspects of traditional
Asian and Indigenous cultural values I feel are worthy of note in the examination of
the Buddha as an educationalist.
First, I make brief comment about the use of different languages in this book.
While this monograph is predominantly written in Australian English, it draws on
1.2 The Historical Context of the Person 5

words and ideas that have been expressed by the Buddha in Sanskrit, Pal, and prob-
ably several other dialects and languages spoken in the region where he taught (for
more detailed discussion, see Glossary, Appendix A and Defining and shaping the
Buddha’s education theories from Pāl.i and Sanskrit into English Appendix B and
Chap. 2, this edition).

1.2.1 As Human Being

Based on all the information available, it does not seem to be possible to date the
Buddha’s life exactly and reliably (Carrithers, 1983; Conze, 1957; Laumakis, 2008;
Narada Maha Thera, 2012). There are strong indications that he lived in the fifth
century BCE in the north-eastern region of what is now known as India. For this
discussion, I will give dates for each significant event in Siddhārtha’s human life to
enable the reader to understand the timespan of his teaching career. I accept that the
actual dates vary from the generally accepted beginning of his life in the sixth to
fourth centuries BCE, but there is less disagreement about when the sequence of life
milestones happened, and for this monograph, this is the more important aspect to
highlight. As a teacher, I have a philosophy that the content of what I teach must
be mobilised with what I call ‘provisional certainty’. To teach something, it must
contain enough ‘facts’ or solid pieces of instruction to support learning. The art
of teaching focuses students’ attention on those aspects that most support learning,
rather than bamboozling them with arbitrary possibilities that remain the preserve
of expert scholars. For this book, I beg forgiveness of these experts as I try to speak
with clarity about the essential aspects of the Buddha’s life, his teaching approach
and core curriculum for spiritual development.
As such, I start this discussion with the date of c.491 BCE when the Buddha
was born and given the name Siddhārtha Gautama. He was born in Lumbini Park in
Kapilavatthu in modern-day Nepal on the border with India. The name Gautama, or
Gotama as it is sometimes spelt in English, is his family name and he was born into
the Śākya clan into a family that were tribal clan leaders or as some might describe it,
the aristocratic class. I think the claims to aristocracy and royalty may be overstated,
according to contemporary understandings of these terms, but the Tipitaka Buddhist
Canon, in translation and in a variety of languages, often accords him honorific titles
such as Prince Siddhartha.
Laumakis (2008, p. 6) summarises the accepted scholarly view that ‘… [he] had
a privileged youth, a sound moral upbringing, and a good education’. For some,
Buddha, the person was born into political upheaval and war. He was possibly taught
the art of war and educated in the Brahmanical tradition. As a member of a tribal clan,
it is also possible that his life was not drawn into these aspects of the lives of those
governed by kings. However, it would appear that the Śākya clan was involved in
the significant social changes that were occurring as independent tribal clans, living
in what Davids (1911, p. 2) termed ‘free republics’, were being assimilated into the
emerging monarchies. As such, it is likely that the young Siddhārtha Gautama would
6 1 Introduction—Gautama Buddha in Historical Context

have been influenced by war, Brahmanism, and the political changes impacting the
lives of his clan.
He would have spoken Sanskrit and probably several Prakrits including Pāl.i.
According to Sujato and Brahmali (2015), there is substantial evidence to suggest
that there was significant socio-economic change occurring in the region where
Siddhārtha lived, with small clans being brought into feudal arrangements with emer-
gent feudal kings trying to control the development of emerging commercial town
centres and regional economies in their favour. For those of this view, it makes sense
that a well-educated young prince, weary of battles and scholarship and dissatisfied
with the explanations that had been given to him might turn away from such upheaval
and decide to look within for more profound answers to the meaning of life.
For others, Siddhārtha had lived many previous lives perfecting himself through
aeons and countless reincarnations. During his long journey through countless lives
that, according to Conze (1957, p. 35) ‘staggers imagination’, Siddhārtha had shared
the fate of all living beings and so understood the depth of suffering in its infinite
manifestations. In this understanding of the human incarnation of Siddhārtha, he
was born auspiciously into a very protected family situation, and it was only in him
witnessing a sick man, an old man, and a corpse as a young adult that he realised
that even with all of the privileges of his life, he would inevitably also experience
sickness, old age, and death. This realisation provoked him on the path of seeking
a deeper meaning to this existence than material, mundane world pleasures that he
now knew to be deeply dissatisfying.
Whether he left home as a disaffected republican tribal man of independence, a
battle-weary clan warrior, or as a dissatisfied seeker, or possibly a combination of
all these, in c.462 BCE at the age of 29, he left the protection of his clan and family
estates and became a wandering ascetic. He undertook many extreme practices that
promised to develop him spiritually. He quickly mastered many of the teachings
and continued to be dissatisfied with the experiences and explanations he was being
given. Ultimately, he undertook to sit in meditative and discernment practices, go
inward, trust his experiences, and either breakthrough to a more satisfying spiritual
level or die in his attempt. After eight long years of extreme practices, physically,
psychologically, and emotionally, he broke through to what he called the Majjhima
Patipada Middle Way. From c.456 BCE in the year of his nibbāna enlightenment
until c.411 BCE when he died, he taught this path to the liberation of suffering for
45 years as an approach to education to develop inner wisdom.

1.2.2 As a Spiritual Principle

The Buddha is accepted as being a historical figure, but the ongoing interest in his
philosophy derives in large part from the authority he commanded as a kalyān.amitta
reliable spiritual guide. I am using the term kalyān.amitta as it is understood to mean
‘a person of fine qualities who is a friend, esp. in helping one to progress spiritually
by his/her example and advice’ (SuttaCentral, 2020a). In the Upad.d.hasutta (SN 45.2,
1.2 The Historical Context of the Person 7

SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–3), the Buddha himself said that such noble friendship
‘is the entire holy life’ explaining it this way to Ānanda:
Thus, have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling among the Śākyans where
there was a town of the Śākyans named Nagaraka. Then the Venerable Ānanda approached
the Blessed One. Having approached, he paid homage to the Blessed One, sat down to one
side, and said to him:

“Venerable sir, this is half of the holy life, that is, good friendship, good companionship,
good comradeship.”

“Not so, Ānanda! Not so, Ānanda! This is the entire holy life”.

Demonstrating a manifestation of an evolved spiritual principle was a vital aspect

at the time of the Buddha. Many teachers were proclaiming diverse approaches to
human spiritual development in both the established Upanishadic and Brahman-
ical traditions and similarly emerging possibilities such as Jainism. The Buddha
grounded his legitimacy as embodying spiritual reliability through personal expe-
rience and also, as Conze (1957, p. 36) notes, the Buddha was recognised as ‘just
one in an endless series of innumerable Tathagatas who appear throughout the
ages in the world and always proclaim the same doctrine’. Importantly for the
world, as the Dhammacakkappavattanasutta affirms, he was also recognised as
having an even more remarkable capacity to be a wheel-turning Buddha (SN 56.11,
SuttaCentral, 2020) a samma sambuddha enlightened teacher who enabled a new
era of understanding to occur as the material conditions of the world were changing.

1.2.3 As Something Between the Two: Becoming

a Kalyān.amitta Teacher

The importance placed on the spiritual principle manifested by the Buddhas life
work leads me to digress from Conze’s third aspect of considering the Buddha in his
glorified body to highlight an aspect that I believe is barely recognised but important
for this book. Over many years, I have examined and undertaken an analysis of the
Early Buddhist Texts (EBTs), as discussed in the previous section, and propose that
what lays between the Buddha as a person and as a spiritually evolved archetype is
his deep humanity and skill as a teacher. In his teaching approach and content, he
demonstrates his humanness and his spiritually evolved being each day, as described
extensively in the EBTs.
Having undertaken many spiritual trainings while growing up, committing his
life as a wandering ascetic at age 29, the Buddha achieved nibbāna enlightenment in
his 37th year. Initially, he was not inclined to teach. For six weeks after his nibbāna
enlightenment, he simply absorbed the understandings that he had experienced and
began to make sense of them. He was cautious about trying to teach something that
had taken him so many long years to understand, hesitant to speak of his experiences
and nibbāna enlightenment, and certainly not planning to develop a world religion.
8 1 Introduction—Gautama Buddha in Historical Context

I quote Narada Maha Thera (1992, pp. 13–14) here in detail to provide direct insight
into how the Buddha decided to become a teacher of the Dharma.
The close of the fasting period, as the Buddha was engaged in solitary meditation, He
thought: -
“With difficulty have I apprehended the Dhamma. There is no need to proclaim it now. This
Dhamma is not easily understood by those who are overcome by lust and hatred. The lust-
ridden, shrouded by the mass darkness, do not see this Dhamma, which goes against the
stream, abstruse, profound, difficult to perceive, and subtle.”
Eventually, His mind turned into inaction, and not to the teaching of the Dhamma.
Thereupon a celestial being named Brahma Sahampati read the thoughts of the Blessed One,
and fearing that the world might perish through not hearing the Dhamma, approached the
Buddha and invited Him to teach the Dhamma.
He wisely remarked:
“In ancient times there arose in Magadha a Dhamma, impure, evolved by the corrupted.
Open this Door to the Deathless. May they hear the Dhamma, understood by the Stainless!
Just as one standing on the summit of a rocky mountain would behold the people around,
even so, may the All-Seeing Wise One ascend this palace of Dhamma!”
“May the Sorrow less One look upon the people plunged in grief and overcome by birth and
decay.”
“Rise, O Hero, the victor in battle, the caravan-leader, the debt-free One, and wander in the
world! May the Blessed One propound the Dhamma! There will be those who will understand
the Doctrine!”
When Brahma Sahampati entreated the Buddha for the third time, He surveyed the world
with His Buddha Vision.
On surveying the world, He perceived beings with little as well as much dust in their eyes,
with keen and dull intellect, with good and bad characteristics, who are easy and difficult to
be taught, and a few others who live perceiving the dangers of evil and of a future life.

The Buddha, therefore, accepted the invitation of Brahma Sahampati and said:
“Opened to them are the Doors to the Deathless. Let those who have ears repose confidence.
Being aware of the weariness of it, O Brahma, I did not preach amongst men this glorious
and excellent Dhamma.”
The delighted Brahma, thinking - “I made myself the occasion for the Blessed One to expound
the Dhamma,” respectfully saluted Him and straightaway disappeared.

Respected scholar, Gombrich (2013) advises that it is essential to ‘decode’ such texts,
especially for a western audience who generally would not admit to the validity of
such advice coming from gods or devas. Gombrich tackles critique from Buddhist
scholars who have questioned how much of the Early Buddhist Texts can be regarded
as reliable. Similar to the position taken by Sujato and Brahmali (2015) and by me in
this book, Gombrich speaks directly to the reliability of the development of Buddha’s
educational philosophy, highlighting the similarity between the Buddha as a teacher
and what we might experience as educators as we pursue our teaching career saying
that:
Teachers, unless they are exceptionally stupid, change both their opinions and their way of
putting things. That the Buddha varied his way of putting things according to what audience
he was addressing is indeed a commonplace of the Buddhist tradition, which attributes
1.2 The Historical Context of the Person 9

to him supreme “skill in means”; but that tradition would baulk at the idea that he ever
changed his mind. However, I am not committed to the tradition; nor do the two kinds
of change, in meaning and expression, necessarily show results which the observer can
distinguish. It is mainly writing that freezes our past insights for us and so gives our oeuvre
a certain consistency; even so, I suspect that there can be few university teachers today who
have not had the experience of re-reading something they had written long ago and finding
it unfamiliar. (Which is more depressing: to find that what we once wrote now seems all
wrong, or to find that it contains facts we have forgotten and bright ideas we can no longer
remember having thought of?) Thus, as hard-headed historians, we cannot think that over
45 years the Buddha could have been entirely consistent—and especially when we take into
account that he could not read over or playback what he had said. If the texts have any
valid claim to be the record of so long a preaching career, they cannot be wholly consistent.
Indeed, the boot is on the other foot: the texts are too consistent to be a wholly credible
record. It is obvious that literary convention and human forgetfulness have contributed to
the tendency recalled in my previous paragraph so as to iron out many of the inconsistencies
of both message and expression which must have occurred. (Gombrich, 2013, p. 9)

The final aspect that I would like to discuss is the concept of the Buddha as
Kalyān.amitta reliable guide. My observation is that Buddha was a person comparable
to a well-regarded adult educator whose explanation of the pathway to achieving
specific experiences and spiritual development could be tested by the learner and
found to be true or not. The Buddha performed the role of Kalyān.amitta reliable
guide by pointing to his established curriculum and giving thousands of lectures
over 45 years that spoke to people’s interest and confidence in his approach. Contin-
uing the discussion he had with Ānanda about the Kalyān.amitta teacher role (SN
45.2, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 3–5), as discussed in the previous section, he goes
on to say:
When a bhikkhu monk has a Kalyān.amitta good friend, a good companion, a good comrade,
it is to be expected that he will develop and cultivate the Noble Eightfold Path.

“And how, Ānanda, does a bhikkhu who has a good friend, a good companion, a good
comrade, develop and cultivate the Noble Eightfold Path? Here, Ānanda, a bhikkhu develops
right view, which is based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in release.
He develops right intention … right speech … right action … right livelihood … right effort
… right mindfulness … right concentration, which is based upon seclusion, dispassion, and
cessation, maturing in release. It is in this way, Ānanda, that a bhikkhu who has a good
friend, a good companion, a good comrade, develops and cultivates the Noble Eightfold
Path.”

“By the following method too, Ānanda, it may be understood how the entire holy life is good
friendship, good companionship, good comradeship: by relying upon me as a good friend,
Ānanda, beings subject to birth are freed from birth; beings subject to aging are freed from
aging; beings subject to death are freed from death; beings subject to sorrow, lamentation,
pain, displeasure, and despair are freed from sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and
despair. By this method, Ānanda, it may be understood how the entire holy life is good
friendship, good companionship, good comradeship.”
10 1 Introduction—Gautama Buddha in Historical Context

1.3 The Buddha’s Approach to the Development

of Wisdom from 2,500 Years Ago

This introductory chapter has set the scene for exploring the life of the Buddha as
a teacher, the development of his teachings, and his teaching approach; the contem-
porary context of education, where immigrants from may ethnoreligious traditions
have established their Buddhism within countries such as multicultural Australia; a
discussion of key terms and definitions and an explanation of the use of the Early
Buddhist texts, and the use of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pāl.i, and English; and, introduction to
the Buddha as a person, a spiritual archetype, and, the focus of this monograph, as an
educational theorist and notable teacher of how humans can develop inner wisdom.
The second chapter provides a more in-depth examination of the Buddha’s 45-year
education legacy. Examining what we know of teaching and learning at that time, this
chapter makes a detailed examination of the emergence of the Buddha’s education
theory introduced through an overview of the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths
and the at..thaṅgika-magga Noble Eightfold Path from the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon,
as the Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum. This Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum
and the Majjhima Patipada Middle Way approach to teaching provide an outline of
the broad canvas of his educational theory.
In Chap. 3, I present historical evidence about aspects of education in the region
in northern India where the Buddha spent his teaching life, known as the heartland
of Buddhism, and explore the process of generation, codification, and preservation
of the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon and its dissemination after the passing of the Buddha
from its heartland in India. I examine the second wave of adaptations across the
Asian region, noting the assimilation of the Buddha’s teachings into tribal Indige-
nous metaphysics, local spiritual customs, and the slow development of the various
schools of Buddhist thought, and their teaching and learning styles. I then move to the
third period of adaptation globally with Buddhist acclimatisation in the West through
formal and informal teaching and learning contexts, through the education work of
both Buddhist temples (for both immigrant and local populations) and Sangha, with
respect to the protection of the Buddhist Canon, the preservation of ethnocultural
versions of Buddhism in the western context, and the emergence of uniquely western
adaptations through schools, universities, and the personal development movement.
Chap. 4 makes the transition from an emphasis on the broader historical and
sociocultural aspects that influenced the educational approach taken by the Buddha
towards an examination of the Buddha as an adult educator with a clear pedagog-
ical intent. This chapter will make a close examination of the various pedagogical
approaches used by the Buddha that supported his teaching of the Buddha-Dhamma
core curriculum of the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths and the at..thaṅgikam .
maggam . Noble Eightfold Path. These approaches include some that would be familiar
to the modern reader, some that have fallen out of favour, or some more akin to Indige-
nous and traditionally-oriented approaches to pedagogy that continue to be employed
by teachers.
1.3 The Buddha’s Approach to the Development of Wisdom from 2,500 Years Ago 11

The final chapter turns to an analysis of the teaching strategies and pedagogical
techniques employed by the Buddha to teach the Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum
of the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths and the at..thaṅgikam
. maggam . Noble
Eightfold Path found in the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon (see Appendixes A and C). It
will tease out the Buddha’s Majjhima Patipada Middle Way methods and examine
the importance of these for modern education, in particular the experiential element.
I will conclude with a discussion of the key elements of the Buddha’s education
theory, their importance, and relevance for modern education.

References

Suttas

SuttaCentral. (2020). Sam . yutta Nikāya 45.2. Upad.d.hasutta Half the Holy Life. [Bhikkhu
Bodhi, Trans.]. Retrieved December 24 2020 from https://suttacentral.net/sn45.2/en/bodhi. The
Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2000). This excerpt from The
Connected Discourses of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution - Non Commercial - No Derivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on the work Connected
Discourses of the Buddha at Wisdom Publications. Permissions beyond the scope of this license
may be available at Wisdom Publications. Prepared for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.
SuttaCentral. (2020). Sam . yutta Nikāya 56.11. Dhammacakkappavattanasutta Setting in Motion
the Wheel of the Dhamma. [Bhikkhu Bodhi, Trans.]. Retrieved December 24 2020 from https://
suttacentral.net/sn56.11/en/bodhi. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publica-
tions, 2000). This excerpt from The Connected Discourses of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution—Non Commercial—No Derivs 3.0 Unported
License. Based on the work Connected Discourses of the Buddha at Wisdom Publications. Permis-
sions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Wisdom Publications. Prepared for
SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.
SuttaCentral. (2020). Sam . yutta Nikāya 22.58. Upayavagga. Sammāsambuddhasutta The Perfectly
Enlightened One. [Bhikkhu Bodhi, Trans.]. Retrieved December 24 2020 from https://suttacent
ral.net/sn22.58/en/bodhi. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publications, 2000).
This excerpt from The Connected Discourses of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi is licensed under
a Creative Commons Attribution—Non Commercial—No Derivs 3.0 Unported License. Based
on the work Connected Discourses of the Buddha at Wisdom Publications. Permissions beyond
the scope of this license may be available at Wisdom Publications. Prepared for SuttaCentral by
Blake Walsh.

Authored texts

Beare, H., & Slaughter, R. (1993). Education for the twenty-first century. Routledge.
Carrithers, M. (1983). The Buddha (past masters). Oxford University Press.
Conze, E. (1957). Buddhism: Its essence and development. Ltd: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers
Pvt.
Davids, T. W. R. (1911). Buddhist India Kessinger Publishing.
Gombrich, R. F. (2013). What the Buddha thought. Equinox Publishing Ltd.
12 1 Introduction—Gautama Buddha in Historical Context

Laumakis, S. J. (2008). An introduction to Buddhist philosophy. Cambridge University Press.

Ma Rhea, Z. (2017a). Buddhist pedagogy in teacher education: Cultivating wisdom by skillful
means. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 46(2), 199–216. doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.
2017.1399984.
Ma Rhea, Z. (2017b). Wisdom, knowledge, and the postmodern University in Thailand. Palgrave
Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-37694-7.
Ma Rhea, Z., & Teasdale, G. R. (2000). A dialogue between the global and the local. In G. R.
Teasdale & Z. Ma Rhea (Eds.), Local knowledge and wisdom in higher education (pp. 1–14).
Pergamon Elsevier.
Narada Maha Thera. (1992). A manual of Buddhism. Buddhist Missionary Society. http://www.pur
ifymind.com/ManualBuddhism.htm.
Narada Maha Thera. (2012). The Buddha and his teachings (3rd ed.). Buddhist Publications Society.
Smyth, J., Hattam, R., & Lawson, M. (Eds.). (1998). Schooling for a fair go. The Federation Press.
Sujato, Bhikkhu & Brahmali, Bhikkhu. (2015). The authenticity of the early buddhist texts.
Chroniker Press. https://ocbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/authenticity.pdf.
SuttaCentral. (2020a). Kalyān.amitta. Retrieved December 30, 2020 from SuttaCentral. SuttaCen-
tral, 2020, https://suttacentral.net/define/kalyān.amitta.
SuttaCentral. (2020b). Pacceka. Retrieved December 30, 2020 from SuttaCentral. https://suttacent
ral.net/define/pacceka.
The World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Report of the world commission
on environment and development: Our common future (A/42/427). http://www.un-documents.net/
our-common-future.pdf.
Chapter 2
Emergence of Buddha’s 45-Year
Educational Legacy

Abstract This chapter provides a more in-depth examination of the Buddha’s 45-
year education legacy. Examining what we know of teaching and learning at that time,
this chapter makes a detailed examination of the emergence of the Buddha’s education
theory introduced through an overview of the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths
and the at..thaṅgika-magga Noble Eightfold Path from the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon,
as the Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum. This Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum
and the Majjhima Patipada Middle Way approach to teaching provide an outline of
the broad canvas of his educational theory.

Keywords cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths · at..thaṅgika-magga Noble

Eightfold Path · Tipitaka Buddhist Canon · Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum ·
Majjhima Patipada Middle Way · Teaching and learning · Curriculum · Pedagogy

2.1 Aspects Shaping Teaching and Learning in the Time

of the Buddha

While this monograph examines the development of inner wisdom through the teach-
ings of the Buddha over 2,500 years ago, there remain communities of people in this
contemporary era who maintain and preserve ideas about the teaching and learning
of wisdom that have resonance with the earlier times. Interestingly, and something
that will be examined more closely in Chap. 3, the ideas of the Buddha have been
finding fertile soil across the planet, spreading and settling as they met the cultures of
myriad Indigenous peoples and all sorts of other religions and spiritual practices and
socio-economic contexts and there remain some enduring features of his approach
to teaching and learning that were highly adaptable to each context, successfully
enabling a diversity of people to become interested in his ideas, to receive some
teachings, to practice according to the teachings, and to walk the pathway towards
the development of inner wisdom he had elucidated.
In order to understand some of these contemporary resonances, it is necessary to
establish some of the elements of the socio-historical context into which the Buddha
was born and through which he taught for 45 years. Scholars have reflected that it

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 13
Z. M. Diamond, Gautama Buddha, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1765-2_2
14 2 Emergence of Buddha’s 45-Year Educational Legacy

was a time of significant change (Davids, 1911; Gombrich, 2012; Krishnan, 2008;
Sujato & Brahmali, 2015). As Laumakis (2008) describes: ‘His was a time when
the certainties of traditional ways of thinking and living were being challenged by
… the breakdown of tribal federations and the development of powerful monarchies
and emerging urban centres’ (p. 23). As was discussed in Chap. 1, the Buddha would
have been educated in a manner that was typical of his time. He may have undergone
teaching in the Brahmanical tradition, and possibly even been trained in warfare as
the son of an important clan chief. There are many ways of explaining the context of
the Buddha’s upbringing but without reliable historical records, it is only possible to
offer some possibilities of ideas that may have shaped his eventual development into
a world-influencing educator. Certainly, many stories have been told of his protected
early upbringing with his parents not wanting to expose him to the cruelties and
injustices of the world, that he was of a wealthy and princely caste and had every
luxury at his command, and many such elaborations. If one considers the context of
his times, and the decisions he went on to make about how to live his life, it is not
necessary to believe any of these conjectures to understand his core teachings.

2.1.1 Influence of Early Brahminical Education

Choudhary (2008), Ghosh (2001), and Guruge (2003) provide insight into the Brah-
minical education that the Buddha would have been privy to, if not educated in.
Brahminical education developed in the Vedic period. As Choudhary (2008) explains,
Brahminical education in the Rig Veda was concerned with the preservation of sacred
hymns, passed down orally, concerning cosmology and praising deities, philosoph-
ical or speculative questions, virtues, and other metaphysical issues in their hymns.
The main body of the Rig Veda is the Samhita that contains the hymns to the deities. It
is the oldest part of the Rig Veda. The other three parts are the Brahmanas, commen-
taries on the hymns, the Aranyakas, books that delved into the deeper meaning of
rituals, and the Upanishads, the most recent of the sections of the Rig Veda. Phillips
(2009) suggests that the early parts of the Upanishads, the Brhadaranyaka, Chan-
dogya, Isha, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Kena, Katha, Mundaka, and Prasna Upanishads
are all pre-Buddhist and pre-Jain, while Svetasvatara and Mandukya overlap with
the earliest Buddhist and Jain literature. Similar to the Buddhist Canon, the Tipitaka,
the Rig Vedic body of knowledge was probably first written down about the third-
century BCE (Sujato & Brahmali, 2015; West, 2010). As such, I would suggest that
the young Siddhārtha Gautama would have been aware of such methods of spiritual
training using the oral transmission method to support accurate memorisation and
reproduction of a large body of knowledge.
A rishi teacher, having undergone many years of memorisation and verbal trans-
mission of the Rig Veda, would have students living in his home to undergo the same
training that he had undergone. This would have included those parts of the Rig Veda
that had been taught to that rishi. There were strands and schools of teaching and, as
a consequence, not all teachers would have been taught all aspects of the complete
2.1 Aspects Shaping Teaching and Learning in the Time of the Buddha 15

Rig Veda. We do not know if the Buddha was educated at home (normally undertaken
in the first Ashrama period of life from 0 to 25 when such learning and preparation
for life took place) or, like most other students, undertook some sort of initiation
ceremony and left home for study. He may also have taken part in debating circles
and parishads where students discussed various aspects of knowledge. He may also,
in his young life, attended conferences summoned by kings in which the represen-
tatives of various schools participated. Certainly, in his later life he was invited as a
speaker to such conferences.
Gombrich (2012) observes that the Buddha’s approach to the preservation of
the Buddhist Canon had before it the example of preservation of the Rig Veda,
‘achieved by dint of a system of extraordinarily long and tedious compulsory educa-
tion for brahmin boys’ (p. 6). Notably, unlike the students who memorised these
long Rig Vedic texts whose training had started at birth, the people who memorised
and codified the Buddha’s teachings, the Sangha, began their memorisation work
in adulthood with many not having the benefit of early training in memorisation.
As Gombrich (2012, pp. 6–7) explains, this ‘must have required a vast amount of
sustained and highly organised effort. Though there is evidence that extraordinary
feats of memory are possible for individuals, whether or not they live in pre-literate
civilisations, these Buddhist texts amount to hundreds of thousands of lines, so much
that only a very few individuals of exceptional mnemonic gifts can ever have mastered
the lot’.

2.1.2 Tribal Roots of Buddhism and Buddha’s Pedagogy

While the Brahminical influences on Buddhism and Jainism, another traditional of

spiritual development that arose contemporaneously with the ideas of the Buddha, are
important to recognise, there were also other factors that contribute to explaining the
profound effect that the Buddha’s teachings and the way he taught had on the people
of the north-eastern region of India in the fifth century BCE. Rhys Davids, in 1911,
made the observation that the ‘brahmin books convey the impression that the only
recognised, and in fact universally prevalent form of government was that of kings
under the guidance and tutelage of priests’ (p. 2). Here he makes the argument that
there were other established and emerging traditions of education and development
co-existing with the emphasis on Brahminical education and its sacrifices. This is an
important point with respect to my discussion about the teaching and learning ideas
of the Buddha because it is a common belief in modern India that Buddhist ideas are
a minor tributary of the great river of the Rig Veda, of the Brahmanical traditions,
and of contemporary Hinduism. Hence, the argument goes, that the ideas are neither
unique nor particularly significant. I do not hold this view.
This monograph makes an argument for the significance of the Buddha as an
educator who was teaching during a period of great upheaval in social conditions,
where tribal peoples lived in relative independence. As mentioned in Chap. 1, the
Buddha’s clan, the Śākya clan, were a tribal people. Tradition suggests that there were
16 2 Emergence of Buddha’s 45-Year Educational Legacy

about one million people living in a predominantly settled agricultural community

with a number of market towns (Buddhaghosa, cited in Davids, 1911, pp. 18–19).
Various of the Buddha’s relatives were chiefs during his lifetime, including his father.
Their clan territory is estimated to have been about ‘fifty miles from east to west and
thirty to forty miles southward from the foot of the Himalaya Hills’ (Davids, 1911,
p. 18) with the administrative centre being Kapilavastu. Rhys Davids also makes the
conjecture that there would have been Brahmin priests living in every village, ‘whose
services were in request at every domestic event’ (p. 19). Important for this discussion,
beyond historical interest, is the parallel I find between Rhys Davids’ account of
the socio-economic organisation of the Śākya clan and contemporary agrarian and
Indigenous communities in the present era. The fact that the Śākya clan was an
Indigenous people, a ‘free republic’, drawn into the sphere of emerging kingdoms,
places the Buddha in a unique position of understanding tribal Indigenous socio-
political and economic freedoms together with his ability to engage with the business
of the emerging monarchical and merchant classes in a uniquely democratic manner.
A significant aspect of this democratic tendency of the Buddha was that, contrary
to contemporary belief, the Indian caste system was still forming and the Buddha
taught his ideas to people of all social positions and occupations. This is a signature
of his appeal and how he was able to bridge the spiritual and secular in his programme
of education of the people. In Chap. 3 (this edition), such a unique foundation would
have profound impact on the ability of the Buddha’s ideas to find fertile soil. His
teachings came as much from his Indigenous, tribal roots as they did from his expo-
sure to Brahmanical education and tribal socialisation. The following example from
the Janavasabhasutta (DN 18, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–8) provides some insight
into the extent of his connection with members of other tribal ‘free republics’ and his
assessment of their members in terms of what they had achieved during their lives
in spiritual development, an aspect of teaching and learning that has fallen away in
contemporary assessment practices:
Thus, have I heard.
The Exalted One was once staying in Nādika, at the Brick House. Now at that time the Exalted
One was wont to make declarations as to the rebirths of such followers (of the doctrine) as
had passed away in death among the tribes round about on every side—among the Kāsis
and Kosalans, the Vajjians and Mallas, the Chetis and Vam . sas, the Kurus and Pañcālas, the
Macchas and Sūrasenas—saying: ‘Such a one has been reborn there, and such a one there.’
When the devotees of Nādika heard about the Buddha’s answers to those questions, they
were uplifted and overjoyed, full of rapture and happiness.
Venerable Ānanda heard of the Buddha’s statements and the Nādikans’ happiness.

2.2 The Profound Influence of Wandering and Teaching

A signature feature of the Buddha’s teaching life, and of central interest to educators,
is that the Buddha was a wandering mendicant. He disavowed using vehicles and
would not use beasts to carry him. His way of being a teacher was shaped by a daily
2.2 The Profound Influence of Wandering and Teaching 17

walking and begging practice. Sometimes he would remain in a village over days or
even weeks, relying on people to feed and clothe him. He also needed a place for
his ablutions and for him to sleep and teach. In towns and villages where he was
supported by clan chiefs and kings, it was easier for him to have sufficient alms-food
for the day, and be given an area of forest or grove to sleep, teach, and bathe. In
other places such as Madhurā, he was given less food and found the village to be less
able to meet his daily needs. As will be discussed more fully in Chap. 5, this was an
embodied pedagogy—he literally ‘walked his talk’ using walking and the practice
of asking for food to sharpen and focus his ideas as he learned to teach his ‘core
curriculum’ day by day. He mostly lived and taught outdoors or sometimes under
roofed pavilions with no walls. These aspects of his daily teaching life are quite
distinct from the modern school environment where teachers struggle to be allowed
to teach outdoors or teach students through embodied practices. These differences
will prove important as we consider how to approach the education ideas of the
Buddhas in the twenty-first-century classroom.
The walking life of the Buddha was familiar to that of other spiritual teachers
of that era, called Paribbajakas. Law (1918, p. 399), in ‘A Short Account of the
Wandering Teachers at the Time of the Buddha’, says:
At the time of the rise of Buddhism there were various classes of wanderers who, in the
language of Dr Rhys Davids, ‘were teachers or sophists who spent eight or nine months of
every year wandering about precisely with the object of engaging in conversational discus-
sions on matters of ethics and philosophy, nature lore and mysticism’. Like the sophists
among the Greeks, they differed very much in intelligence, in earnestness and in honesty.

I examined this aspect of his life more fully (Ma Rhea, 2010) and found it useful
that Law (1918) separates two classes of Paribbajakas into the Annatitthiya Parib-
bajaka, and the Brahmina Paribbajaka. The Brahmina Paribbajakas, of the tradition
of Brahminical Education, were in the habit of discussing matters relating to this
phenomenal world, the term corresponding in some way or other to the ways of
life or mundane affairs. The Annatitthiya Paribbajakas were interested generally in
the question of self-realisation in thought and in conduct, that is to say, in solemn
judgements about human life and the whole of things. Similar to the Buddha, the
Paribbajaka would shave his head, clothe himself with one piece of cloth or antelope
skin or cover his body with grass plucked by cows. He would sleep on bare ground.
Law (1918) observes that it is generally believed that wanderers were not known
much before the rise of Buddhism.
The Buddha distinguished himself by his ideas. He was not pursuing an extreme
form of ascetism through his walking and begging. His was a ‘Middle Way’ teaching.
He was not trying to prove he was more spiritually advanced through the extreme
practices that others adopted to attract followers. Rather, he seemed comfortable to
live the wandering begging life as a way of getting from place to place and receiving
the necessary things to sustain life while he focused on teaching people what he had
learned as a reliable path to wisdom.
18 2 Emergence of Buddha’s 45-Year Educational Legacy

2.3 What Was Spiritual Development in This Context?

Foundational elements of the Buddha’s teachings provided clear guidance to people

about their lives, focusing on the development of pañña wisdom and karun.ā compas-
sion. Pañña wisdom is the outcome of a person penetrating the nature of reality.
Karun.ā compassion, also translated as wise empathy, is one of the brahmavihāras
or the Four Divine Abodes that, together with compassion provide the emotionally
mature ground in which to develop wisdom. The other are mettā loving kindness,
muditā altruistic joy, and upekkhā equanimity. Here the Buddha, as an exemplar of
both the style of teaching and its content, describes the importance of developing
pañña wisdom and karun.ā compassion as a unified teaching in the Karun.āsutta (SN
46.63, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–16):
Thus, have I heard:
Once the Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthı̄. Then the Exalted One addressed the monks,
saying: “Monks.”
“Yes, lord,” replied those monks to the Exalted One. The Exalted One said:
“Monks, the idea of compassion, if cultivated and made much of, is of great fruit and great
profit. And how cultivated and made much of is the idea of compassion of great fruit and
great profit?”
“Herein a monk cultivates the limb of wisdom that is mindfulness, accompanied by the
idea of compassion, which is based on seclusion, on dispassion, on cessation, which ends in
self -surrender.”
“He cultivates the limb of wisdom that is investigation of the Norm, accompanied by the
idea of compassion, which is based on seclusion, on dispassion, on cessation, which ends in
self -surrender.”
“He cultivates the limb of wisdom that is energy, …”
“He cultivates the limb of wisdom that is zest, ….”
“He cultivates the limb of wisdom that is tranquillity, …”
“He cultivates the limb of wisdom that is concentration, …”
“He cultivates the limb of wisdom that is equanimity, …”
“Thus cultivated, monks, thus made much of, the idea of compassion is of great fruit and
great profit.”

There are a number of features in the above exemplar that are worth noting. Here we
find the usual opening lines: ‘Thus, I have heard’. This emphasises that the teaching
of the Buddha has been memorised and retold by one of the monks. It locates the
teaching as being given near Sāvatthı̄, the capital town of Kosala in India and one of
the six great Indian cities during the lifetime of the Buddha. The Kingdom of Kosala
was one of the emerging monarchies governed by King Pasenadi, who became a
great supporter of the Buddha.
The Buddha passed the greater part of his monastic life in Sāvatthı̄. It is said that
he spent twenty-five rainy seasons in the city, nineteen of them in Jetavana and six
in the Pubbarama. Outside the city gate of Sāvatthı̄ was a fishermen’s village of five
hundred families. Here we see an example of the context of the Buddha’s words, in a
2.3 What Was Spiritual Development in This Context? 19

familiar place where the Buddha’s teachings could speak to the merchants of Kosala,
the fishermen and their families and to the King.
In this Sutta, we can also see the pedagogical format of question and answer used in
the Buddha’s exposition, where he gives a step-by-step scaffolded answer introducing
one new concept [in bold for ease of understanding] within a sentence formula that
is repeated. All of these sub-concepts (e.g. mindfulness, equanimity and so on) are
investigated through the lens of karun.ā compassion as part of a holistic approach
to the development of pañña wisdom. Each concept was grounded in the Majjhima
Patipada Middle Way path, known as the at..thaṅgikam . maggam . Noble Eightfold
Path (see Appendices A & C). The overarching term sikkhā describes the training
that people followed the at..thaṅgikam . maggam . Noble Eightfold Path recorded in
the Early Buddhist Texts. The three domains of knowledge that are practised in this
approach are sı̄la morality, samādhi concentration, and vipassanā insight leading to
the development of pañña wisdom (Ma Rhea, 2013; Ven Nyanatiloka, 1988).
The concepts introduced above would have been familiar to the people who came
to hear the Buddha teach, especially as he returned to places such as Sāvatthı̄ many
times to repeat these teachings. Indeed, there were other wandering mendicants and
established Brahmin priests of various spiritual traditions teaching in that region
of India. There are records of many lively debates and discussions among them in
front of interested audiences. But what I see emerging in my analysis is that the
Buddha has a disciplined approach to the development of wisdom that is accessible
to everyone who is willing to listen, practice, and explore the deeper meaning of the
teachings. The layers of meaning are more deeply understood over time and with
practice, something that remains central to formal and informal education pedagogy
into the contemporary era. This is in sharp contrast to access to some Indigenous and
traditional esoteric, metaphysical, and spiritual knowledge that was only revealed
after careful assessment of past learning and sometimes higher levels of initiation.
The revolution of the Buddha’s approach was that when the learner apprehended for
him or herself the deeper meaning of teachings through living ethically, practising
meditation, and applying discernment to the arising knowledge from practice, the
new step on the path would reveal itself. Many people achieved nibbāna enlighten-
ment, the complete expression of pañña wisdom under the Buddha’s guidance, and
continue to do so into the present time following the same at..thaṅgikam . maggam .
Noble Eightfold Path (see Appendix C).

2.4 The Philosophical Foundation of the Buddha’s

Education Theory

The discussion in the previous section indicates that during the time of the Buddha,
over his teaching career of 45 years, he developed a theory of education of similar
import to those great Western philosophers of education about whom we know
far more—Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Maimonides, Descartes,
20 2 Emergence of Buddha’s 45-Year Educational Legacy

Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, and Rousseau and more recent education theorists such as
Dewey (see, e.g., Rorty, 1998). The education systems of Hinduism, Judaism, and
more recent Christianity and Islam, all share the feature with Western theories of
education of having been written down. Their ancient pedagogical roots go further
back into Indigenous and other traditionally-oriented approaches to education passed
on orally to the present day. All education theories are embedded in the preoccupa-
tion of how best to educate the young members of a clan, republic, or state to produce
its best humans of the future.
The Buddha’s approach has an underpinning theory of education that focuses
firmly on the development of worldly and transcendental pañña wisdom as the goal
of education, designed for the ‘here and now’ and the possibility of achieving nibbāna
enlightenment in this life or a future rebirth. As such, his teachings are embedded in
Indigenous and traditionally-orientated methods. The preservation of his educational
philosophy benefitted from notable memorisation efforts until his ideas could be
recorded in written forms. This work has enabled a new examination of his theory
of education 2,500 after his career ended. The next section provides a brief overview
of the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths and the at..thaṅgikam . maggam . Noble
Eightfold Path.

2.4.1 Understanding the Buddha’s Key Educational Ideas

The educational ideas of the Buddha were unique for their time. Indeed, there were
aspects of society, environment, and education that influenced the development of
the Buddha as a young person but as he reached his maturity, he branched out on
his own to find answers that others were unable to give him about the meaning
of life and the purpose of education. Over 45 years, he developed and refined the
communication of his ideas. These were collected and organised, first orally, and later
were written down in a collection of books known as the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon
containing the Vinaya, Sutta Pitaka, and Abhidhamma Pitaka. In this monograph,
I mainly focus on the Early Buddhist Texts (EBTs) preserved in the Sutta Pitaka,
one of the three baskets. The Suttas contain the pedagogical approach and core
curriculum of teachings that provide the foundation for teaching and learning into
the modern era, first collected and taught in nascent universities such as Nalanda,
then shared across Asia east and west as far as Greece and Indonesia. Versions of
these teachings are found across the world, mostly preserved by monks and nuns
of the various Buddhist traditions and taught in temples. Rarer but becoming more
common, it is now possible to find schools and universities being established once
again in the tradition of Nalanda to embed Buddhist education theories and ideas
into the modern formal education system.
During the Buddha’s life, he established an approach that is known as Majjhima
Patipada Middle Way is a holistic approach that balances the development of
sila moral/ethical, vipassana insight/critical thinking, and samadhi concentration
practices, emphasising the importance of finding the balance between them to
2.4 The Philosophical Foundation of the Buddha’s Education Theory 21

experience the emergence of pañña wisdom. The Majjhima Patipada Middle Way
is about finding avoidance of extremes. Finding balance is the crucial element of
his teaching arising from his turning away from indulgence in worldly pursuits and
extreme ascetic practices. He had experienced both and found neither to be satis-
fying or leading to wisdom. A discussion of his pedagogy of the Majjhima Patipada
Middle Way will be undertaken in Chap. 4. In this following section, I will introduce
the Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum of the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths
and the at..thaṅgikam
. maggam . Noble Eightfold Path, as the philosophical foundations
for his education theory, as a teaching approach that leads to the student learning how
to avoid extremes and experience the emergence of wisdom. The Buddha’s education
idea and, arguably, the reason for his approach, is to teach in such a way as to lead
the learner to deliverance from what he calls dukkha suffering, a word that encom-
passes all the discontents and dissatisfactions that arise from being human towards
a deep inner, satisfying wisdom. Here I will introduce the overall framework, and
in the following chapters, I will draw on aspects of this curriculum to establish the
importance of these ideas for contemporary education.
The Buddha teaching did what is called ‘Setting in Motion the Wheel of the
Dhamma’. This teaching is an oft-quoted and studied Sutta, the Dhammacakkappa-
vattanasutta (SN 56.11, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–3).
Thus, have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Bārān.ası̄ in the Deer
Park at Isipatana. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus of the group of five thus:
“Bhikkhus, these two extremes should not be followed by one who has gone forth into
homelessness. What two? The pursuit of sensual happiness in sensual pleasures, which is
low, vulgar, the way of worldlings, ignoble, unbeneficial; and the pursuit of self -mortification,
which is painful, ignoble, unbeneficial. Without veering towards either of these extremes, the
Tathagata has awakened to the middle way, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to
knowledge, which leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna.”
“And what, bhikkhus, is that middle way awakened to by the Tathagata, which gives rise to
vision … which leads to Nibbāna? It is this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right
intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right
concentration. This, bhikkhus, is that middle way awakened to by the Tathagata, which gives
rise to vision, which gives rise to knowledge, which leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to
enlightenment, to Nibbāna.”

In the Khandhasutta (SN 56.13, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 1), the Buddha introduces
a succinct overview to his audience, saying:
“Bhikkhus, there are these Four Noble Truths. What four? The noble truth of suffering, the
noble truth of the origin of suffering, the noble truth of the cessation of suffering, the noble
truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.”

He then goes on to expound the four aspects individually. For each of the cattari ariya
saccani Four Noble Truths, I will give its name, the direct explanation given by the
Buddha and an example of an elaboration given by him in one of his many teachings
about this aspect. For the reader who is unfamiliar with these ideas, I have tried to
provide enough textual information from the Early Buddhist Texts to examine and
reflect on his ideas, given their philosophically foundational importance in developing
an understanding of his contribution to education. He begins with dukkha ariya sacca
the First Noble Truth (SN 56.13, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 2):
22 2 Emergence of Buddha’s 45-Year Educational Legacy

“And what, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering? It should be said: the five aggregates
subject to clinging; that is, the form aggregate subject to clinging … the consciousness
aggregate subject to clinging. This is called the noble truth of suffering.”

The dukkha ariya sacca First Noble Truth asks the learner to contemplate that the
individual is only a combination of ever-changing physical or mental forces made
up of the 5 aggregates.
He continues with dukkha samudaya ariya sacca the Second Noble Truth (SN
56.13, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 3):
“And what, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the origin of suffering? It is this craving which
leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there;
that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination. This
is called the noble truth of the origin of suffering.”

He often explains that dukkha is, of itself, not an originary cause as others were
teaching at the time, correcting Bhikkhu Sāti on this point, for example, on one
occasion when the Buddha was living at Sāvatthı̄ in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapin.d.ika’s
Park. He explains to Sāti in the Mahātan.hāsaṅkhayasutta (MN 38, SuttaCentral,
2020, para. 29):
“So, bhikkhus, with ignorance as condition, formations come to be; with formations as condi-
tion, consciousness; with consciousness as condition, mentality-materiality; with mentality-
materiality as condition, the sixfold base; with the sixfold base as condition, contact; with
contact as condition, feeling; with feeling as condition, craving; with craving as condition,
clinging; with clinging as condition, being; with being as condition, birth; with birth as
condition, ageing and death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, and despair come to be. Such
is the origin of this whole mass of suffering.”

Continuing with dukkha nirodho ariya sacca The Third Noble Truth (SN 56.13,
SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 4):
“And what, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering? It is the remainderless
fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom
from it, nonreliance on it. This is called the noble truth of the cessation of suffering.”

In this Truth, he elaborates his idea of causation in the Pat.iccasamuppādasutta (SN

12.1, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–4), where he explains how suffering arises and
how everything is aññamañña paccayo interdependent and mutually arising in a
significant teaching on dependent origination, saying:
Thus, have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthı̄ in Jeta’s Grove,
Anāthapin.d.ika’s Park. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus thus: “Bhikkhus!”
“Venerable sir!” those bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this:
“Bhikkhus, I will teach you dependent origination. Listen to that and attend closely, I will
speak.”
“Yes, venerable sir,” those bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this:
“And what, bhikkhus, is dependent origination? With ignorance as condition, volitional
formations come to be; with volitional formations as condition, consciousness; with
consciousness as condition, name-and-form; with name-and-form as condition, the six sense
bases; with the six sense bases as condition, contact; with contact as condition, feeling; with
2.4 The Philosophical Foundation of the Buddha’s Education Theory 23

feeling as condition, craving; with craving as condition, clinging; with clinging as condi-
tion, existence; with existence as condition, birth; with birth as condition, aging-and-death,
sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair come to be. Such is the origin of this
whole mass of suffering. This, bhikkhus, is called dependent origination”.

This is a very important foundation for his theory of education because he targets
ignorance as an arising condition of dukkha suffering, proposing that with a clear
understanding of suffering, and having the arising desire to resolve suffering in one’s
life, the learner begins to think about thoughts and actions differently. The Buddha’s
theory of causation has twelve links of dependent origination, where he shows the
origin and cessation of suffering dependent on ignorance. In the next section of
this teaching, he then explains the pathway to the cessation of suffering (SN 12.1,
SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 5) explaining:
“But with the remainderless fading away and cessation of ignorance comes cessation of
volitional formations; with the cessation of volitional formations, cessation of consciousness;
with the cessation of consciousness, cessation of name-and-form; with the cessation of name-
and-form, cessation of the six sense bases; with the cessation of the six sense bases, cessation
of contact; with the cessation of contact, cessation of feeling; with the cessation of feeling,
cessation of craving; with the cessation of craving, cessation of clinging; with the cessation
of clinging, cessation of existence; with the cessation of existence, cessation of birth; with
the cessation of birth, aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, displeasure, and despair
cease. Such is the cessation of this whole mass of suffering.”

These are examples of an extensive body of work that, taken together, move back
and forth in explanation and refinement of the second and third Noble Truths. In this
short monograph, it is not possible to provide the full extent of the teachings but to
point to their central importance in his education philosophy. As it is explained, ‘the
Nidāna Sam . yutta Linked Discourses on Causation is a major collection containing
93 discourses on the core Buddhist teaching of dependent origination. Dependent
origination presents a series of conditional links laying bare how suffering originates
and how it ends’. Importantly, as is explained (SN 12, SuttaCentral, 2020)1 :
It integrates psychological and existential aspects of suffering, showing how when bound
by attachment we make choices that bind us to transmigrating into future lives. One of the
core purposes is to explain how rebirth takes place without having to invoke metaphysical
concepts such as a ‘soul’.

For the Buddha, this endless round of arising and ceasing is the cause of everything
that comes into being. He explains (SN 12.23, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 21):
“Just as, bhikkhus, when rain pours down in thick droplets on a mountain top, the water
flows down along the slope and fills the cleft, gullies, and creeks; these being full fill up the
pools; these being full fill up the lakes; these being full fill up the streams; these being full
fill up the rivers; and these being full fill up the great ocean.”

In the Fourth Noble Truth, he reveals the dukkha nirodha gamini patipada ariya
sacca path that provides the framework to enable his educational philosophy’s
gradual teaching. It is, importantly, a practice pathway rather than something that

1 See expanded description under the Nidāna Sam

. yutta tab (https://suttacentral.net/sn12).
24 2 Emergence of Buddha’s 45-Year Educational Legacy

can be apprehended simply by having book knowledge of it. He says (SN 56.13,
SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 5):
“And what, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering? It is
this Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right
livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. This is called the noble
truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering.”

As is explained (SuttaCentral, 2020), the Sam . yutta Nikaya Linked Discourses on

the Truths contains 131 discourses on the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths:
suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path. In the dukkha nirodha gamini patipada
ariya sacca Fourth Noble Truth, the Buddha lays out the steps in the process by
which a learner cultivates wisdom over time, gradually, and by experience (SN 56.13,
SuttaCentral, 2020). The wisdom being sought is emergent through practising the
teachings associated with each step. In modern educational terms, this is scaffolded,
developmental learning that is guided and inquiry-based.
The Mahāvaggasam . yutta Great Book consists of twelve saṁyuttas, almost all
of which deal with an aspect of Buddhist practice, or the path. As the authors of
the explanations at SuttaCentral explain, ‘This book is the primary source for these
2
teachings’ (SN, Mahāvaggasam . yutta, SuttaCentral, 2020). The key teachings are
found in the Magga Sam . yutta Linked Discourses on the Path contains 180 discourses
on the at..thaṅgikam. maggam . Noble Eightfold Path, which gives rise to a curriculum of
study and practice known as the Majjhima Patipada Middle Way. Buddhist scholars
3
(SN, Magga Sam . yutta, SuttaCentral, 2020) suggest that this body of teachings ‘is
the first and most important of all the Buddha’s teachings on the path of spiritual
practice’. The Buddha explains the path in this way (SN 45.1, SuttaCentral, 2020,
paras. 1–4):
Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthı̄ in Jeta’s Grove,
Anāthapin.d.ika’s Park. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus thus: “Bhikkhus!”
“Venerable sir!” those bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this:
“Bhikkhus, ignorance is the forerunner in the entry upon unwholesome states, with shame-
lessness and fearlessness of wrongdoing following along. For an unwise person immersed in
ignorance, wrong view springs up. For one of wrong view, wrong intention springs up. For
one of wrong intention, wrong speech springs up. For one of wrong speech, wrong action
springs up. For one of wrong action, wrong livelihood springs up. For one of wrong liveli-
hood, wrong effort springs up. For one of wrong effort, wrong mindfulness springs up. For
one of wrong mindfulness, wrong concentration springs up.”
“Bhikkhus, true knowledge is the forerunner in the entry upon wholesome states, with a
sense of shame and fear of wrongdoing following along. For a wise person who has arrived
at true knowledge, right view springs up. For one of right view, right intention springs up.
For one of right intention, right speech springs up. For one of right speech, right action
springs up. For one of right action, right livelihood springs up. For one of right livelihood,
right effort springs up. For one of right effort, right mindfulness springs up. For one of right
mindfulness, right concentration springs up.”

2 See expanded description under the Mahāvaggasam

. yutta tab (https://suttacentral.net/sn-mahava
ggasamyutta).
3 See expanded description under the Magga Samyutta tab (https://suttacentral.net/sn-mahavagga
.
samyutta).
2.4 The Philosophical Foundation of the Buddha’s Education Theory 25

At Sāvatthı̄, he also gives definitions and analysis for each of these steps on the
at..thaṅgikam
. maggam . Noble Eightfold Path (SN 45.8, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras.
1–11), recorded succinctly in this way:
“Bhikkhus, I will teach you the Noble Eightfold Path and I will analyse it for you. Listen to
that and attend closely, I will speak.”
“Yes, venerable sir,” those bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this:
“And what, bhikkhus, is the Noble Eightfold Path? Right view … right concentration.”
“And what, bhikkhus, is right view? Knowledge of suffering, knowledge of the origin of
suffering, knowledge of the cessation of suffering, knowledge of the way leading to the
cessation of suffering: this is called right view.”
“And what, bhikkhus, is right intention? Intention of renunciation, intention of non-ill will,
intention of harmlessness: this is called right intention.”
“And what, bhikkhus, is right speech? Abstinence from false speech, abstinence from divisive
speech, abstinence from harsh speech, abstinence from idle chatter: this is called right
speech.”
“And what, bhikkhus, is right action? Abstinence from the destruction of life, abstinence from
taking what is not given, abstinence from sexual misconduct: this is called right action.”
“And what, bhikkhus, is right livelihood? Here a noble disciple, having abandoned a wrong
mode of livelihood, earns his living by a right livelihood: this is called right livelihood.”
“And what, bhikkhus, is right effort? Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu generates desire for the non-
arising of un-arisen evil unwholesome states; he makes an effort, arouses energy, applies
his mind, and strives. He generates desire for the abandoning of arisen evil unwholesome
states…. He generates desire for the arising of unarisen wholesome states…. He generates
desire for the maintenance of arisen wholesome states, for their non-decay, increase, expan-
sion, and fulfilment by development; he makes an effort, arouses energy, applies his mind,
and strives. This is called right effort.”
“And what, bhikkhus is right mindfulness? Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells contemplating
the body in the body, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having removed covetousness
and displeasure in regard to the world. He dwells contemplating feelings in feelings, ardent,
clearly comprehending, mindful, having removed covetousness and displeasure in regard to
the world. He dwells contemplating mind in mind, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful,
having removed covetousness and displeasure in regard to the world. He dwells contem-
plating phenomena in phenomena, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having removed
covetousness and displeasure in regard to the world. This is called right mindfulness.”
“And what, bhikkhus, is right concentration? Here, bhikkhus, secluded from sensual plea-
sures, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters and dwells in the first jhana,
which is accompanied by thought and examination, with rapture and happiness born of
seclusion. With the subsiding of thought and examination, he enters and dwells in the second
jhana, which has internal confidence and unification of mind, is without thought and exam-
ination, and has rapture and happiness born of concentration. With the fading away as well
of rapture, he dwells equanimous and, mindful and clearly comprehending, he experiences
happiness with the body; he enters and dwells in the third jhana of which the noble ones
declare: ‘He is equanimous, mindful, one who dwells happily.’ With the abandoning of plea-
sure and pain, and with the previous passing away of joy and displeasure, he enters and
dwells in the fourth jhana, which is neither painful nor pleasant and includes the purification
of mindfulness by equanimity. This is called right concentration.”
26 2 Emergence of Buddha’s 45-Year Educational Legacy

I have quoted this text in full to give the reader a sense of the detail provided
by the Buddha in his discourses and expositions of his core ideas. He returns to
this explanation numerous times and he provides tailored explanations to people
depending on their questions, their progress in practising his methods, and in response
to what they have experienced. Despite all the variations, he reiterates this core
idea so frequently that it forms the basis for his pedagogical approach and the core
curriculum, the Buddha-Dhamma, that is preserved into the modern era.
In the following chapters, I move to a discussion of how these core teachings
and the pedagogy for the gradual Majjhima Patipada Middle Way approach were
codified through the considerable efforts of the Buddha, the Sangha, and myriad
followers of all walks of life who took it upon themselves to disseminate these
teaching across place and over time, leaving us with a sophisticated and sustainable
education philosophy for the development of human wisdom that is teachable into
the twenty-first century and beyond.

References

Suttas

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may be available at Wisdom Publications. Prepared for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.
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Non Commercial—No Derivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on the work Connected Discourses
of the Buddha at Wisdom Publications. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be
available at Wisdom Publications. Prepared for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.
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Guruge, A. W. P. (2003). How the Buddha taught. Hsi Lai Journal of Humanistic Buddhism, 4,
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Chapter 3
The Buddha’s Education Philosophy:
From the Heartland

Abstract In this chapter, I present historical evidence about aspects of education

in the region in northern India where the Buddha spent his teaching life, known as
the heartland of Buddhism, and explore the process of generation, codification, and
preservation of the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon and its dissemination after the passing
of the Buddha from its heartland in India. I examine the second wave of adapta-
tions across the Asian region, noting the assimilation of the Buddha’s teachings
into tribal Indigenous metaphysics, local spiritual customs, and the slow develop-
ment of the various schools of Buddhist thought, and their teaching and learning
styles. I then move to the third period of adaptation globally with Buddhist accli-
matisation in the West through formal and informal teaching and learning contexts,
through the education work of both Buddhist temples (for both immigrant and local
populations) and Sangha, with respect to the protection of the Buddhist Canon, the
preservation of ethnocultural versions of Buddhism in the western context, and the
emergence of uniquely western adaptations through schools, universities, and the
personal development movement.

Keywords Heartland Buddhism · Asian Buddhism · Theravāda Buddhism ·

Mahayana Buddhism · Zen Buddhism · Vajrayana Buddhism · Western
Buddhism · History of Buddhism

3.1 Introduction

During the 45-year span of the Buddha’s teaching life, he spent considerable time
teasing out how to teach what he had learnt. At the time, he was recognised as having
generated new knowledge, but it was the work of codification of his knowledge
into a body of information that was teachable and that, eventually, after his passing,
would be disseminated across the globe. His was an experience-based knowledge
held tacitly, and in the initial period, known only to him. As was discussed in previous
chapters, he was persuaded of his duty to teach what he had come to understand.
Influential modern theorist in the sociology of knowledge, Polanyi (1958/1998) might
term the experiential knowledge that he held as tacit knowledge. Polanyi recognised
that it is not necessarily possible to make all tacit knowledge explicit. His and work

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 29
Z. M. Diamond, Gautama Buddha, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1765-2_3
30 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

of those such as Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) showed that only those aspects of
personal knowledge, individually held, that can become explicit knowledge can then
be communicated to other people as information sharing. Nonaka and Takeuchi
(1995) helpfully describe the nature of this process as being Socialisation, External-
isation, Combination, and Internalisation but employ an important addition to this
seemingly linear process, using the metaphor of a spiral to describe their ideas about
knowledge creation. The idea of a spiral, now adopted into the lexicon of knowledge
management, is useful when considering the process by which people learned the
Buddha’s ideas, practised them and examined them for their deeper meaning.
The process of communicating tacitly-held knowledge into teachable information
has been recognised too by scholars working in the field of Traditional Ecological
Knowledge management (Langton & Ma Rhea, 2003; Muecke, 2011; Parsaye &
Chignell, 1988). Zeng (2017, p. 78) observes that ‘Indigenous traditional knowledge
is largely tacit knowledge. However, the tacit knowledge can be captured through
three major approaches: interviewing experts, learning by being told, and learning by
observation’. Given the rural, tribal context of the Buddha’s world and the codification
methods of Brahminical education, there is evidence in the Early Buddhist Texts
(EBTs; see Chap. 1, this edition) that such socially-constructed, community-based
methods of knowledge management were also used to preserve the teachings of the
Buddha.
I will employ some of these ideas of Indigenous and corporate knowledge manage-
ment to describe how the tacit, direct, experiential knowledge of a man living in a
rural region of northern India 2500 years ago became explicitly held by him, then
codified and transferred across space and time surviving surprisingly intact into the
present day. That it may be a remarkable case in successful intergenerational knowl-
edge management is only eclipsed by the efficacy of its teaching methods and the
teachability of its core ideas, matters to be discussed in-depth in the following chap-
ters. In this next section, I present historical evidence about aspects of education in
the region in northern India, where the Buddha spent his teaching life, known as the
heartland.

3.1.1 The Heartland of the Buddha’s Teaching Life

Krishnan (2008, p. 19) identifies eight sites in northern India and the southern
foothills of Nepal of importance in the Buddha’s life: Lumbini, Bodhgaya, Saranath,
Kapilavastu, Rajgir, Shravasti, Vaishali, and Kushinagar.1 I consider these places to
encompass what I will term ‘heartland Buddhism’ (Fig. 3.1).

1 ĀnandajotiBhikkhu notes that the old names on this map accord to the modern names: Uruvelā
= Bodhgaya; Bārān.ası̄ = Varanasi; Isipatana = Sarnath; Rājagaha = Rajgir; Vesālı̄ = Vaishali;
Kapilavatthu = Kapilavastu; Sāvatthı̄ = Shravasti (Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, 2013: https://www.anc
ient-buddhist-texts.net/Maps/During-Buddhas-Time/Map-02-Early-Career.htm).
3.1 Introduction 31

Fig. 3.1 Lumbini: UNESCO heritage site (Note Adapted from “Lumbini, the birthplace of the
Lord Buddha” by UNESCO, 2020. [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/666/#:~:text=The%20Lord%
20Buddha%20was%20born,Emperor%20Asoka%20in%20249%20BC]. Reprinted with permis-
sion)

UNESCO confirm the location of the sacred area of Lumbini located in the Terai
plains of southern Nepal as being the birthplace of the Buddha, testified by the
inscription on the pillar erected by the Mauryan Emperor Asoka in 319 BC. Located
on the traditional estates of the Śākya clan about 55 km to the east of the large
regional town of Kapilavatthu (modern-day Kapilavastu), the country was a republic,
governed by a council of chiefs, ruled over by an elected chief.
The Buddha’s strong clan connections enabled him to safely walk between other
estates and monarchies after proper protocols had been observed. These protocols,
rarely highlighted in Buddhist scholarly commentaries, gave the Buddha the neces-
sary permission to undertake his teaching in safety and with respect. Very much
present in the Suttas, Indigenous echoes of the necessity to follow proper cultural
protocols when teaching about Indigenous topics in teacher education, for example,
continue into the present. Those charged with memorising the Suttas, the Sangha,
included information at the commencement of each Sutta about relevant informa-
tion such as the clan, the place, any necessary permissions that had been given, and
protocols that had been followed. For example (AN 4.183, SuttaCentral, 2020, para.
1):
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Rājagaha in the Bamboo
Grove, the Squirrels’ Sanctuary. Then Vassakara the brahman, the minister to the king of
32 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

Magadha, approached the Blessed One and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with
him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side.

In another example, there were established practices for when and how a monk
should go out each day, begging for food and then commence his daily meditation
safely in an area of the forest where he was allowed to be (SA 236, SuttaCentral,
2020, para. 1):
Thus, have I heard.
At one time the Buddha was staying at Jetavana, Anāthapin.d.ika’s park at Śrāvastı̄. Then,
in the morning, the venerable Śāriputra, having put on his outer robe and taken his bowl,
went into the town of Śrāvastı̄ for alms-food. Having received alms-food, he returned to the
monastery. After putting away his robe and bowl and washing his feet, he took a sitting mat
and went into the forest for day-time seated meditation.

The map (Fig. 3.2) depicts the places where the Buddha spent his teaching career,
walking between towns, staying for the necessary time and moving on to the next
town throughout an annual cycle. According to Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, ‘This map
represents an area that is approx. 550 km from East to West and 400 km from North
to South is approx. 550 km from East to West and 400 km from North to South’
(Bhante Ānandajoti, 2012, para. 1).
The westernmost direction of his teaching circuit was Dakkhin.a-Madhurā (Sujato &
Brahmali, 2015, p. 14). The Madhurāsutta (AN 5.220, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 1)

Fig. 3.2 Places where the Buddha spent his teaching career (Note Adapted from “The Realised
One’s early career” by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, 2012 [https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Maps/
During-Buddhas-Time/Map-02-Early-Career.htm]. Reprinted with permission [Credit Ānandajoti
Bhikkhu])
3.1 Introduction 33

describes that this was a place of drawbacks for the Buddha. It is recorded that he
said:
“Mendicants, there are these five drawbacks of Madhurā. What five? The ground is uneven
and dusty, the dogs are fierce, the native spirits are vicious, and it’s hard to get almsfood.
These are the five drawbacks of Madhurā.”

Dakkhin.a-Madhurā was located in the province of modern Uttar Pradesh, the

Pat.hamasam . vāsasutta (AN 4.53, SuttaCentral, 2020) records such a journey made
by the Buddha in this region. It records that once when the Buddha was journeying
from Madhurā to Verañja and stopped under a tree by the wayside, a large number
of householders, both men and women, came and listened to him teach. The east-
ernmost place where he taught was Kajaṅgalā, a territory located near Rajmahal in
ancient times, in the eastern part of India. (Sujato & Brahmali, 2015, p. 14). Over
the 12 months, he normally spent three months of the rainy season in one place, a
seasonal time in Asia where travel was difficult, and it became easier for people to
feed the Buddha and his monks in one place (Fig. 3.3). This seasonal accommo-
dation has become known as the time of vassa ‘Rains Retreat’, and it has become
an established aspect of the annual Buddhist calendar followed across the world by
monks and laypeople, regardless of seasonality.
In the Sam. yutta Nikāya Linked Discourses, we gain some insight into the process of
walking from village to village undertaken by the Buddha, the way that the people
learned about his movements throughout the year, and the preparations they made.

Fig. 3.3 Sites of the Buddha’s Rains Retreats (Note Adapted from “The Realised One’s rains
retreats” by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, 2012 [https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Maps/During-Bud
dhas-Time/Map-08-Vassa.htm]. Reprinted with permission [Credit Ānandajoti Bhikkhu])
34 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

The Thapatisutta (SN 55.6, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–16) records an example that
is consistent with many found across the Suttas providing the place, the names and
positions of the people involved, recording the cultural protocols that were followed,
and the use of the familiar repetition to carry the consistency of the message through
the text:
At Sāvatthı̄, at that time several mendicants were making a robe for the Buddha, thinking
that when his robe was finished and the three months of the Rains residence had passed the
Buddha would set out wandering. Now at that time the chamberlains Isidatta and Purān.a
were residing in Sādhuka on some business. They heard about this. So, they posted someone
on the road, saying:
“My good man, let us know when you see the Blessed One coming, the perfected one, the
fully awakened Buddha.” And that person stood there for two or three days before they saw
the Buddha coming off in the distance. When they saw him, they went to the chamberlains
and said:
“Sirs, the Blessed One, the perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha is coming. Please
come at your convenience.”
Then the chamberlains went up to the Buddha, bowed, and followed behind him. And then
the Buddha left the road, went to the root of a tree, and sat down on the seat spread out. The
chamberlains Isidatta and Purān.a bowed, sat down to one side, and said to the Buddha:
“Sir, when we hear that you will be setting out from Sāvatthı̄ to wander in the Kosalan lands,
we’re sad and upset, thinking that you will be far from us. And when we hear that you will
be setting out from the Kosalan lands to wander in the Mallian lands, we’re sad and upset,
thinking that you will be far from us.”
“And when we hear that you will be setting out from the Mallian lands to wander in the
Vajjian lands … in the Kāsian lands …in the Māgadhan lands ….”
“But when we hear that you will be setting out from the Māgadhan lands to wander in the
Kāsian lands, we’re happy and joyful, thinking that you will be near to us. And when we hear
that you are setting out from the Māgadhan lands to wander in the Kāsian lands … in the
Vajjian lands … in the Mallian lands … in the Kosalan lands …to wander to Sāvatthı̄, we’re
happy and joyful, thinking that you will be near to us. And when we hear that you are staying
near Sāvatthı̄ in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapin.d.ika’s monastery we have no little happiness and
joy, thinking that you are near to us.”

Such examples, recorded across the Suttas, provide ample evidence that
wandering, residing for short periods, teaching, and engaging in discussions with
the people of each community was a familiar and repeated framing for the teaching
work undertaken by the Buddha over the 45 years of his teaching in the heartland
region.

3.2 Important Places of Teaching and Learning

There are four places that the Buddha recommended that people go to for pilgrimage:
Lumbini, Uruvelā (Bodhgaya), Sarnath, and Kuśinagara. For the purposes of the
focus of this book, I will highlight places of importance to teaching and learning.
The first is Isipatana in the Mrigadava Deer Park where he gave his first teaching, the
Dhammacakkappavattanasutta (SN 56.11, SuttaCentral, 2020) in which he taught
the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths and the at..thaṅgikam . maggam . Noble
3.2 Important Places of Teaching and Learning 35

Eightfold Path (see Appendix C). The Suttas recount that seven weeks after his
nibbāna enlightenment under a bodhi tree in Uruvelā (now known as Bodhgaya—
see Fig. 3.2), the Buddha travelled to Isipatana to re-join his fellow seekers, with
whom he had originally begun his journey to deepen his spiritual understanding.
It was here he first formulated his educational philosophy, drawn from his direct
experience and laid down his Middle Way approach (SN 56.11, SuttaCentral, 2020,
paras. 1–2):
Thus, have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Bārān.ası̄ in the Deer
Park at Isipatana. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus of the group of five thus:

“Bhikkhus, these two extremes should not be followed by one who has gone forth into
homelessness. What two? The pursuit of sensual happiness in sensual pleasures, which is
low, vulgar, the way of worldlings, ignoble, unbeneficial; and the pursuit of self -mortification,
which is painful, ignoble, unbeneficial. Without veering towards either of these extremes, the
Tathagata has awakened to the middle way, which gives rise to vision, which gives rise to
knowledge, which leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna.”

Another important place of teaching and learning was Rājagaha (now Rajgir),
one of the emerging influential commercial towns at the centre of the kingdom
of Māgadha. Here the teaching of the Buddha was endorsed by King Bimbisara,
allowing the Buddha the freedom to return to this area many times in his teaching
career. He spent time here for Rains Retreats in his early to mid-teaching career (see
Fig. 3.3: According to Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, there are records for Years 2–4, 17 and
20) and the Buddha gave many important teachings in this area. Numerous Suttas
begin with the Pāl.i phrase such as is found in the Pāsān.asutta (see, e.g., SN 4.11,
SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 1):
Ekam
. samayam
. bhagavā rājagahe viharati gijjhakūt.e pabbate …
On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Rājagaha on Mount Vulture’s Peak…

The important site nearby to Gijjhakūt.e Mount Vulture’s Peak was ancient
Nalanda university, located in the vicinity of Rajgir. The contemporary Nalanda
University was founded in 2010 at Rajgir rather than at the original heritage site. At
the time of the Buddha, Nalanda was already an established place of higher learning
that was basically a meeting place for discussions between teachers who held different
views on the nature of the pathway to spiritual development, and in particular, inner
wisdom, Brahmins, Jains and the Buddha and their respective followers. The Buddha
often stayed near Nalanda, in Pāvārika’s mango grove, giving teachings to individ-
uals and groups and advice, drawn from the teachings he had been giving to kings
and other tribes. As one example (SN 42.6, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–2):
At one time the Buddha was staying near Nālandā in Pāvārika’s mango grove. Then
Asibandhaka’s son the chief went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side …

And again, in the Vassakārasutta (AN 7.22, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–3):
So, I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Rājagaha, on the Vulture’s Peak
Mountain. Now at that time King Ajātasattu Vedehiputta of Māgadha wanted to invade the
36 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

Vajjis. He declared: “I shall wipe out these Vajjis, so mighty and powerful! I shall destroy
them, and lay ruin and devastation upon them!”
And then King Ajātasattu addressed Vassakāra the brahmin minister of Māgadha, “Please,
brahmin, go to the Buddha, and in my name bow with your head to his feet. Ask him if he is
healthy and well, nimble, strong, and living comfortably. And then say: ‘Sir, King Ajātasattu
Vedehiputta of Māgadha wants to invade the Vajjis. He says, “I shall wipe out these Vajjis,
so mighty and powerful! I shall destroy them, and lay ruin and devastation upon them!”’
Remember well how the Buddha answers and tell it to me. For Realized Ones say nothing
that is not so.”

In Chap. 2, I examined the influence of the Brahminical education system and

the emergence of the Jains as another influential group of spiritual thinkers and
educators. The Buddha would have been involved in conversations, debates, and
public conferences hosted by kings. After the Buddha’s passing, Nalanda went on to
become a famous place of learning for Buddhists, as will be discussed later in this
chapter. Davids (1911, pp. 102–103) makes the observation that such places were
also well-located on old and new trade routes that navigated both the geographical
features of the region and also its local politics that saw many wars, alignments,
and re-alignments of the socio-economic order. Understandably, in this context, the
Buddha would have sought protection from powerful kings, chiefs, and merchants
and would have returned to places where he could dwell in safety, be fed and clothed,
to sleep and bathe. These patrons enabled the Buddha to return many times to teach
in these places and also undertook the important work of supporting his growing
Sangha community of monks, at first and later also nuns, a group of people that
can be credited with undertaking the impressive task of codifying his teachings,
preserving them, and disseminating them across Asia, and latterly, to the world.

3.3 Dhamma Education in the Heartland

The EBTs depict an emerging urban life with flourishing trade, regional development
and struggles between the various kingdoms as they began to form as towns and
then cities. As discussed, the Buddha was teaching at a time of great uncertainty
and upheaval. He was teaching in a time before the formation of the more rigidly
understood caste system and the Buddha found support from traders who didn’t fit
with the old society, kings who were expanding their regional influence, and farmers
who maintained some level of independence and time for spiritual development.
Kings and local chiefs arranged for numbers of families to be responsible for feeding
and clothing the Buddha and his followers, and they apportioned lands and built
accommodations for them as their numbers grew. They also arranged for meeting
halls to be converted from older buildings or built from new, but much of the Buddha’s
teaching was done in the open air, accessible to all who were interested, in common
with other Indigenous traditions of teaching and learning. The Buddha’s lessons
were not secret and shared only to those students with inherited rights as was the
case in the Brahminical education tradition; as will be discussed in greater detail in
3.3 Dhamma Education in the Heartland 37

the following chapters, his was a curriculum of both secular and spiritual aspects,
and he taught according to peoples’ capacities to understand his ideas, supported
by the knowledge they gained through the arising of their individual experiential
understanding. His was a tailored curriculum with underlying core ideas gradually
taught and developed as the learner matured in their understanding of their inner
experiences.
Over 45 years, walking between the towns of what became known as the heartland
of Buddhism, he connected deeply with the issues that were concerning to people. It is
possible from reading the EBTs to gather a detailed picture of his life, his discussions,
and his teachings, where he also engaged with them about questions and challenges
that were being posed about his teachings by others, particularly as the numbers of
his followers grew. A key aspect that I want to draw attention to in this section is that
he was teaching using the traditional tools of an oral culture. Nothing was written
down as yet. From the time of the Buddha’s first speech Isipatana in the Mrigadava
Deer Park in c.456 BCE until his passing in c.411 BCE, people were able to able to
listen to the Buddha himself.

3.3.1 Orality, Rhetorics, and Memorisation

Over time, his Sangha of senior monks, nuns and laypeople began to memorise his
teachings. In the first instance, this would likely have been to make sure to remember
his approach and words in the months where he was away from their community
visiting others. Without the benefit of a written text (Davids, 1899/2013; Gombrich,
2013; Sujato & Brahmali, 2015), people undertook to memorise the teachings of the
Buddha while also preserving the elements of rhetoric and orality that demonstrate his
pedagogy as well as organising its content Quintilian (95 CE/1921), in his beautiful
12 volume textbook on orality and rhetorics Institutio Oratoria (Institutes of Oratory,
1920) helpfully observed that:
The art of oratory, as taught by most authorities, and those the best, consists of five parts—
invention, arrangement, expression, memory, and delivery or action (the two latter terms
being used synonymously). But all speech expressive of purpose involves also a subject and
words. If such expression is brief and contained within the limits of one sentence, it may
demand nothing more, but longer speeches require much more. For not only what we say
and how we say it is of importance, but also the circumstances under which we say it. It
is here that the need of arrangement comes in. But it will be impossible to say everything
demanded by the subject, putting each thing in its proper place, without the aid of memory. It
is for this reason that memory forms the fourth department. But a delivery, which is rendered
unbecoming either by voice or gesture, spoils everything and almost entirely destroys the
effect of what is said. Delivery therefore must be assigned the fifth place. (Book 3, Section 3,
paras. 1–3)

I will employ Quintilian’s five-part analysis to frame my analysis of the aspect of

oratory employs by the Buddha to teach the Buddha-Dhamma. The first four parts—
invention, arrangement, expression, and memory will be examined in this chapter. I
will examine the fifth part, delivery, in Chaps. 4 and 5.
38 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

3.3.1.1 Invention

As discussed in Chaps. 1 and 2 (this edition), the Buddha was able to transform
the tacit knowledge he learned from his teachers and his experiences into a format
that was teachable. The Buddha’s corpus of work, from his original utterances, were
transformed using the techniques of arrangement, memorisation, and attention. This
approach of the Buddha, also reflected in the observations made by Quintilian, and
developed by oral societies over previous millennia, incorporated familiar elements
of socialisation and education found in Indigenous and other traditionally-oriented
societies. Goody (1968, 1977, 1986, 1987) and Ong (1982) argued for the impor-
tance of understanding orality and its relationship to the written word. I extended
this observation (Ma Rhea, 2012) to argue that the use of orality, rhetorics, and
memorisation continues to the present in many Indigenous and traditionally-oriented
societies (see also, Langton & Ma Rhea, 2003; Living Knowledge Project, 2008;
Marika-Mununggiritj & Christie, 1995; Marika, 1998; Yunupingu, 1994). I noted
that students living in oral cultures have high levels of orality, memorisation, spatial,
and rhetorical skills that teachers from literate cultures need to understand in order
to create learning pathways to literacy development.

3.3.1.2 Arrangement

During the time of the Buddha, as mentioned, his Sangha of senior monks, nuns,
and laypeople began to memorise his teachings. There are Suttas that record the
Buddha telling his Sangha how to order his teachings to support his pedagogy of
‘step by step’ gradual learning, to be discussed in greater detail in Chap. 4. By way
of example, in the Gotamakacetiyasutta (AN 3.125, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–3)
it is recorded that:
On one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Vesālı̄ at Gotamaka Shrine. There he
addressed the monks, “Monks!”

“Yes, lord,” the monks responded.

The Blessed One said, “It’s through direct knowledge that I teach the Dhamma, not without
direct knowledge. It’s with a cause that I teach the Dhamma, not without a cause. It’s
with marvels that I teach the Dhamma, not without marvels. Because I teach the Dhamma
through direct knowledge and not without direct knowledge, because I teach the Dhamma
with a cause and not without a cause, because I teach the Dhamma with marvels and not
without marvels, there is good reason for my instruction, good reason for my admonition.
And that is enough for you to be content, enough for you to be gratified, enough for you to
take joy that the Blessed One is rightly self -awakened, the Dhamma is well-taught by the
Blessed One, and the community has practiced rightly”.

There are also Suttas that record him correcting two monks in their approach to
teaching the Dhamma. In one example, in the Ovādasutta (SN 16.6, SuttaCentral,
2020, paras. 1–9), it is recorded that:
3.3 Dhamma Education in the Heartland 39

At Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove. Then the Venerable Mahakassapa approached the Blessed
One, paid homage to him, and sat down to one side. The Blessed One then said to him: “Exhort
the bhikkhus, Kassapa, give them a Dhamma talk. Either I should exhort the bhikkhus,
Kassapa, or you should. Either I should give them a Dhamma talk or you should.”

“Venerable sir, the bhikkhus are difficult to admonish now, and they have qualities which make
them difficult to admonish. They are impatient and do not accept instruction respectfully.
Here, venerable sir, I saw a bhikkhu named Bhan.d.a, a pupil of Ānanda, and a bhikkhu named
Abhiñjika, a pupil of Anuruddha, competing with each other in regard to their learning,
saying: ‘Come, bhikkhu, who can speak more? Who can speak better? Who can speak
longer?’”

Then the Blessed One addressed a certain bhikkhu thus: “Come, bhikkhu, tell the bhikkhu
Bhan.d.a and the bhikkhu Abhiñjika in my name that the Teacher calls them.”

“Yes, venerable sir,” that bhikkhu replied, and he went to those bhikkhus and told them:
“The Teacher calls the venerable ones.”

“Yes, friend,” those bhikkhus replied, and they approached the Blessed One, paid homage to
him, and sat down to one side. The Blessed One then said to them: “Is it true, bhikkhus, that
you have been competing with each other in regard to your learning, as to who can speak
more, who can speak better, who can speak longer?”

“Yes, venerable sir.”

“Have you ever known me to teach the Dhamma thus: ‘Come, bhikkhus, compete with each
other in regard to your learning, and see who can speak more, who can speak better, who
can speak longer’?”

“No, venerable sir.”

“Then if you have never known me to teach the Dhamma thus, what do you senseless men
know and see that, having gone forth in such a well-expounded Dhamma and Discipline,
you compete with each other in regard to your learning, as to who can speak more, who can
speak better, who can speak longer?”

This method of discussion and correction among the Sangha and laypeople
continued during the lifetime of the Buddha, and scholars of the EBTs accept that
these recordings, available as they are now to us in books and digital formats provide
the most reliable body of work by which to assess the authenticity of them (Gombrich,
2013). As such, the arrangement of the oral teachings continued after the passing
of the Buddha (c. 411 BCE). Hecker (1987) provides a detailed account of the role
of Maha Kassapa in leading to the eventual preservation of what became known as
the Tipitaka. Of relevance to this monograph, soon after the Buddha’s funeral obser-
vances had been made, Maha Kassapa suggested to King Ajātasattu of Magadha that,
in order to protect the teachings, that a conference should be called of 500 monks, to
gather at the caves of Gijjhakūt.e Mount Vulture’s Peak near Rājagaha to deliberate on
the arrangement of the teachings. It was at this meeting, extending over many months,
that along with other key elements, Ananda began the process of laying down the
discourses with questioning and clarifications from the other monks. Ananda was
recognised as having a uniquely accurate memory of the Buddha’s teachings, and
here the 5 Nikāya collections of the Sutta Pitaka were arranged and codified for the
40 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

first time at what has come to be known as the First Buddhist Council. The monks
continued the work begun by the Buddha, living the same lifestyle, bound by the same
rules, and teaching as far as was possible, an accurate version of the teachings. Impor-
tant too was the injunction by the Buddha that the Sangha of monks and nuns should
teach according to their direct experience. There was no ‘leader’ of the growing
Buddhist Sangha and their sekhas learners. From about 300 BCE, one hundred years
later, with the advent of writing, there was a development from a tradition of oral
teaching to writing down the teachings of the Buddha of these trusted disciples of the
First Council. The Second and Third Buddhist Councils maintained the commitment
to recitation of the Sutta Pitaka orally, and the Fourth Council held in Sri Lanka in
about 83 B.C., during the reign of the pious Sinhalese king, Vatta Gamani Abhaya,
a Council of Arahants was held in Sri Lanka and the Tipitaka, for the first time in
the history of Buddhism, was put down in writing on ola leaves. Writing became
necessary because in a time of great hardship and famine, the dhammabhān.akas
dhamma reciters and monks were dying of starvation and there was concern that the
teachings would be forgotten. The Mahavamsa (2007, para. 26) records that:
The text of the three pitakas and the atthakatha thereon did the most wise bhikkhus hand
down in former times orally, but since they saw that the people were falling away (from
religion) the bhikkhus came together, and in order that the true doctrine might endure, they
wrote them down in books.

3.3.1.3 Memorisation

After the passing of the Buddha, monks and nuns became the teachers of the Buddha’s
system of education. There were Sangha and lay teachers using both the Buddha’s
techniques for teaching and his core teachings. This work was supported by the same
kings, wealthy merchants, and clan chiefs as had been during the Buddha’s time and
many of these individuals erected monasteries for the Sangha, arranged for them to
be fed and clothed by appointed villagers, such was the value perceived by these
benefactors for themselves and for the people they were responsible for protecting.
Having secured a place for the Sangha within the turbulent, emerging society in
transition occurring around them, the Sangha now had safe places in which to live and
begin the significant task, historically speaking, of codifying the body of knowledge
that was the legacy from the Buddha. We can surmise much of what occurred after
this early period before the Tipitaka was written down through the Suttas where the
Buddha encouraged the Sangha to begin these processes of arranging, discussing, re-
arranging the body of work and the behaviours associated with teaching it, evaluating
its usefulness to the people who were learning it, and continuing to teach as the
Buddha had done. Within this work, the role of memorisation is a key pedagogical
device that is maintained by the Sangha to the present day. The Sangha followed
the conventions of oratory and rhetorics that would have been familiar to Quintilian
and to the many teachers in Indigenous societies whose responsibility was to pass
on cultural and spiritual knowledge to future generations (Sato & Diamond, 2020).
3.3 Dhamma Education in the Heartland 41

As Gombrich (2013, p. 8) observes of the Suttas, and the importance of memori-

sation, ‘… many texts do purport to reproduce the Buddha’s sermons. If in doing so
they employ various of the conventions of oral literature, schematising the material
by the use of formulae and stock passages, this is no argument against their essen-
tial authenticity’. While scholars such as Sujato and Brahmali (2015) and Gombrich
(2013) are concerned to establish the legitimacy of the Suttas, in this monograph, I
have concurred with their approach and have taken the EBTs to be a reliable record.
In doing so, it becomes possible to analyse them for the oratorical conventions that
the Sangha used. I will go into more detail of these techniques in Chaps. 4 and 5 (this
edition), because they are the cornerstones of the Buddha’s pedagogical approach.
In this example, in the Adhammavagga the Buddha gives straightforward instruction
of the importance of differentiating what was good teaching and not good teaching
(AN 1.142–149, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 3), repeating the same form with slight
variation to emphasise each aspect, expounding that:
“Those mendicants who explain what … was not spoken and stated by the Realized One as
not spoken and stated by the Realized One … what was spoken and stated by the Realized
One as spoken and stated by the Realized One … what was not practiced by the Realized One
as not practiced by the Realized One … what was practiced by the Realized One as practiced
by the Realized One … what was not prescribed by the Realized One as not prescribed by
the Realized One … what was prescribed by the Realized One as prescribed by the Realized
One … are acting for the welfare and happiness of the people, for the benefit, welfare, and
happiness of gods and humans. They make much merit and make the true teaching continue.”

Here I will recount an example of a layperson named Khujjuttarā. According to

the Pāl.i commentaries, she was a maid to the Queen of Kosambi, and she memorised
the teachings of the Buddha while in the service of the Queen during his teachings.
Bhikkhu Bodhi’s footnote suggests that she was a servant of Sāmāvatı̄, another of
the Buddha’s lay followers and that Khujjuttarā would ‘go to hear the Buddha’s
teachings and then repeat his discourses for the ladies of the court’ (Bhikkhu Bodhi,
2012, p. 1610, ff. 141). The Buddha remarked that ‘The foremost of my laywomen …
who are very learned is Khujjuttarā’ (AN 1.258–267, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–3).
Her feats of memorisation were recorded in the Itivuttaka, a collection of 112 short
discourses in mixed prose and verse found in the Khuddakanikāya Minor Collection,
described as being arranged in the Aṅguttara style of ascending numbered sets, from
one to four (Ireland, 1997; Itivuttaka, SuttaCentral, 2020).
Her story reminds us that it was the work of many people over countless generations
that have used memorisation to preserve these teachings, some recognised in the
Tipitaka for their willingness and abilities, but many more whose commitments to
the preservation and dissemination of the Buddha’s teachings has been done by
millions of dhammabhān.akas dhamma reciters, dhammadutas messengers of the
dhamma, and all other teachers, for individuals, communities, regions, nations, and
continents over these last 100 generations. The delivery aspect of oratory, the fifth
aspect noted by Quintilian, will be examined in Chap. 4. The next section moves to a
description of how the Buddha’s system of education was disseminated beyond the
Buddhist heartland across Asia and then to the world.
42 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

3.3.2 Disseminating the Dhamma in the First Wave

While still relying on the oral conventions of arrangement, memorisation and

delivery, the Sangha of bhikkhus monks and bhikkhunis nuns spread out from the
heartland, continuing the practices established by the Buddha. Like its modern coun-
terparts, most of these teachers would have taught in the languages of their birth and
in Pāl.i, other Prakrits, and Sanskrit if they were able. Over time, there were some who
undertook the significant work of translation into local dialects as people beyond the
heartland heard of the teachings and wanted the Sangha to travel to their kingdom,
republic, or region to pass on these teachings.
The Second Buddhist Council that met at Vesālı̄, in Bihar province, about 100 years
after the First Council, appears to have added little to the codification work. There
was a dispute about rules for the Sangha but no record of disagreements about the
EBTs. This suggests that teachers continued to attract people who were interested in
the Buddha’s teachings during this period. This first phase of development was the
establishment of Buddhist monasteries across India through 400–300 BCE enabling
the Sangha of bhikkhus monks and bhikkhunis nuns to travel further in all direc-
tions, probably doing as the Buddha had done, moving between villages and towns
over the year as the seasons and the needs of kings, chiefs, merchants, and farming
communities required.
The Third Buddhist Council was a different affair and marked a concerted change
in the way that Buddhism became spread across Asia. Under the patronage of King
Aśoka (c. 268–232 BCE), he hosted the third Buddhist Council in Pataliputra (near
present-day Patna, Bihar Province), after many months of deliberation, disputes
between different teachers and sects were examined and debated under the leadership
of the monk Moggaliputta Tissa. This was an important and very public examination
of the monks who were present. The king asked suspect monks what the Buddha
taught, and they claimed he taught views that did not exist in the Tipitaka. The king
then asked virtuous monks about the same issues, and they replied that with answers
that were confirmed by Moggaliputta Tissa. The Council recited the full 5 Nikāya.
The orthodox teachings of the Buddha were reaffirmed so that the original teachings
remained.
The other significant development at this time was that of writing. This was to
have a profound effect on the world but also contributed to the spread of Buddhism.
King Aśoka became known for his Edicts, phrases of the Dhamma carved into stone
pillars in the Brahmi script (Salomon, 1998, p. 17), a modern term used to refer to
the left-to-right ‘Indo-Pāl.i’ script of the Aśokan pillar inscriptions. He used these
written inscriptions to remind people to live a good life. Over time, in places such
as Nalanda and other monasteries, the task of writing down the oral teachings was
slowly beginning, but it is clear that by the time of King Aśoka that there were people
who were able to read these inscriptions.
On the wave of possibilities realised by the Third Council with its royal patronage,
the leader of the Third Council, Moggaliputta Tissa organised and dispatched evan-
gelical missions to distant lands. For instance, Majjhantika went to Kashmir and
Gandhara, Majjhima led the party to the Himalaya country, Mahadeva was deputed
3.3 Dhamma Education in the Heartland 43

to Mahisamandala (Mysore), Sona and Uttara to Suvarnabhumi (Burma), Mahadhar-

maraksita and Maharaksita were sent to Maharastra and the Yavana country respec-
tively, and Ashoka’s son Mahendra, who had become a monk, was sent along with
others to Sri Lanka (Ceylon). This Third Council encouraged the spread of Buddhism
into both Sri Lanka and also to Burma and Thailand following the oral tradition of
exposition, undertaken by monks and nuns who had been trained in the oral tradi-
tion. This Southeast Asian version of Buddhism has become known as Theravādan
Buddhism, the smaller vehicle. It would not be until the Fourth Buddhist Council
held at the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka that the Tipitaka would be
fully committed to the written form.

3.4 Disseminating the Dhamma in the Second Wave

Monks were also sent out from Nalanda University to spread Buddhism across the
regions to the West, North, and Northeast of the Buddhist heartland. The teachings
became known as those of the Mahayana schools, the larger vehicle that was designed
to be shared with laypeople. Some doctrinal difference began to develop at places of
early learning such as Nalanda, and as Buddhist ideas were disseminated out from
Nalanda by missionary monks and translated into local communities with their tribal
languages, gods and spirits, Buddhism began its processes of absorption into all the
places and communities on its journeys (Fig. 3.4).

3.4.1 Nalanda: From Monastery to Disseminator

of Buddhism Across Asia

The highly formalised methods study of the Tipitaka developed by the Buddha, and
codified by the Sangha, and subsequent Buddhist Councils helped the establishment
of large teaching institutions such Nalanda. Prior to the Buddha, as discussed in
Chap. 2, the centres of Brahmanical education were the āśrama hermitages where
students lived in close personal touch with their preceptor. It was a select group who
were eligible for this sort of higher training. Banerjee (1977, pp. 2–3) observes that:
With the advent of Buddhism, the picture completely changed. Buddhism came as a challenge
to the Brahminical orthodoxy and insularism in the field of religion and the teachings of the
Buddha gave a complete reorientation to the educational system that was in vogue those
days.

Nalanda found royal patronage at various times as archaeological and epigraphic

materials show and at its peak the school attracted scholars and students from the
region from places such as China, where news of this centre of learning about
Buddhism had spread. After a fairly settled period of regional expansion in the
Buddhist heartland, Buddhist ideas began to spread along the trade routes spanning
44 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

Fig. 3.4 The spread of Buddhism (Note Adapted from “Buddhist Expansion” by Gunawan
Kartapranata (his work combined and redrawn from various sources), 2014. [https://commons.
wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30905152]. CC License)

from China into western Asia and beyond. Faxian is known to have undertaken travels
to India in about 399 AD when he was 60 years old. Bhikku Ānandajoti (2013, paras.
7–9) notes that:
… detailed information about Faxian is hard to come by and precise dates and locations are
difficult to pin down. He ordained as a child in China, and seems to have become more and
more discontent with the lack of authentic texts in the country, especially those pertaining
to the Discipline (Vinaya). He set out from China to go to the West in 399 around the age of
60 and spent maybe ten years or more years there, before traveling to Sri Lanka where he
spent a further two years. During the sea route from Sri Lanka back to China he stopped off
somewhere in either Sumatra or Java. After returning he spent the rest of his life recording
his travels, especially concerning the practices he found in India, and translating the texts he
had brought back, and died at the ripe old age of eighty-eight.

More detailed records are available about the pilgrimage of Xuanzang (Hiuen-
tsiang).
Banerjee (1977, p. 13) credits: ‘To Hiuen-tsiang and I-tsing we are indebted for a
vivid description of academic life at Nalanda University’. Xuanzang (also spelt as
3.4 Disseminating the Dhamma in the Second Wave 45

Hiuen-tsiang) spent a number of years at Nalanda. His records provide fascinating

account of the journey taken by him from China, his place of birth, in search of
clarification of the Buddha’s teachings that he felt had become distorted over time.
He says:
…only distant people coming to interpret the doctrine (the sounds of his doctrine, emphasis
in original) are not in agreement. The time of the Holy One is remote from us: and so, the
sense of his doctrine is differently expounded. But as the taste of the fruit of different trees of
the same kind is the same so the principles of the schools as they now exist are not different.
The contentions of the North and South have indeed many hundreds of years agitated our
land with doubt, and no able master has been found able to dispel them. (Hwui-li & Beal,
1911, pp. 31–32)

The records begin with information about his birth (Hwui-li & Beal, 1911) and
of his journey from China to Nalanda University and back over a period of 17 years.
He recorded that he left China in 630 AD (Hwui-li & Beal, 1911, p. 11) returning
after learning all he had sought to learn at Nalanda and other places of learning in
the heartland of Buddhism and along the roads that he travelled (Fig. 3.5).
Xuanzang records that the lands of the Nalanda area were gifted to the Buddha by 500
merchants who purchased it for him so that he could teach them the Dhamma (Hwui-
li & Beal, 1911, p. 110). He also provides confirmation of many of the teachings
and teaching approaches used by the Buddha during his life (see Chaps. 4 and 5,

Fig. 3.5 The pilgrimage of Xuanzang (Note Adapted from “Chinese Pilgrims to Central Asia, India
and SE Asia: Xuanzang, 600-664” by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, 2012 [https://www.ancient-buddhist-
texts.net/Maps/Silk-Routes/Chinese-Pilgrims.htm]. Reprinted with permission [Credit Ānandajoti
Bhikkhu])
46 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

this edition) and as they were preserved by the Sangha at the First Buddhist Council
(Hwui-li & Beal, 1911, pp. 115–117; Xuanzang, 1906, pp. 162–164). He was received
at Nalanda after three years of travel and describes details of his life there. He records
that: ‘Within the temple they arrange every day about 100 pulpits for preaching, and
the students attend these discourses without fail even for an inch shadow on the dial’
(Xuanzang, 1906, p. 109). Banerjee (1977, p. 14); (Gold, 2008) provides a succinct
summary of Xuanzang’s records of the curriculum studied by students:
…the five vidyās, the five-fold traditional subjects of study in those days, viz., (i) Śabdavidyā
(Grammar and Philosophy), (ii) Cikitsāvidyā (Medicine), (iii) Hetuvidyā (Logic), (iv)
Śilpasthānavidyā (Fine Arts) and (v) Adhyātmavidyā (Metaphysics).

Xuanzang also provides commentary that the curriculum included teachings from
the Great Vehicle (Mahāyāna), the works belonging to the 18 (Hı̄nayāna2 ) Sects,
the Vedas (Banerjee, 1977, p. 14). Xuanzang completed the aim of his pilgrimage
saying:
He thoroughly investigated the language (words and phrases), and by talking with those
men on the subject of the ‘pure writings’ he advanced excellently in his knowledge. Thus, he
penetrated, and examined completely, all the collection (of Buddhist books) and also studies
the sacred books of the Brahmans during 5 years. (Hwui-li & Beal, 1911, p. 125)

Xuanzang returned to China by the southern route continuing to teach and discuss
the Buddha’s teachings as he travelled. He returned finally to China and settled to
undertake the significant translation work that would allow his new knowledge to
be disseminated across the region in order to correct some of the disputes that had
developed over the centuries.
Archaeological remains found along the old southern Silk Road, and the more
northern Tea Horse Road provide evidence for the spread of Mahāyāna Buddhism
from 400 to 500 CE. By 600 CE, these ideas had spread from the Korean peninsula
into Japan, creating Zen Buddhism and south to Indonesia in 700 CE. In 800 CE, a
particular version of Buddhism known as Vajrayana travelled from Nalanda north
to Lhasa, Tibet and then onto Dunhuang and onto Mongolia. Dunhuang, being on
the crossroads of the Silk Road and this norther route holds invaluable objects and
history of the spread of Buddhism still being discovered.
Important from an education point of view, this history remains consistent with the
Buddha’s pedagogy to teach people in their mother tongue, an approach that continues
to be subject of debate in cross-cultural education to the present day. Each time the
Buddha’s teachings reached a new tribe with a new language, the painstaking work
of translation began. Wooden block, carved in reverse would be made by monks and
then printed into the local language. Much of this work has been destroyed, but there
remain some precious examples held in museums around the world.

2 This term is no longer used to describe what is also collectively known as Theravāda Buddhism

because the Sanskrit meaning of Hı̄nayāna suggest that this form of Buddhism is deficit to the
‘better’ Greater Vehicle teachings. The term Nikaya Buddhism, suggested by Nagatomi is also
used for the early schools. Both newer terms, Theravāda and Nikaya will be used in preference to
describe the 18 Sects unless quoting original sources.
3.4 Disseminating the Dhamma in the Second Wave 47

3.4.2 Consolidation of Dhamma Education Principles

in the Historical Realms

This period of Asian expansion certainly saw a proliferation of explanations and

ideas about Buddhism and its teachings that grew in the fertile soil of each location
that lasted has endured. I examined the Buddhist influences on the modern education
system in Thailand (Ma Rhea, 2013, 2017) noting that historically in Thailand where
the practices of Theravāda Buddhism were adopted, formal studies were conducted
in the wat temple by monks who were also senior, revered members of the local
community. Only boys were allowed to attend the wat temple for formal studies,
as was the case during the early period of the Buddha’s time, and consistent with
the Brahminical education tradition. Formal studies comprised learning the ways of
knowing in the three domains of sila morality, samadhi concentrations, and vipas-
sana insight understanding. The wat temple was, by definition, a place for culti-
vating pañña ‘higher’ wisdom. Still in Buddhist countries such as Thailand, people
predominantly are encouraged to learn by experience, using local knowledge for
both daily and spiritual activities. In time the wat temple expanded to teach a more
secular curriculum, creating the possibility of an approach to knowledge that was not
embedded in the Buddhist world view. The wat temples also began to teach girls. The
oldest Maha Chulalongkorn Ratchawitthayalai University (MCU) still draws from
traditional Thai Buddhism for its principles of operation with Faculties of Buddhist
Studies, Education, Humanities, Social Sciences, a Graduate School, and an Interna-
tional Buddhist Studies College. Together with Maha Makutta Ratcha Witthayalai,
both Buddhist universities were made public universities in 1997.
Other publicly-funded universities were established to pass on outsider knowl-
edge, such as development knowledge, that was derived from European education
systems. This was incorporated into Thai universities as university knowledge. This
outsider secular knowledge became a distinct hallmark of universities to distinguish
them from the Buddhist education system but importantly, these universities also
strive through their extracurricular activities and overall ethos to complement Thai
ways of thinking deeply influenced by the teachings and pedagogical approach
first developed by the Buddha. Thai people described their local knowledge as
being derived from the even older phumpanjaachawbaan rural wisdom, significantly
shaped by Thai Buddhism, and being passed on through Thai socialisation strategies
that were geared to giving young members of the society the knowledge they needed
in order for them to be able to be ‘Thai’. These ways of thinking, knowing and
doing things were either formally taught by older family or community members or
informally acquired by the young through observation. These processes of formal
and informal acquisition of local knowledge continued throughout a person’s life;
the shape of the knowledge changed over time and was context-based, and the
storehouses were available to all in the community.
This pattern can be seen repeated across Asia, that as the teachings and the peda-
gogies of the Buddha were spread by missionary monks as Nikaya Early Buddhism
both south in the first wave and north, west, and east in the second, we see a process
48 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

I have named ‘adaptive balancing’ (Ma Rhea, 1997a, 1997b, 2000) that took ancient
education practices for life, both mundane and spiritual, grounded them in predomi-
nantly rural, Indigenous, and traditionally-oriented kingdoms, free republics, and the
emerging commercial towns and engaged people in taking the teachings, practising
them, gaining direct experience from the methods that would, in turn, be developed
into ways of living that over time have become influenced by Buddhism but might
look different in the present era. As Banerjee (1977) reminds us, the taste is the same
even if the fruit has grown from different trees of the same type.

3.5 Global dissemination of the Dhamma in the third wave

Notably, the first contact between the West and Buddhism occurred when Alexander
the Great of Greece conquered India between 300 and 125 BCE during the first wave
of expansion. Some of the Greek colonists who remained in India became Greco-
Buddhists, and their contribution to Buddhism in philosophy and iconography is still
recognised. From settlements in Bactria, they contributed some of the early artistic
representations of the Buddha in places such as Gandhara and inscriptions on coins
during the rule of Menander 1.
The next phase of expansion to Western nations occurred many years later in what
I am determining to be the third wave. The scattering of the Tibetan people foreseen
by Padmasambhava has certainly come to pass as has the new wave of expansion of
the Buddhist teachings across the planet. For example, Buddhism is one of the fastest-
growing religions in Australia with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017, para.
4) noting that, ‘Australia is increasingly a story of religious diversity, with Hinduism,
Sikhism, Islam, and Buddhism all increasingly common religious beliefs’.
In 2020, Buddhists were estimated to make up 7% of the global population (Pew
Research Centre, 2015), in 2020 estimated to be about 10%. Buddhism does not seem
to be growing in Asia but is doing so through its adoption by people of other religions
across the world. While it is complicated to assess the impact of switching, the stories
of migration of Asian Buddhist to a country such as Australia, together with those
born in Australia showing signs of switching from former Christian affiliation or
being unaffiliated is being revealed through migration, and national census data sees
a history of Buddhism beginning to emerge in such countries. The same is being
revealed in the UK, France, Germany, the United States, Canada, and New Zealand.
Concurrently, there is also a growing interest in the ideas of Buddhism and their
inclusion in education thinking. Croucher (1989), for example, traced the history of
Buddhism in Australia from 1848 to 1988 and found that while there are Buddhist
communities in Australia that have migrated from Southeast Asia, there are also
significant numbers of Australians who travelled to Asia and brought Buddhism
back, at least in some of its philosophical and Dhamma forms if not culturally.
In this time of the ‘iron eagle flying’, an eighth-century prophecy attributed to
Padmasambhava (see also, Bhikkhuni Ayya Khema, 1991), it seems to be quite
amazing that the core teachings have remained the same during this past 2,500 years.
3.5 Global dissemination of the Dhamma in the third wave 49

The pedagogical pathway to the cultivation of wisdom can still be found in common
curriculum elements across Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana traditions that
include: The same Vinaya, the Five Precepts, and have as their foundation the
Four Noble Truths. The at..thaṅgikam. maggam . Noble Eightfold Path is the guiding
curriculum, and there is the use of scriptures of the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon: the
three baskets (Vinaya Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka, and Abhidhamma Pitaka) albeit with some
variations according to tradition (see Appendix A and B). Equally, when Buddhism
comes to places like Australia or England or America, it doesn’t then come into
contact with an Indigenous people with locally developed lifeways, with their distinc-
tive histories, languages, and educational approaches as was the case during the first
and second wave of dissemination of Buddhism that occurred from 2,500 years ago
until about 1,200 years ago.
After a period of stabilisation across Asia, this new third wave has occurred
differently because of colonisation and migration (Smith, 2003). Colonisation by
European powers across Asia and places like Australia is now, itself, being influenced
by a recursive loop where Buddhism is being introduced to those nations and their
former colonies through migration and travel. I see an emerging mix of a European
tribal sort of indigeneity, if you like, mixing with the philosophical ideas of the
Buddha. The research by Smith (2003, p. 9) is showing that there is an interesting
interplay between indigeneity and colonisation. She describes this interplay with
sharp evocation:
On the northern shores of Australia there are two stands of banyan trees, a legacy of the
early Buddhists in Australia which serves as a reminder of the past for future generations.
Sinhalese cane cutters who had arrived in Mackay to angry racist protests and hard labour in
the cane fields during the 1870-80 s found solace and a compatriot community with pearlers
on Thursday Island. There, as an expression of spiritual identity and as a gift for perpetuity,
they planted two bodhi trees (Ficus religiosa) from cuttings that had been imported from a
venerated tree in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). In the heart of Darwin stands another banyan,
known in the local language as Galamarrma (Ficus virens), which has been an old friend
to generations of Indigenous Larrakia people and a place to meet, trade, post notices and
ponder for generations still. To the immigrant Chinese in the latter half of the nineteenth
century, the tree was a familiar beacon that provided sanctity in an alien and often brutal
landscape. This banyan became known as the Tree of Knowledge, in no small part because,
as the accompanying plaque reads: It was also a place where Chinese youth met with, and
learned from, their elders and where wisdom was gained in its shade. In the new land,
Confucian, Tao and Buddhist traditions combined and have continued.

This meeting of philosophies and cultures is more sharply defined in a multicul-

tural nation such as Australia where Buddhism is now navigating its relationship with
Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, is being practised by immi-
grant Buddhist communities from Asia, and is also being taken up by non-Indigenous
settler Australians whose ancestors are from other places and predominantly Chris-
tian. In the realm of education, it is being learnt about informally through temples
and other Buddhist organisations and also brought into formal mainstream education
systems through the establishment of schools and universities that are guided by the
Buddha’s educational philosophy.
50 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

In 2002, an edited collection of foundational interest to this monograph (Hori

et al., 2002) contained many important insights into a newly emerging research field.
Focused predominantly on the teaching of the Buddha’s core curriculum in Western
universities. Few then were focusing on the pedagogical aspects of the Buddha’s
teaching. Foundational in their insights, chapters by Wotypka (2002) and Jarow
(2002) are two of few to grapple with pedagogical elements, a matter I will examine
in greater detail in Chaps. 4 and 5 (this edition). In 2012, the International Association
of Buddhist Universities hosted a conference at Maha Chulalongkorn Ratchawit-
thayalai University (MCU) on the theme ‘Teaching Dhamma in New Lands’ where
scholars of Buddhism reported on their research in a wide variety of countries about
myriad aspects facing teachers of the Dhamma, whether Sangha or lay teachers,
in both formal and informal settings (see, e.g., Marpet, 2012; Mon, 2012; Thero
Kannadeniye, 2012; Ven Chu, 2012). Underscoring this variety was the enduring
reference point of the teachings of the Buddha preserved in the EBTs and of his
pedagogical approach. In 2013, among an extensive collection of research notes
encompassing an encyclopedia of ‘Sciences and Religions’ (Runehov & Oviedo,
2013) is a note by Borup (2013) that provides insight into the story of Buddhism’s
spread to the West and its engagement with Western science. Research scholarship
about Buddhist Studies has blossomed in the ensuing year. A remarkable aspect
of these edited collections, and subsequent emerging scholarship, is that this field
stands as a testament to the enduring and dynamic nature of Buddhism and its ability
to adapt to the learning preferences of many different peoples from many different
cultures. It is to this remarkable adaptability that I now turn, in the next chapter
to more thoroughly examine the Buddha’s pedagogical approach and its enduring
characteristics.

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Suttas

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52 3 The Buddha’s Education Philosophy: From the Heartland

Commons Zero (CC0). You are encouraged to copy, reproduce, adapt, alter, or otherwise make
use of this translation in any way you wish. Attribution is appreciated but not legally required.
SuttaCentral. (2020). Sam . yutta Nikāya 16.6. Ovādasutta Exhortation. [Trans. Bhikkhu Bodhi,
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SuttaCentral. (2020). Sam . yutta Aṅguttara Nikāya 55.6. Thapatisutta The Chamberlains. [Trans.
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SuttaCentral. (2020). Sam . yutta Aṅguttara Nikāya 565.11. Dhammacakkappavattanasutta Setting
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this license may be available at Wisdom Publications. Prepared for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.

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Chapter 4
Buddha’s Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by Skilful
Means’ Pedagogy

Abstract This chapter makes the transition from an emphasis on the broader histor-
ical and sociocultural aspects that influenced the educational approach taken by the
Buddha towards an examination of the Buddha as an adult educator with a clear peda-
gogical intent. This chapter will make a close examination of the various pedagogical
approaches used by the Buddha that supported his teaching of the Buddha-Dhamma
core curriculum of the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths and the at..thaṅgikam .
maggam . Noble Eightfold Path. These approaches include some that would be familiar
to the modern reader, some that have fallen out of favour, or some more akin to Indige-
nous and traditionally-oriented approaches to pedagogy that continue to be employed
by teachers.

Keywords Buddhist pedagogy · Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum · cattari ariya

saccani Four Noble Truths · at..thaṅgikam . Noble Eightfold Path ·
. maggam
Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by skilful means’ pedagogy

4.1 Introduction with a Note on Methods of Analysis

Previous chapters have laid the groundwork for a detailed examination of the Buddha
as a teacher. The first chapter set the scene for the development of the Buddha’s
teachings and his teaching approach, linking his educational methods to the historical
context in India 2,500 years ago. I briefly introduced what we know of how the people
of that time thought about teaching and learning.
The second chapter provided a more in-depth examination of the Buddha’s 45-
year education legacy. Examining what is known about teaching and learning at
that time, the chapter chartered the emergence of the Buddha’s education theory
introduced through an overview of the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths and the
at..thaṅgikam
. maggam . Noble Eightfold Path from the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon, the
as the Buddha-Dhamma ‘core curriculum’. This Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum
and the Majjhima Patipada Middle Way approach to teaching provide an outline of
the broad canvas of his educational theory.
In Chap. 3, I presented historical evidence about aspects of education in the region
in northern India where the Buddha spent his teaching life, known as the heartland

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 55
Z. M. Diamond, Gautama Buddha, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1765-2_4
56 4 Buddha’s Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by Skilful Means’ Pedagogy

of Buddhism, and explored the process of generation, codification, and preservation

of the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon and its dissemination after the passing of the Buddha
from its heartland in India. I then examined the second wave of adaptations across
the Asian region, the consolidation over about 800 years until the more recent third
period of adaptation globally with Buddhist acclimatisation in the West through
informal teaching and learning contexts.
This chapter makes a transition from an emphasis on broader historical and socio-
cultural aspects on the educational approach taken by the Buddha (Chaps. 1–3, this
edition) towards an examination of the Buddha as a teacher, turning to an analysis of
his key teaching and learning approaches that have been preserved and transmitted
orally and in writing for over 2,500 years. Through examining the key elements of
his Majjhimā Pat.ipadā Middle Way approach found in the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon,
this chapter will elucidate the pedagogical approach employed by Gautama Buddha
in his teaching (Fig. 4.1).
First discussing the Buddha as a teacher, the chapter then considers the ideal
qualities and characteristics of the teacher, disciple and learner in the Buddha’s
approach. The final sections focus on the pedagogical approach taken by the Buddha
to the task of teaching and learning: drawn from content analysis of the relevant early
Buddhist suttas, the pedagogical techniques used by the Buddha to deepen learning
will be described. These pedagogical devices are found most commonly in an array
of traditionally-oriented societies where orality was a key element of teaching and
learning. The chapter will tease out the importance of these pedagogical devices for
modern education, in particular the experiential element.

Majjhima Patipada
ajjhāyaka, sik- Middle Way sikkhaka,
khāpaka, sik- sekkha learner
khāpanaka, ācariya
teacher
Sikkhāpada
Steps of training

Sikkhāpana Buddha-Dhamma
Pedagogy Curriculum

Fig. 4.1 Overview of the Buddha’s education approach

4.1 Introduction with a Note on Methods of Analysis 57

4.1.1 Methods

For this chapter, I have undertaken a content analysis of the EBTs using the tech-
nique of qualitative content analysis as described by Mayring (2000). Content anal-
ysis enables systematic text analysis. In this case, I drew on the considerable digital
work being undertaken by Buddhists on the web-based repository called SuttaCentral
(https://suttacentral.net/). SuttaCentral contains a significant, and growing, reposi-
tory of all known EBTs in as many languages as have been possible to transfer into
digital form (SuttaCentral, 2020). Having access to the EBTs in digital form has
allowed me to search across digital texts in a manner that was impossible before this
resource became available. In doing so, I was able to demonstrate evidence of the
considerable attention that the Buddha gave to discussing his approach to teaching
as much he discussed his educational philosophy and core teachings. The keywords
I focused on for the content analysis were the and English and Pāl.i word for:
• teach uggan.hāpeti (Buddhadatta Mahathera, 1958, p. 52)
• teacher ajjhāyaka (Buddhadatta Mahathera, 1958, p. 4); sikkhāpaka,
sikkhāpanaka (Buddhadatta Mahathera, 1958, p. 281); ācariya (Buddhadatta
Mahathera, 1958, p. 40)
• teaching, instruction and training ajjhāpana (Buddhadatta Mahathera, 1958, p. 4);
sikkhāpana (Buddhadatta Mahathera, 1958, p. 281);
• learn uggan.hāna; uggan.hāti; uggan.hiya (Buddhadatta Mahathera, 1958, p. 52);
sikkhāti (with the meaning to ‘train oneself, to practice’) (Buddhadatta Mahathera,
1958, p. 281)
• learner sikkhaka; sekkha (Buddhadatta Mahathera, 1958, p. 302)
• learning and training sikkhana (Buddhadatta Mahathera, 1958, p. 281)
I searched each of the five Sutta Nikāyas, the Dı̄ghanikāya (abbr. DN) Long
Discourses containing 34 long suttas, the Majjhimanikāya (abbr. MN) Middle
Discourses containing 152 medium-length suttas, the Sam . yuttanikāya (abbr. SN)
Connected Discourses containing 7,762, shorter Suttas, the Anguttaranikāya (abbr.
AN) Numbered Discourses, arranged numerically containing 9,565 short Suttas
grouped by numbers from ones to elevens, and the Khuddakanikāya (abbr. KN)
Minor Discourses, a mix of important teachings attributed to the Buddha and his
disciples. I also referred to the hard copy EBTs from the Pāl.i Text Society (2020)
and the online library of Buddhist texts and commentaries of the Buddhist Publication
Society (2020) for cross-referencing and clarifications.1

1 Following the convention as explained by Bhikkhu Bodhi, references to the Dı̄ghanikāya (DN)
Long Discourses and the Majjhimanikāya (MN) Middle Discourses refer to the number of the sutta.
References to the Sam . yuttanikāya (SN) refer to the number of the chapter followed by the number
of the sutta within that chapter. References to the Anguttaranikāya (AN) refer to nipata (numerical
division) followed by the number of the sutta within that nipata (Bodhi, 1980, pp. 7–8).
58 4 Buddha’s Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by Skilful Means’ Pedagogy

I transferred records to word documents, pdfs, and csv files and then transposed
each instance in an Excel spreadsheet. I then undertook a numerical count and devel-
oped emerging themes. From these raw records, I was able to undertake analysis
across a range of similar examples to develop an understanding of the patterns that
emerged from the initial analysis. These data were then collated into charts and
tables for comparative purposes. My analysis was informed by Gombrich’s (2012,
p. 8) reminder that:
… the kind of analysis which can dissect a written philosophical tradition is inappropriate for
oral materials. As I have shown, the texts preserving “the Buddha’s word” are not authored
in the same sense as a written text. While it is perfectly possible that some of the texts were
composed by the Buddha himself, we cannot know this with any certainty, and almost all the
texts are, strictly speaking, anonymous compositions.

Even so, as Gombrich (2012) and Sujato and Brahmali (2015) also observe, the
repetition techniques used by the preservers of the Buddha’s teachings and approach
across the EBTs point to a remarkable coherence of key concepts. This coherence is
certainly revealed in the content analysis undertaken for this monograph.

4.2 Buddha’s Ideas About Teaching and Learning: Key

Findings

Description of the Buddha’s pedagogical approach and educational philosophy is

found across the Suttas. Those specifically about the key terms for teaching appear
as follows (Table 4.1).
Notably, each of the Sutta Nikāyas expresses aspects of the Buddha’s educa-
tion philosophy and pedagogy with slightly different emphasis. The Dı̄ghanikāya
(DN) Long Discourses are presented as the Buddha being in dialogue with his
followers and other interested people, with a strong emphasis on the relationship
between the Buddha’s teachings and other contemporary philosophies. Using repeti-
tion, he explains his core teaching (DN 10 and 15), his general approach to spiritual
teaching and its development (DN 12), the ways in which his ideas and approach
are compatible with other teachings (DN 25) and his method of teaching (DN 33).

Table 4.1 Teach, Teacher,

Sutta Nikāya collection References
Instruction, and Training
word counts (English only; Dı̄ghanikāya Long Discourses 740
cross-checked with Pāli) Majjhimanikāya Middle Discourses 1,284
Sam
. yuttanikāya Connected Discourses 1,421
Anguttaranikāya Numbered Discourses 154
Khuddakanikāya Minor Discourses (focus on the 51
Dhammapada)
4.2 Buddha’s Ideas About Teaching and Learning: Key Findings 59

The Majjhimanikāya (MN) Middle Discourses provides many examples of how to

teach his core curriculum. For example, his method for stopping unwanted thoughts
(MN 20, SuttaCentral, 2020). Within the Majjhimanikāya, he demonstrates his use
of figurative language (Simile of the Snake MN 22, Elephant’s Footprint MN 27). He
provides an overall template for organising his core teachings in the longer Simile
of the Elephant’s Footprint (MN 28, SuttaCentral, 2020). He deals with the intrica-
cies of how to teach the concept of pat.iccasamuppāda dependent origination (MN
38, SuttaCentral, 2020). Bhikkhu Bodhi (1980) notes that the details of the content
of this important teaching are found in other Suttas such as the Sam . yuttanikāya,
the Upanisasutta (SN 12.23, SuttaCentral, 2020), teaching on Proximate Causes
and the Pat.iccasamuppādasutta (SN 12.1, SuttaCentral, 2020), and the teaching on
Dependent Origination. We find in the Majjhimanikāya that there is more focus
on explanations given by the Buddha about how to teach his ideas. In MN 47, he
gives an example of how to investigate his teachings and emphasises that different
ways of teaching are appropriate for different contexts and should not be cause for
dispute (MN 59). He encourages his students/learners/followers to seek experiential
proof through their own examination of his teachings using methods he explains in
detail (MN 80). In MN 118 and MN 119, he gives examples of how to investigate,
for example, mindfulness of breathing and mindfulness of the body, practices that,
through direct experience (as discussed in MN100) allow his students to develop
their deeper understanding of his teachings. In this way, he teaches his students how
to learn (MN 124).
The Sam . yuttanikāya provides numerous examples of the Buddha’s teaching
methods for general and more specific aspects of his core teachings. For example,
the general exposition of his core teachings is given in SN 56, the Sacca Sam . yutta
Linked Discourses on the Truths. This exposition contains 131 discourses on the
four noble truths: suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path (see Appendix C).
These formed the main subject of the Buddha’s first discourse, the Dhammacakkap-
pavattana Vagga (SN 56.11, SuttaCentral, 2020). Of foundational importance to the
topic of focus for this monograph, it is in this set of teachings that distinguishes the
Buddha as a samma sambuddha one who could teach what he had discovered by his
personal, direct experience. This particular aspect of being able to teach distinguished
him from those known as pacceka buddha who might have had direct experiences but
are not able to communicate their learnings in a teachable form (Bhikkhu Thanissaro,
2010).
In addition to such generally applicable overarching teachings, he also provides
myriad examples of his pedagogical approach having key characteristic of using
what would be known now as differentiated teaching and learning. These aspects are
further discussed and developed in the following sections and in Chap. 5. Regarding
particular aspects of teaching, he specifically explains the qualities of a teacher (SN
8.5) and gives a longer discussion on the characteristics of a teacher (MN 12.82–
92). In his discussion with his son, Rāhula, he gives a step by step exposition of
his method for his son to follow (SN 18.2–22, SuttaCentral, 2020). In a series of 12
discourses illustrating diverse points of the teachings (Opammavagga (SN 20.1–12,
SuttaCentral, 2020)), his use of vivid simile is again highlighted as a key pedagogical
60 4 Buddha’s Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by Skilful Means’ Pedagogy

technique. In the Pālileyyasutta (SN 22.81, SuttaCentral, 2020), the Buddha teaches
in detail the 37 practices that lead to spiritual development and awakening. Here
there is a clear pedagogical overview of his approach, consistent with other Suttas,
his method is described, and he speaks here also of the need for the teacher to be able
to assess what the student’s question is and answer it in a way that can be understood
(SN 22.81, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras 7–8):
Then the Venerable Ānanda together with those bhikkhus approached the Blessed One at
Parileyyaka, at the foot of the auspicious sal tree. Having approached, they paid homage to the
Blessed One and sat down to one side. The Blessed One then instructed, exhorted, inspired,
and gladdened those bhikkhus with a Dhamma talk. Now on that occasion a reflection arose
in the mind of a certain bhikkhu thus: “How should one know, how should one see, for the
immediate destruction of the taints to occur?”

The Blessed One, having known with his own mind the reflection in that bhikkhu’s mind,
addressed the bhikkhus thus …

In the Okkantasaṁyutta (SN 25.1–10, SuttaCentral, 2020), and in the

Pañcakaṅgasutta, Bhikkhusutta, and Sı̄vakasutta (SN 36.19–21, SuttaCentral, 2020),
the Buddha makes clear that he uses different techniques and examples because
contexts are different. His teachings provide a similar point repeated for different
student needs. For example, in a set of 10 teachings (SN 25.1–10, SuttaCentral,
2020), his emphasis is on different methods to be used for those who approach the
teachings with faith and intellect or those who arrive by direct, personal experience.
More broadly, there are many examples of the Buddha’s use of the technique of
differentiating the content to suit his student’s needs. He taught differently to those
who he assessed as being ready or not, used examples that would be of meaning
to the individual kings, Brahmins, monks, laity, merchants, farmers, women and
men, young and old, and always towards the end of a teaching he circled around to
checking with that person for their understanding.
In the Sam. yuttanikāya there is also repeated use of numbers to order and organise the
teachings, an aspect that is consistent with the pedagogical needs of oral transmission
of information and something that becomes less necessary in a written form. The
Suttas in general are replete with lists of numbered teachings. For example, the
Indriya Sam . yutta (SN 48) known as the Linked Discourses on the Faculties contains
178 discourses on various sets of indriya faculties. The teachings repeat, in various
forms, the five key indriya of faith, energy, mindfulness, immersion, and wisdom
expanding to discourses on a wider range of 22 faculties, including the six sense
faculties, five kinds of feeling, three faculties relating the process of attaining nibbāna
enlightenment, and three concerning biology and gender. It is noted in the explanation
2
for the Indriya Sam . yutta (SN 48, SuttaCentral, 2020) that ‘this flexible category thus
serves as a link between the teachings on wisdom and those on the path’.
This aspect is exemplified in the Anguttaranikāya where teachings about numbers
of things are grouped together as the ones, the twos etc. It provides a different
approach to the same content and is an invaluable tool for finding examples of

2 See expanded description under the Indriya Sam

. yutta tab (https://suttacentral.net/sn48).
4.2 Buddha’s Ideas About Teaching and Learning: Key Findings 61

an appropriate length and complexity for the capacity of the student or audience.
This collection also contains evidence of another key characteristic of the Buddha’s
pedagogical approach, that it is a gradual teaching approach. In the At..thakanipāta
Book of Eights, in the Pahārādasutta (AN 8.19, SuttaCentral, 2020) the first stanza
encapsulates his approach. He first asks a question framed to have eight aspects,
thereby supporting the memory of the eight (para. 17):
“The bhikkhus see eight astounding and amazing qualities in this Dhamma and discipline
because of which they take delight in it. What eight?”

He then explains his pedagogical approach to the teaching of the first of the eight
qualities of the Buddha-Dhamma as being gradual, similar to a great ocean (AN 8.19,
SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 18), saying that:
“Just as, Pahārāda, the great ocean slants, slopes, and inclines gradually, not dropping
off abruptly, so too, in this Dhamma and discipline penetration to final knowledge occurs
by gradual training, gradual activity, and gradual practice, not abruptly. This is the first
astounding and amazing quality that the bhikkhus see in this Dhamma and discipline because
of which they take delight in it.”

This approach of gradual teaching is also echoed, for example, in MN 65, 70, and 107.
This pattern is repeated in the Anguttaranikāya where teachings scattered across the
other collections are gathered and formalised according to the number of key aspects
contained therein. Similarly, the Khuddakanikāya Minor Discourses contains, is a
wide-ranging collection of fifteen books containing complete suttas, verses, and
smaller fragments of Dhamma teachings. This collection preserves much of the
Buddha’s teachings in formats that were recorded, reproduced, and remembered over
centuries. They are not ‘minor’ teachings in the sense of their importance because
there are many valuable collections contained within the Khuddakanikāya that serve
as curriculum. The famous one is the Dhammapada (Dhp, SuttaCentral, 2020), path
of the Dhamma, but there are also many other. The Dhammapada alone contains
51 references to teaching and eight to learning, giving a succinct introduction to the
core curriculum (see Appendix C, this edition).
Overall, the five books of the Sutta Nikāya provide ample evidence of the coher-
ence of the Buddha’s education philosophy, overall pedagogical approach to teaching
and learning (next section). These Nikāyas also provide myriad examples of peda-
gogical techniques that support gradual and differentiated learning. The next section
gives some examples of the qualities and characteristics of the Buddha as a teacher
and of teachers more generally.

4.3 The Buddha as a Teacher

The first aspect to note is that, at first, when the Buddha had followed his personal path
to developing his inner wisdom to its conclusion, he was reluctant to turn what he had
discovered into a pathway that others might follow. Understandably, it went against
62 4 Buddha’s Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by Skilful Means’ Pedagogy

his method whereby the onus was on the individual to discover, follow, practice, and
experience all the aspects required to develop such wisdom. In the Attadı̄pasutta (SN
22.43, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 2), he advises his students ‘… be your own island,
your own refuge, with no other refuge. Let the teaching be your island and your
refuge, with no other refuge’. He recounts that when he was at the Ajapālanigrodha,
hesitating as to whether or not he should preach the Dhamma, Brahmā Sahampati
appeared before him and asked him to teach. The Buddha agreed to this request. It is
recorded in the Brahmāyācanasutta (SN 6.1, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras 1–16) that:
So, I have heard. At one time, when he was first awakened, the Buddha was staying near
Uruvelā at the root of the goatherd’s banyan tree on the bank of the Nerañjarā River.
Then as he was in private retreat this thought came to his mind, “This principle I have
discovered is deep, hard to see, hard to understand, peaceful, sublime, beyond the scope of
reason, subtle, comprehensible to the astute. But people like attachment, they love it and enjoy
it. It’s hard for them to see this thing; that is, specific conditionality, dependent origination.
It’s also hard for them to see this thing; that is, the stilling of all activities, the letting go
of all attachments, the ending of craving, fading away, cessation, extinguishment. And if I
were to teach this principle, others might not understand me, which would be wearying and
troublesome for me.” …
… And as the Buddha reflected like this, his mind inclined to remaining passive, not to
teaching the Dhamma.
Then Brahmā Sahampati, knowing what the Buddha was thinking, thought, “Oh my good-
ness! The world will be lost, the world will perish! For the mind of the Realized One, the
perfected one, the fully awakened Buddha, inclines to remaining passive, not to teaching the
Dhamma.”
…
[then Brahmā Sahampati said: …]
“Rise, hero! Victor in battle, leader of the caravan,
Wander the world without obligation.
Let the Blessed One teach the Dhamma!
There will be those who understand!”
Then the Buddha, understanding Brahmā’s invitation, surveyed the world with the eye of a
Buddha, because of his compassion for sentient beings. And the Buddha saw sentient beings
with little dust in their eyes, and some with much dust in their eyes; with keen faculties and
with weak faculties, with good qualities and with bad qualities, easy to teach and hard to
teach. And some of them lived seeing the danger in the fault to do with the next world, while
others did not.
It’s like a pool with blue water lilies, or pink or white lotuses. Some of them sprout and grow
in the water without rising above it, thriving underwater. Some of them sprout and grow in
the water reaching the water’s surface. And some of them sprout and grow in the water but
rise up above the water and stand with no water clinging to them.
In the same way, the Buddha saw sentient beings with little dust in their eyes, and some with
much dust in their eyes; with keen faculties and with weak faculties, with good qualities and
with bad qualities, easy to teach and hard to teach. And some of them lived seeing the danger
in the fault to do with the next world, while others did not.

Over the 45 years that he went on to teach, he gave clear instructions about
who could and could not teach his body of teachings. In the Atthavasasutta (AN
3.43, SuttaCentral, 2020), it is a simple matter of being one who has heard the
4.3 The Buddha as a Teacher 63

teachings, has had direct, personal experience of the teachings and has understood
their advantages. In the Gotamakacetiyasutta (AN 3.125, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras
1–4), it is recounted that:
On one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Vesālı̄ at Gotamaka Shrine. There he
addressed the monks, “Monks!”
“Yes, lord,” the monks responded.
The Blessed One said, “It’s through direct knowledge that I teach the Dhamma, not without
direct knowledge. It’s with a cause that I teach the Dhamma, not without a cause. It’s
with marvels that I teach the Dhamma, not without marvels. Because I teach the Dhamma
through direct knowledge and not without direct knowledge, because I teach the Dhamma
with a cause and not without a cause, because I teach the Dhamma with marvels and not
without marvels, there is good reason for my instruction, good reason for my admonition.
And that is enough for you to be content, enough for you to be gratified, enough for you to
take joy that the Blessed One is rightly self -awakened, the Dhamma is well-taught by the
Blessed One, and the community has practiced rightly.”
That is what the Blessed One said. Gratified, the monks delighted in the Blessed One’s words.
And while this explanation was being given, the ten-thousandfold cosmos quaked.

In the Atthavasasutta (AN 3.43, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 1), it is recorded that
he extended this opportunity of teaching the Dhamma when one has developed in
oneself this same wisdom, saying:
“Bhikkhus, when one sees three advantages, it is enough to teach others the Dhamma. What
three?”
“(1) The one who teaches the Dhamma experiences the meaning and the Dhamma. (2) The
one who hears the Dhamma experiences the meaning and the Dhamma. (3) Both the one
who teaches the Dhamma and the one who hears the Dhamma experience the meaning and
the Dhamma. Seeing these three advantages, it is enough to teach others the Dhamma.”

From these discourses, it is possible to deduce that the Buddha gave weight to the
personal, direct experience and understanding of the individual as a marker of their
ability to teach.

4.4 Characteristics of a Skilful Teacher: Pavı̄n.aupāya

by Skilful Means3

The idea of pavı̄n.aupāya by skilful means summarises the essence of the Buddha’s
pedagogical approach to the teaching of the Dhamma. In the EBTs and over time
as the varieties of Buddhism as practised in Asia spread, it was as important to the
Buddha how his ideas were taught as much as there being accurate transmission of
Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum of the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths and
the at..thaṅgikam
. maggam. Noble Eightfold Path (see Appendix A and C). Whether
a monk or a lay teacher, the Buddha encouraged those who were to begin the codi-
fication and dissemination processes to develop their pavı̄n.aupāya skilful means of

3A full discussion of the ideas found in this section can be found in Ma Rhea (2017).
64 4 Buddha’s Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by Skilful Means’ Pedagogy

teaching. Traditionally, in India and Asia, the Buddha’s pedagogical methods used
for developing pavı̄n.aupāya skilful means were passed on from monk and nun to
their successor and these methods continue into the present. Over his teaching career,
the Buddha was asked many times about what qualities a teacher should be able to
demonstrate. Speaking to one of his monks, the Udāyı̄sutta (AN 5.159, SuttaCentral,
2020, para. 1) recounts:
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Kosambi, in Ghosita’s Park.
Now at that time Ven. Udayin was sitting surrounded by a large assembly of householders,
teaching the Dhamma. Ven. Ananda saw Ven. Udayin sitting surrounded by a large assembly
of householders, teaching the Dhamma, and on seeing him went to the Blessed One. On
arrival, he bowed down to the Blessed One and sat to one side. As he was sitting there he
said to the Blessed One: “Ven. Udayin, lord, is sitting surrounded by a large assembly of
householders, teaching the Dhamma.”

The Buddha’s reply gives clear indication of the five qualities that should frame
the preparations of a teacher of the Dhamma (AN 5.159, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras
2–7), saying:

“It’s not easy to teach the Dhamma to others, Ananda. The Dhamma should
be taught to others only when five qualities are established within the person
teaching. Which five?”
“[1] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, ‘I will speak step-by-
step.’”
“[2] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, ‘I will speak explaining
the sequence [of cause & effect].’”
“[3] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, ‘I will speak out of
compassion.’”
“[4] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, ‘I will speak not for the
purpose of material reward.’”
“[5] The Dhamma should be taught with the thought, ‘I will speak without
hurting myself or others.’”
“It’s not easy to teach the Dhamma to others, Ananda. The Dhamma should
be taught to others only when these five qualities are established within the
person teaching.”

He established the concept of a teacher as kalyān.amitta good friend. In the

Kalyān.amittasutta (SN 3.18, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras 7–9) in a teaching he gave at
Sāvatthı̄ to King Pasenadi, the Buddha explains this key concept:
“… by relying on me as a good friend, sentient beings who are liable to rebirth, old age, and
death, to sorrow, lamentation, pain, sadness, and distress are freed from all these things.
This is another way to understand how good friends are the whole of the spiritual life.”

“So, great king, you should train like this: ‘I will have good friends, companions, and
associates.’ That’s how you should train.”

“When you have good friends, companions, and associates, you should live supported by
one thing: diligence in skilful qualities.”
4.4 Characteristics of a Skilful Teacher: Pavı̄n.aupāya by Skilful Means 65

He also established, by example, the importance of having good conduct. In one

of the longer Suttas, the Brahmāyusutta (MN 91, SuttaCentral, 2020), the Buddha
is assessed by a highly respected Brahmin, Brahmāyu, who had mastered the Vedic
curriculum. According to the 32 marks of a great man recognised in the Vedic tradi-
tion, the Brahmin Brahmāyu wants to see for himself whether the Buddha possesses
these 32 marks because he recognised that if the Buddha had these 32 marks, he
would make an important contribution to the spiritual development of all sentient
beings, saying, ‘… if he [the Buddha] goes forth from the lay life to homelessness,
he becomes a perfected one, a fully awakened Buddha, who draws back the veil
from the world’ (MN 91, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 6). The Buddha was recognised
as having the required marks through this sort of thorough assessment, such was the
advanced state of programmes of spiritual development at the time of the Buddha
and the Brahmin Brahmāyu.
In addition to developing wisdom through experiential understanding, having the
five qualities one should have and undertaking the preparations one should make to be
a teacher, being a kalyān.amitta good friend, and being established in good conduct,
the Buddha also taught his Sangha and lay followers many methods to teach the
Buddha Dhamma. For example, the Buddha recommends that a teacher know when
to be firm and when to be expansive. Bhikkhuni Ayya Khema (1988) explains that
the concept of the kalyān.amitta also encompasses being a teacher who is a reliable
guide, giving true directions and she draws on the Buddha’s discussion with a horse
trainer to highlight the different methods that might be necessary for a teacher to
use. The Kesisutta (AN 4.111, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras 1–13) records the teaching
in this manner:
Then Kesi the horse trainer went up to the Buddha, bowed, and sat down to one side. The
Buddha said to him, “Kesi, you’re known as a horse trainer. Just how do you guide a horse
in training?”
“Sir, I guide a horse in training sometimes gently, sometimes harshly, and sometimes both
gently and harshly.”
“Kesi, what do you do with a horse in training that doesn’t follow these forms of training?”
“In that case, sir, I kill it. Why is that? So that I don’t disgrace my profession.”
“But sir, the Buddha is the supreme guide for those who wish to train. Just how do you guide
a person in training?”
“Kesi, I guide a person in training sometimes gently, sometimes harshly, and sometimes both
gently and harshly.”
“The gentle way is this: ‘This is good conduct by way of body, speech, and mind. This is the
result of good conduct by way of body, speech, and mind. This is life as a god. This is life as
a human.’”
“The harsh way is this: ‘This is bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind. This is the
result of bad conduct by way of body, speech, and mind. This is life in hell. This is life as an
animal. This is life as a ghost.’”
“The both gentle and harsh way is this: ‘This is good conduct … this is bad conduct …’”
“Sir, what do you do with a person in training who doesn’t follow these forms of training?”
“In that case, Kesi, I kill them.”
66 4 Buddha’s Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by Skilful Means’ Pedagogy

“Sir, it’s not appropriate for the Buddha to kill living creatures. And yet you say you kill
them.”
“It’s true, Kesi, it’s not appropriate for a Realized One to kill living creatures. But when a
person in training doesn’t follow any of these forms of training, the Realised One doesn’t think
they’re worth advising or instructing, and neither do their sensible spiritual companions.
For it is death in the training of the noble one when the Realised One doesn’t think they’re
worth advising or instructing, and neither do their sensible spiritual companions.”

In the Saddhasutta, (AN 5.38, SuttaCentral, 2020), when speaking to clansmen,

the Buddha explains, by his use of figurative language, that a teacher first and fore-
most must have confidence in the Dhamma. The word saddhaññeva implies having
confidence in something, in this case, the Buddha’s teachings, but with an important
distinction; in the Buddha’s philosophy of education, saddha faith arises through
personal, experiential conviction rather than through simply believing something
because it has been told to them. The Buddha explains the impact of one who has
confidence in one’s experiences of the development of their inner wisdom (AN 5.38,
SuttaCentral, 2020, paras 3–5), saying:

“Just as at a crossroads on level ground, a great banyan tree becomes the

resort for birds all around, so the clansman endowed with faith becomes
the resort for many people: for bhikkhus, bhikkhunı̄s, male lay followers,
and female lay followers.”
A large tree with a mighty trunk,
branches, leaves, and fruit,
firm roots, and bearing fruit,
is a support for many birds.
Having flown across the sky,
the birds resort to this delightful base:
those in need of shade partake of its shade;
those needing fruit enjoy its fruit.
Just so, when a person is virtuous,
endowed with faith,
of humble manner, compliant,
gentle, welcoming, soft,
those in the world who are fields of merit—
devoid of lust and hatred,
devoid of delusion, taintless—
resort to such a person.
They teach him the Dhamma
that dispels all suffering,
having understood which
the taintless one here attains Nibbāna.
4.5 Characteristics of a Good Student 67

4.5 Characteristics of a Good Student

The next section moves to consideration of what we know about what is expected
of the student, follower, learner, of how learning was conducted, and how a student
was expected to behave. While the focus of this book is about the Buddha’s way of
educating for the development of wisdom through its examination of his teaching
career, pedagogical approach and his core curriculum, it would be remiss not to
provide an insight into what was expected of the student learner of this path. The
Buddha, for example, in the Sāriputtasutta (AN 3.33, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 2 in
Pāl.i and English trans.), reflects in this famous phrase that:
Etassa, bhagavā, kālo, etassa, sugata, kālo yam
. bhagavā saṅkhittenapi dhammam. deseyya,
vitthārenapi dhammam . deseyya, saṅkhittavitthārenapi dhammam . deseyya. Bhavissanti
dhammassa aññātāro”ti.

“I can teach the Dhamma briefly; I can teach the Dhamma in detail; I can teach the Dhamma
both briefly and in detail. It is those who can understand that are rare.”

He explains the eight qualities that he looks for in someone seeking to learn from
him. In the Pun.n.iyasutta (AN 8.82, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras 2–4), Pun.n.iya asks the
Buddha:
“Sir, what is the cause, what is the reason why sometimes the Realised One feels inspired to
teach, and other times not?”

The Buddha replies:

“Pun.n.iya, when a mendicant has faith but doesn’t approach, the Realised One doesn’t feel
inspired to teach. But when a mendicant has faith and approaches, the Realised One feels
inspired to teach.
When a mendicant has faith and approaches, but doesn’t pay homage …
they pay homage, but don’t ask questions …
they ask questions, but don’t lend an ear …
they lend an ear, but don’t remember the teaching they’ve heard …
they remember the teaching they’ve heard, but don’t reflect on the meaning of the teachings
they’ve remembered …
they reflect on the meaning of the teachings they’ve remembered, but, having understood the
meaning and the teaching, they don’t practice accordingly. The Realised One doesn’t feel
inspired to teach.
But when a mendicant has faith, approaches, pays homage, asks questions, lends an ear,
remembers the teachings, reflects on the meaning, and practices accordingly, the Realised
One feels inspired to teach. When someone has these eight qualities, the Realised One feels
totally inspired to teach.”

There are many examples given of the sorts of qualities and characteristics that the
Buddha valued in his students. In the Sattamavagga (AN 1.258–267, SuttaCentral,
2020, paras 1–10) he praises the following nuns, saying:
68 4 Buddha’s Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by Skilful Means’ Pedagogy

“The foremost of my laywomen in first going for refuge is Sujātā Seniyadhı̄tā.

… as a donor is Visākhā, Migāra’s mother.
… who are very learned is Khujjuttarā.
… who dwell in love is Sāmāvatı̄.
… who practice absorption is Uttarānandamātā.
… who give fine things is Suppavāsā Koliyadhı̄tā.
… who care for the sick is the laywoman Suppiyā.
… who have experiential confidence is Kātiyānı̄.
… who are intimate is the householder Nakula’s mother.
… whose confidence is based on oral transmission is the laywoman Kāl.ı̄ of
Kuraraghara.”

The last of these, … ‘Anussavappasannānam . yadidam . kāl.ı̄ upāsikā

kuraragharikā”ti. confidence based on oral transmission’ speaks to the confidence
people had in the reliability of the oral transmission of the Buddha’s words, tested
by experience giving veracity to the teachings.

4.6 The Majjhima Patipada Middle Way as Pedagogy

This discussion of the Buddha’s pedagogy returns to what was introduced in Chap. 2
as the foundation of the Buddha’s pedagogical approach, the Majjhima Patipada
Middle Way approach to the development of wisdom. Beare and Slaughter (1993)
provide encouragement for a thorough examination of the inclusion of Buddhist
teachings into discussions about education and the future. Beare and Slaughter
suggest that it is seriously flawed to leave the question of human motives unaddressed
in education. They say,
It is our observation that when low-level human motives such as fear, greed and hostility
become associated with powerful technologies, the result is indeed a long running disaster.
But when high motives such as selfless love, stewardship and what Buddhists call ‘loving
kindness’ come into play, there are interesting consequences. (p. 166)

The question of how to teach such higher motives through the development of a
student’s capacity for the emergence of wisdom is fully developed in the Buddha’s
approach of the Majjhima Patipada Middle Way. In this final section of Chap. 4, I will
introduce the key aspects of this approach and in the following chapter (Chap. 5, this
edition), I will examine some of the pedagogical techniques that the Buddha used and
reflect on the ways that these techniques can anchor the Buddha’s core curriculum into
the present and future eras in formal schooling. As shown in Fig. 4.2, the sikkhāpana
pedagogy of the Majjhima Patipada Middle Way includes three elements: pariyatti
(theoretical knowledge, also referred to as ‘learning the wording of the doctrine’),
pat.ipatti (‘practising it’ [the doctrine]), and pat.ivedha (understanding of experiences,
also referred to as ‘penetrating it’) (Ven Nyanatiloka, 1988, p. 150) towards the
realising its goal of attaining wisdom (Fig. 4.2).
4.6 The Majjhima Patipada Middle Way as Pedagogy 69

Majjhima Patipada
ajjhāyaka, sik- sikkhaka,
Middle Way
khāpaka, sik- sekkha learner
khāpanaka, ācariya
teacher
Sikkhāpada
Steps of training

Sikkhāpana Buddha-Dhamma
Pedagogy Curriculum

pariyatti
learning the Dhamma
Buddha’s teachings

paṭivedha
Understanding the Dhamma
Buddha’s teachings through ex-
paṭipatti
perience and insight
pracƟcing the Dhamma
Buddha’s teachings

Fig. 4.2 Elements of the Buddha’s pedagogy: the Majjhima Patipada Middle Way approach

The concept of gradual development is a core to his approach. Ven Nyanatiloka

(1988, p. 169) explains this approach in an explanation titled ‘Progress of the
Disciple’, saying:
Gradual development of the Eightfold Path in the progress of the disciple: In many suttas
occurs an identical passage that outlines the gradual course of development in the progress of
the disciple. There it is shown how this development takes place gradually, and in conformity
with laws, from the very first hearing of the doctrine, and from germinating faith and dim
comprehension, up to the final realisation of deliverance.

The process begins with the first element of the sikkhāpana pedagogy, pariy-
atti hearing and learning the Buddha’s teachings. This is followed by the second
element of the sikkhāpana pedagogy, guiding the student to pat.ipatti practising the
methods explained by the Buddha to achieve personal, tacit understanding. The third
element of the sikkhāpana pedagogy, pat.ivedha, guides the student to use insight and
discernment to penetrate and understand the deeper meaning of the teachings. This
sikkhāpana pedagogy gives rise to confidence, spoken of as ‘faith’, in the Buddha’s
70 4 Buddha’s Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by Skilful Means’ Pedagogy

Majjhima Patipada Middle Way approach causing the learner to become motivated
to hear and learn more of the Dhamma, practice its methods, and deepening their
understanding even further. It is a spiral-like process that circles through the same
teachings many times and understanding deepens over years, and up to a final reali-
sation of wisdom that the Buddha speaks about as nibbāna enlightenment (Buddha-
datta Mahathera, 1958, p. 143; for further elaboration of this important term, see
SuttaCentral, 2020).
The process also employs scaffolded instruction, as outlined in the previous
sections. Many Suttas are about the Buddha tailoring his teaching to the progress
of the student. Over the 45-year period of his teaching life, as discussed in Chap. 2
(this edition), he returned to the same people, time and time and time again, so he
had a very close understanding of the progress of their development, because he was
close to them and they sought him out for further learning. His approach relies on
the student finding balance between the three aspects of his sikkhāpana pedagogy,
cycling through pariyatti, pat.ipatti, and pat.ivedha penetrating the deeper meaning
and making sense of the Dhamma then beginning the cycle over again.
As discussed in Chap. 3 (this edition), the arrangement and codification of the
Majjhima Patipada Middle Way approach follow a similar approach to that of modern
knowledge management techniques for professional learning promoted by Nonaka
and Takeuchi (1995). There are also many familiar elements in the contemporary
work of Smith (2012/2019) where he examines the nature of pedagogy in informal
learning contexts. The connection of the importance of pedagogical approach to
what would now be known as ‘soft-skills development’ was a central feature of the
Buddha’s engagement with people wherever he taught.
As a teacher, the Buddha was a generator of new knowledge about the development
of wisdom. He was selecting and organising the content all the time, depending on
the question asked him by a student. He was, simultaneously developing a teach-
able language to support his concepts because this language did not exist prior to
his teaching of his experiential understandings as a samma sambuddha enlightened
Buddha who was able to teach what he had learned. He was adapting and refining the
meaning of words and concepts that were familiar to his students from the Rig Veda,
the Upanishads, and the Brahminical education tradition, and he was adapting it in
conversation with Jains and Brahmans, and other people at the time, but particularly
with Jains and Brahmins, while developing his own ideas about what these words
meant within his education philosophy for the development of wisdom. Over time,
he developed a language to support his teaching ideas while also assessing learner
readiness, aspects that would be familiar to the contemporary classroom teacher or
lecturer.
In Bloom’s (1956, 1976, 1994) cognitive learning sense, the Buddha’s approach
in the pariyatti phase establishes knowledge and comprehension, Bloom’s first two
levels. The Buddha standardises words and phrases, across in many different Suttas,
reproduced over and over again. It means that the student can have some confidence
that it is what he said because it was reproduced so many times. He uses a lot of repe-
tition and numbering as techniques (to be discussed in more detail in a later section).
4.6 The Majjhima Patipada Middle Way as Pedagogy 71

He embeds cognitive understanding of his teaching through repetition. In a practice

established during his lifetime and continued over these past 2,500 years, he devel-
oped an approach to memorisation of his teachings through a concept of cooperative
learning. Similar to the modern concept of teachers having communities of learning
to support their ongoing professional development, these communities shaped as they
were by the oral tradition, formed around memorisation of the Dhamma. Modern
communities of learning can rely on the printed word, using their collaborations to
deepen understanding of the key ideas within the profession of teaching without also
having to memorise key teachings. The teachers of the Buddha’s time had to under-
take both aspects: memorisation and deepening of their pedagogical and content
understandings together during those times when the Buddha was teaching in other
parts of the region and after his passing.
In terms of cognitive learning, in Bloom’s sense, the pat.ipatti phase reflects the
application of the instruction. This is the point where the student starts to apply
what they have been taught and this is very much the experiential aspect that is so
important to the Buddha’s approach. Similar to Indigenous and other traditionally-
oriented approaches to education, anything observed, heard, or taught has to be
experienced. It is a very internal process of learning, that embeds the learning in a
way that is personal and tacit (Polanyi, 1958/1998). A pedagogical approach that
is less well understood in the formal learning classroom that is developed across
the world, the Buddha’s approach adopted by teachers of the Dhamma up to the
present day actively encourages, indeed requires that the student practice what they
have been taught. Within this approach, the differentiation of practice instruction,
according to need, is given in the first phase of pariyatti. The Buddha remarked many
times about the importance of clear instructions for practice. He advised his Sangha,
the first teachers of his method, to follow this same path because they could not teach
what they had not experienced for themselves. He had confidence in what he was
teaching because he’d experienced it. He was also able to tailor the practices to the
needs and abilities of the individual learner.
A remarkable and enduring feature of his method, emphasised in the pat.ipatti
phase was that a student should believe nothing that was being taught but test each
method of practice according to need and, through undergoing the third pat.ivedha
phase, penetrate the deeper meaning of the teachings, thus progressing on the path to
wisdom. As mentioned previously, his approach determined that if the student heard
the teachings, practised them, and then delved into what had been experienced to
attain deeper understanding, then confidence in the teachings would arise. It was this
confidence rather than uncritical acceptance of what was being taught that would
convince the student to return to the teacher for more instruction.
The premise of the Buddha’s pedagogy is that the learner is encouraged to follow
this gradual path, hearing; practising virtue, sense restraint, mindfulness and alert-
ness, abandoning what is unskilful and practising what is skilful moment by moment.
In the next chapter, I will delve more deeply into the methods and techniques that
the Buddha used and taught others how to use to teach the Buddha-Dhamma.
72 4 Buddha’s Pavı̄n.aupāya ‘by Skilful Means’ Pedagogy

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Buddhist Publication Society. (2020). Buddhist Publication Society online library. Retrieved
December 31, 2020 from Buddhist Publication Society. https://www.bps.lk/index.php.
Gombrich, R. F. (2012). Buddhist precept & practice (1st ed.). Routledge.
Mayring, P. (2000). Qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Methods in Various Disciplines, 1(2),
Article 20. https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-1.2.1089.
Ma Rhea, Z. (2017). Buddhist pedagogy in teacher education: Cultivating wisdom by skillful means.
Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 1–18. Online available at https://doi.org/10.1080/135
9866X.2017.1399984.
Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (1995). The knowledge creating company: How Japanese companies
create the dynamics of innovation. Oxford University Press.
Pāl.i Text Society. (2020). Pāli canon in English translation. Pāl.i Text Society. Retrieved December
31, 2020 from Pāl.i Text Society. http://www.pāl.itext.com/pāl.itext/tipitaka.htm.
Polanyi, M. (1958/1998). Personal knowledge: Towards a post critical philosophy. Routledge.
Smith, M. K. (2012/2019). What is pedagogy? A definition and discussion. Retrieved December
31, 2020 from Infed.org. https://infed.org/mobi/what-is-pedagogy/.
Sujato, & Brahmali, Bhikkhu. (2015). The authenticity of the early buddhist texts. Chroniker Press.
https://ocbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/authenticity.pdf.
SuttaCentral. (2020a). Early Buddhist texts, translations, and parallels. Retrieved December 31,
2020 from SuttaCentral. https://suttacentral.net/.
SuttaCentral. (2020b). Nibbāna. Retrieved December 31, 2020 from SuttaCentral. https://suttacent
ral.net/define/nibbāna.
Ven Nyanatiloka. (1988). Buddhist dictionary: Manual of Buddhist terms and doctrine (4th ed.,
Reprinted). Buddhist Publication Society.
Chapter 5
The Gradual Path for the Development
of Wisdom

Abstract The final chapter turns to an analysis of the teaching strategies and peda-
gogical techniques employed by the Buddha to teach the Buddha-Dhamma core
curriculum of the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths and the at..thaṅgikam .
maggam . Noble Eightfold Path found in the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon (see Appendix
C). It will tease out the Buddha’s Majjhima Patipada Middle Way methods and
examine the importance of these for modern education, in particular the experien-
tial element. I will conclude with a discussion of the key elements of the Buddha’s
education theory, their importance, and relevance for modern education.

Keywords Teaching strategies · Teacher pedagogical techniques · Learner

engagement practices · Teaching for wisdom · Majjhima Patipada Middle Way
pedagogy

5.1 Methods for Teaching the Buddha-Dhamma Core

Curriculum

The Buddha’s education theory is founded on the concept of gradual development

‘from the very first hearing of the doctrine, and from germinating faith and dim
comprehension, up to the final realization of deliverance’ (Ven Nyanatiloka, 1988,
p. 169). There are many references to the Buddha’s confirmation of this being
the way to teach, ‘little by little’. For example, in the Dutiyakālasutta (AN 4.147,
SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–3), the Buddha explains this concept, saying:
“Mendicants, when these four times are rightly developed and progressed, they gradually
lead to the ending of defilements. What four? A time for listening to the teaching, a time for
discussing the teaching, a time for serenity, and a time for discernment.”
“It’s like when it rains heavily on a mountain top, and the water flows downhill to fill the
hollows, crevices, and creeks. As they become full, they fill up the pools. The pools fill up
the lakes, the lakes fill up the streams, and the streams fill up the rivers. And as the rivers
become full, they fill up the ocean.”
“In the same way, when these four times are rightly developed and progressed, they gradually
lead to the ending of defilements.”

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 77
Z. M. Diamond, Gautama Buddha, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1765-2_5
78 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

The Buddha’s Majjhima Patipada Middle Way method is taught in three stages,
through direct teaching of pariyatti theoretical knowledge (also referred to as
‘learning the doctrine’), providing techniques for pat.ipatti ‘practicing it’ [the
doctrine], and helping students in pat.ivedha the understanding of their experiences
(also referred to as ‘penetrating it’) (Ven Nyanatiloka, 1988, p. 150). This approach
is spirallic, akin to the modern idea of knowledge management proposed by Nonaka
(1994), adding a dimension of targeted experiential practice by the student. In the
following sections, I will examine each aspect of the Majjhima Patipada Middle
Way to discuss the pedagogical methods used, the teaching and learning focus,
the teacher’s pedagogical techniques and the learner’s engagement practices with
reference to the EBTs (SuttaCentral, 2020).

5.2 Stage 1: Pariyatti Learning the Doctrine

The first aspect of the method used by the Buddha and taught by him to the Sangha
of bhikkhus monks and bhikkhunis nuns and also lay people who went on to arrange,
codify, and disseminate his teachings over the past 2,500 years is pariyatti theoretical
knowledge, also referred to as ‘learning the doctrine’ (Ven Nyanatiloka, 1988, p. 150).
Bhikkhu Bodhi (1999, p. 2) explains that:
To follow the Noble Eightfold Path is a matter of practice rather than intellectual knowledge,
but to apply the path correctly it has to be properly understood. In fact, right understanding
of the path is itself a part of the practice. It is a facet of right view, the first path factor, the
forerunner and guide for the rest of the path. Thus, though initial enthusiasm might suggest
that the task of intellectual comprehension may be shelved as a bothersome distraction,
mature consideration reveals it to be quite essential to ultimate success in the practice.

It was ‘a time for listening to the teaching [and] a time for discussing the teaching’
(Dutiyakālasutta, AN 4.147, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 1). For teaching his students
approaches to Pariyatti learning the doctrine, the Buddha used two strategies
(Table 5.1) that would be familiar to the modern classroom teacher: direct instruction
and teaching for understanding.

Table 5.1 Teaching

Teaching strategies Teacher pedagogical Learner
strategies and techniques for
techniques engagement
Pariyatti learning the doctrine
practices
Explicit Instruction Standardisation of Co-operative
• Cognitive clarity words and phrases learning
• Verbal clarity Numbers and • Memorisation
Teaching for Mnemonics • Group recital
understanding Analogy and
figurative language
5.2 Stage 1: Pariyatti Learning the Doctrine 79

The Suttas provide many examples of two teaching strategies that the Buddha
commonly used: explicit instruction and teaching for understanding. This first stage
of Pariyatti is most closely aligned to Bloom’s Remember and Understand categories
of cognitive development (Krathwohl et al., 2001) involving cognitive processes such
as recognising, recalling, interpreting, inferring, and comparing.

5.2.1 Explicit Instruction

Killen (2013) explains that ‘… explicit instruction usually refers to whole class
expository teaching techniques … they are teacher-centred approaches in which
the teacher delivers academic content in a highly structured format that directs the
activities of the learners and maintains the focus on academic achievement’ (p. 131).
For the Buddha, this strategy became an effective, efficient, and appealing method
for teaching people ways of pariyatti learning the doctrine. I will discuss two notable
examples of the Buddha’s approach to explicit instruction that carefully guided the
student to be able to lay the foundation for the understanding of their experiences,
his cognitive and verbal clarity.
The Buddha’s cognitive clarity is evident across the Suttas. In the Sı̄hasutta (AN
8.12, SuttaCentral, 2020), for example, the Buddha is challenged about a number of
aspects of his teachings by General Sı̄ha who was a follower of the Jains. Here we
can see a number of aspects of the Buddha’s cognitive clarity: logical sequencing,
providing explanation of what he meant by the main ideas step-by-step in ways
that would be understood by the General, addressed his questions, and summarised
his main ideas after he had checked that General Sı̄ha had understood (AN 8.12,
SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 33), for example:
… the Buddha taught Sı̄ha step by step, with a talk on giving, ethical conduct, and heaven.
He explained the drawbacks of sensual pleasures, so sordid and corrupt, and the benefit
of renunciation. And when the Buddha knew that Sı̄ha’s mind was ready, pliable, rid of
hindrances, joyful, and confident he explained the special teaching of the Buddhas: suffering,
its origin, its cessation, and the path. Just as a clean cloth rid of stains would properly absorb
dye, in that very seat the stainless, immaculate vision of the Dhamma arose in General Sı̄ha:
“Everything that has a beginning has an end.”

His verbal clarity was also evident. This aspect, together with cognitive clarity and
his communication style all speak to his skills in oratory. As was discussed in Chap. 2,
the world was an oral world in the time of the Buddha, and there are many aspects of
oratory that have become less obvious in the literate world. Even so, the skilled orator
is still able to move people emotionally and spiritually in the contemporary world.
Indigenous people in many parts of the world continue to be raised in families and
communities where orality is more common than the written word (Ma Rhea, 2012)
and modern schooling often misses the subtleties and nuances of oratorical techniques
that were so effectively employed by the Buddha. His verbal clarity was captured
well in the following example where he explicitly teaches about suffering dukkha
and the path to the cessation of suffering dukkha. While some of his verbal clarity
80 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

can be attributed to those who assembled, organised, and codified his teachings,
within the teachings there remains an essence of his oratorical skills. In this next
example, he is teaching the methods for practising meditation, a key element in the
experiential aspect of the Majjhima Patipada Middle Way approach. Elements of
this teaching appear in many other teachings, but here in the Satipat..thānasutta (MN
10, SuttaCentral, 2020), he brings all the elements together, demonstrating that this
is a well-planned teaching based on his experiential understanding of the method.
He is clear about what must be practised and how and provides enough information,
based on this experience to guide the student into self-directed practise to achieve the
same goal of the emergence of deeper wisdom. It is evident, even in his introduction
to the topic, that he has demonstrable verbal clarity saying (MN 10, SuttaCentral,
2020, paras. 3–4):
“Mendicants, the four kinds of mindfulness meditation are the path to convergence. They
are in order to purify sentient beings, to get past sorrow and crying, to make an end of pain
and sadness, to end the cycle of suffering, and to realize extinguishment.”
“What four? It’s when a mendicant meditates by observing an aspect of the body—keen,
aware, and mindful, rid of desire and aversion for the world. They meditate observing an
aspect of feelings—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of desire and aversion for the world. They
meditate observing an aspect of the mind—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of desire and
aversion for the world. They meditate observing an aspect of principles—keen, aware, and
mindful, rid of desire and aversion for the world.”

The rest of this teaching breaks the topic down into four aspects with clear instruction
for each contemplation, developing mindfulness and deepening wisdom. It is impor-
tant to note that contemporary education has rediscovered mindfulness as something
of value to develop with teachers being able to take courses for themselves and their
students. Mindfulness training has been a key part of the education given orally by
monks and nuns in temples and meditation classes developed from the fully explicated
teaching given by the Buddha in the Mahāsatipat..thānasutta (MN 22, SuttaCentral,
2020). Variations and adaptation of mindfulness teachings are now available in apps
on mobile phones. Even so, a signature element of mindfulness teaching is the verbal
clarity of instruction that remains essential, something developed by the Buddha all
those years ago.

5.2.2 Teaching for Understanding

The second aspect to note of the Buddha’s teaching approach to helping students in
Pariyatti learning the doctrine was that he explicitly taught in such a way that his
students might develop inner wisdom. Thus, he taught to develop their understanding
of this important topic. As such, he spent 45 years developing topics that were
associated with his key ideas found in the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths
and the at..thaṅgikam
. maggam . Noble Eightfold Path. These are ideas that are complex
and his students regarded them of being worthy of learning, interesting and relevant to
their lives and their pursuit of the development of inner wisdom. He offered learners
5.2 Stage 1: Pariyatti Learning the Doctrine 81

many strategies by which to investigate, encouraged them to practice his methods

and come to their own conclusions based on these experiences and their arising
understanding. Contemporary teachers would recognise these as being key elements
in engaging a student and teaching for understanding (Killen, 2013, pp. 47–55).
As Killen notes, the combination of teaching for understanding with constructivist
approaches to student learning combine to form a powerful teaching and learning
synergy. The Buddha exemplified this approach, appealing to students at different
stages of development and levels of understanding, providing a variety of strategies
and activities, as the At..thasatasutta (SN 36.22, SuttaCentral, 2020) demonstrates.
Students often asked him why he gave different teachings at different times about
the same topic and he gave this explanation of the differentiation he used to explain
the same topic (SN 36.22, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–10), saying:
“Mendicants, I will teach you an exposition of the teaching on the hundred and eight. Listen
…
And what is the exposition of the teaching on the hundred and eight? Mendicants, in one
explanation I’ve spoken of two feelings. In another explanation I’ve spoken of three feelings,
or five, six, eighteen, thirty-six, or a hundred and eight feelings.
And what are the two feelings? Physical and mental. These are called the two feelings.
And what are the three feelings? Pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings. …
And what are the five feelings? The faculties of pleasure, pain, happiness, sadness, and
equanimity. …
And what are the six feelings? Feeling born of eye contact … ear contact … nose contact …
tongue contact … body contact … mind contact. …
And what are the eighteen feelings? There are six preoccupations with happiness, six
preoccupations with sadness, and six preoccupations with equanimity. …
And what are the thirty-six feelings? Six kinds of lay happiness and six kinds of renunciate
happiness. Six kinds of lay sadness and six kinds of renunciate sadness. Six kinds of lay
equanimity and six kinds of renunciate equanimity. …
And what are the hundred and eight feelings? Thirty-six feelings in the past, future, and
present. These are called the hundred and eight feelings.
This is the exposition of the teaching on the hundred and eight.”

He also gives an extended teaching about the need to teach for student understanding
in the Khettūpamasutta (SN 42.7, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–14), saying:
At one time the Buddha was staying near Nālandā in Pāvārika’s mango grove. Then Asiband-
haka’s son the chief went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to
him:
“Sir, doesn’t the Buddha live full of compassion for all living beings?”
“Yes, chief.”
“Well, sir, why exactly do you teach some people thoroughly and others less thoroughly?”
“Well then, chief, I’ll ask you about this in return, and you can answer as you like. What do
you think? Suppose a farmer has three fields: one’s good, one’s average, and one’s poor—
bad ground of sand and salt. What do you think? When that farmer wants to plant seeds,
where would he plant them first: the good field, the average one, or the poor one?”
“Sir, he’d plant them first in the good field, then the average, then he may or may not plant
seed in the poor field. Why is that? Because at least it can be fodder for the cattle.”
82 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

“To me, the monks and nuns are like the good field. I teach them the Dhamma that’s good in
the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, meaningful and well-phrased. And I
reveal a spiritual practice that’s entirely full and pure. Why is that? Because they live with
me as their island, protection, shelter, and refuge.”
To me, the laymen and laywomen are like the average field. I also teach them the Dhamma
that’s good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, meaningful and well-
phrased. And I reveal a spiritual practice that’s entirely full and pure. Why is that? Because
they live with me as their island, protection, shelter, and refuge.”
To me, the ascetics, brahmins, and wanderers who follow other paths are like the poor
field, the bad ground of sand and salt. I also teach them the Dhamma that’s good in the
beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, meaningful and well-phrased. And I
reveal a spiritual practice that’s entirely full and pure. Why is that? Hopefully they might
understand even a single sentence, which would be for their lasting welfare and happiness.”

5.2.3 Teacher Pedagogical Techniques for Pariyatti Stage

As can be seen in the previous examples, the Buddha employed a number of pedagog-
ical techniques to convey his explicit instruction while teaching for student under-
standing. The techniques most commonly employed by him were: standardisation of
words and phrases, repetition, the use of numbers, mnemonics, the use of familiar,
local languages, using figurative languages, such as metaphor, simile, and analogy.
Sujato and Brahmali (2015, p. 77) point to the highly distinctive style of the Buddha
observing that:
This can be seen in a number of aspects of the EBTs such as the large number of similes,
analogies and metaphors that are vivid, precise in application, realistic and local, and
formal in presentation; the analytical approach to language, which was unknown before the
Buddha; use of irony and humour; and internal consistency and coherence … This distinctive
personal style is quite different from anything found in other Buddhist literature, or even in
the Upanis.ads.

As was discussed in previous chapters, over 45 years the Buddha refined his teach-
ings by the teacherly process of daily repetition and discussion through a question
and answer format with his students, followers, and the wider community. In exam-
ining the EBTs, I found evidence that he was taking words and concepts that would
have been familiar to his audience, such as a simple idea about reincarnation turning
the concept onto a much more complex understanding of Pat.iccasamuppādasutta
(SN 12.1, SuttaCentral, 2020) dependent origination. Over the span of years, the
Suttas reflect the standardisation of this teaching, sometimes given in full and some-
times through a particular aspect, where the standardisation of the language and his
meanings for the words and phrases he used contributed to his approach of explicit
instruction and also supported his teaching for understanding. This process of stan-
dardisation and repetition in familiar local language has contributed significantly to
the ability of his teachings to have been preserved into the present era as well as
being of great support to those who were learning this path to wisdom from him.
Another notable pedagogical technique was the Buddha’s use of numbers and
other mnemonics to aid learners in the memorisation of his teachings. One of the
5.2 Stage 1: Pariyatti Learning the Doctrine 83

five books of the Sutta Nikāya is the Aṅguttara Nikāya is an extensive collection of
the Buddha’s teachings ordered by number. Other Suttas also use numbering to aid
memorisation. For example, in the Okkanta, the Buddha teaches ten doctrinal items
and presents it according to a set pattern. In a teaching known as the Cakkhu Vagga
(SN 25.1-10, SuttaCentral, 2020) the Buddha employs standardisation of words and
phrases, in a pattern supported by a specific number of key elements as a way of
teaching ten items of importance to his core ideas, aiding memory and showing their
interrelatedness. For example, in the Cakkhusutta teaching about the eye (SN 25.1,
SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 1)1 it is explained that:
“One with faith in the teachings on the six interior sense fields is called a ‘follower by faith’,
while someone with conceptual understanding is called a ‘follower of the teachings’. But
someone who sees them directly is called a stream-enterer.”

In the Samphassajasutta teaching about feelings (SN 25.5, SuttaCentral, 2020, para.
1)2 the Buddha explains that:
“One with faith in the teachings on the six kinds of feeling is called a ‘follower by faith’,
while someone with conceptual understanding is called a ‘follower of the teachings’. But
someone who sees them directly is called a stream-enterer.”

In the Pathavı̄dhātusutta teaching about the elements (SN 25.9, SuttaCentral, 2020,
para. 1)3 the Buddha explains that:
“One with faith in the teachings on the four physical elements is called a ‘follower by faith’,
while someone with conceptual understanding is called a ‘follower of the teachings’. But
someone who sees them directly is called a stream-enterer.”

In these short, simple examples, one can gain a sense of the way these techniques of
mnemonics and numbering were used. These were skills of oratory and exposition
that were commonly employed by the Buddha to meet the needs of an audience that
were listening and trying to remember his teachings. Without the support of written
down teachings, or even the extensive digital repositories available in the present era,
these techniques were a vital element in the preservation of his discourses.
Possibly most remarkable, within these teachings, was the Buddha’s ability to
choose vivid and suitable figurative language and analogies that remain a signature
of his long teaching career. While being explicit in the assemblage of his teachings,
he employed figurative language to support his listeners in developing and deepening
their understanding. Sujato and Brahmali (2015) and Gombrich (2013) note his use
of simile and metaphor, for example, in general terms. Hecker’s (2009) in-depth
examination of the similes the Buddha used provides a rich canvass of evocative
imagery of relevance to his listeners. Here, I want to emphasise the Buddha’s use of

1 See the expanded description on the top right corner under Cakkhusutta (https://suttacentral.net/
sn25.1/en/sujato).
2 See the expanded description on the top right corner under Samphassajasutta (https://suttacentral.

net/sn25.5/en/sujato).
3 See the expanded description on the top right corner under Pathavı̄dhātusutta (https://suttacentral.

net/sn25.9/en/sujato).
84 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

analogy and figurative language as pedagogical techniques, where he often gave an

imaginative meaning to his explanation while also creating special oratorical, emotive
effect. I am differentiating his use of simile, as being a figure of speech that compares
two separate concepts through the use of a clear connecting word such as ‘like’, ‘as’,
or ‘in the same way’, with metaphor, where he simply posits that two separate things
are the same in terms of the characteristic to which he draws attention. For example, in
the Opamma Sam . yutta (SN 20, SuttaCentral, 2020) Linked Discourses with Similes,
there are twelve teachings where the Buddha employs similes to illustrate diverse
points of the teaching. In the Kūt.asutta (SN 20.1, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–4) the
Buddha uses the simile of a roof peak to describe how demolishing the roof peak is
like demolishing ignorance through practice, saying:
So, I have heard. At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthı̄ in Jeta’s Grove,
Anāthapin.d.ika’s monastery.
There the Buddha … said:
“Mendicants, the rafters of a bungalow all lean to the peak and meet at the peak, and when
the peak is demolished they’re all demolished too. In the same way any unskilful qualities
are rooted in ignorance and meet in ignorance, and when ignorance is demolished they’re
all demolished too.”
“So, you should train like this: ‘We will stay diligent.’ That’s how you should train.”

There are eleven similar examples using familiar objects and circumstances, such
as a fingernail, families, a spear, the archers, the drum peg, wood blocks, a bull
elephant, a cat, and a jackal in this set of teachings that the Buddha employs to
highlight certain points on a topic such as sensual pleasure, something that he was
asked about on numerous occasions and in many different places. For example, in
the Alagaddūpamasutta (MN 22, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 11) the Buddha reminds
Arit.t.ha, formerly of the vulture killers, of the many similes used to explain his
teaching on sensual pleasure saying:
“… With the simile of the skeleton…with the simile of the piece of meat…with the simile
of the grass torch…with the simile of the pit of coals…with the simile of the dream…with
the simile of the borrowed goods…with the simile of fruits on a tree…with the simile of the
butcher’s knife and block…with the simile of the sword stake…with the simile of the snake’s
head, I have stated that sensual pleasures provide little gratification, much suffering and
despair, and that the danger in them is still more.”

Across the Suttas, one can find many such examples of simile and metaphor where
the Buddha aims to teach for understanding. He also employs analogy to do some
of this work. He sometimes uses similes and metaphors to make an analogy but, in
his analogies, he also provides an additional explanation to highlight his main point.
Following the above explanation, the Buddha goes on to explain to his Sangha a
deeper explanation of his use of simile by using another simile of the kullam . raft,
so he can give a fuller, analogous explanation (MN 22, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras.
24–28), saying:
“Bhikkhus, I shall show you how the Dhamma is similar to a raft, being for the purpose of
crossing over, not for the purpose of grasping. Listen and attend closely to what I shall say.”
5.2 Stage 1: Pariyatti Learning the Doctrine 85

“Yes, venerable sir,” the bhikkhus replied. The Blessed One said this:
“Bhikkhus, suppose a man in the course of a journey saw a great expanse of water, whose
near shore was dangerous and fearful and whose further shore was safe and free from fear,
but there was no ferryboat or bridge for going to the far shore. Then he thought: ‘There is
this great expanse of water, whose near shore is dangerous and fearful and whose further
shore is safe and free from fear, but there is no ferryboat or bridge for going to the far shore.
Suppose I collect grass, twigs, branches, and leaves and bind them together into a raft, and
supported by the raft and, making an effort with my hands and feet, I got safely across to the
far shore.’ And then the man collected grass, twigs, branches, and leaves and bound them
together into a raft, and supported by the raft and making an effort with his hands and feet,
he got safely across to the far shore. Then, when he had got across and had arrived at the
far shore, he might think thus: ‘This raft has been very helpful to me, since supported by it
and, making an effort with my hands and feet, I got safely across to the far shore. Suppose I
were to hoist it on my head or load it on my shoulder, and then go wherever I want.’ Now,
bhikkhus, what do you think? By doing so, would that man be doing what should be done
with that raft?”
“No, venerable sir.”
“By doing what would that man be doing what should be done with that raft? Here, bhikkhus,
when that man got across and had arrived at the far shore, he might think thus: ‘This raft
has been very helpful to me, since supported by it and making an effort with my hands and
feet, I got safely across to the far shore. Suppose I were to haul it onto the dry land or set
it adrift in the water, and then go wherever I want.’ Now, bhikkhus, it is by so doing that
that man would be doing what should be done with that raft. So, I have shown you how the
Dhamma is similar to a raft, being for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of
grasping.”
“Bhikkhus, when you know the Dhamma to be similar to a raft, you should abandon even
the teachings, how much more so things contrary to the teachings.”

In the Uttiyasutta (AN 10.95, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 12–14) Ananda, one of
the monks who became most influential in assembling and codifying the Buddha’s
teachings, mentions his conscious use of an analogy to explain a point to Uttiya,
saying:
“… I will give you an analogy, for there are cases where it is through the use of analogy that
intelligent people can understand the meaning of what is being said.”
“Uttiya, suppose that there was a royal frontier fortress with strong ramparts, strong walls
& arches, and a single gate. In it would be a wise, competent, & knowledgeable gatekeeper
to keep out those he didn’t know and to let in those he did. Patrolling the path around the
city, he wouldn’t see a crack or an opening in the walls big enough for even a cat to slip
through. Although he wouldn’t know that ‘So-and-so many creatures enter or leave the city,’
he would know this: ‘Whatever large creatures enter or leave the city all enter or leave it
through this gate.’”
“In the same way, the Tathagata isn’t concerned with whether all the cosmos or half of it
or a third of it will be led to release by means of that [Dhamma]. But he does know this:
‘All those who have been led, are being led, or will be led [to release] from the cosmos
have done so, are doing so, or will do so after having abandoned the five hindrances—those
defilements of awareness that weaken discernment—having well-established their minds in
the four frames of reference, and having developed, as they have come to be, the seven factors
for Awakening.”
86 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

5.2.4 Learner Engagement Practices for Pariyatti Stage

As teachers know, in an ideally synergistic process, the teacher’s approaches and tech-
niques are met with certain engagement practices that together create understanding.
There are three aspects of note in the Suttas that I will highlight in this examination
of the first stage of Pariyatti learning the doctrine: co-operative learning through
memorisation and group recital.
In the Satiuppajjanapañha (Mil 3.7.1, SuttaCentral, 2020), King Milinda asks a
question of Nāgasena about memory. Nāgasena was a famous teacher of the Buddha-
Dhamma after the passing of the Buddha. Nāgasena’s answer provides some insight
into how memory was understood as being caused by sixteen different stimuli. In
this explanation, it is also possible to see the ongoing use of numerical ordering,
analogy, metaphor, and simile to support Nāgasena being able to give an explicit
teaching, sixteen stimuli, while teaching for understanding through the use of figura-
tive language that would have been familiar to King Milinda who asked (Mil 3.7.1,
SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–3):
The king said: ‘In how many ways, Nāgasena, does memory spring up?’
‘In sixteen ways, O king. That is to say: by personal experience, as when the venerable
Ānanda, or the devoted woman Khujjuttarā, or any others who had that power, called to
mind their previous births—or by outward aid, as when others continue to remind one who
is by nature forgetful—or by the impression made by the greatness of some occasion, as
kings remember their coronation day, or as we remember the day of our conversion-by
the impression made by joy, as when one remembers that which gave him pleasure—or by
the impression made by sorrow, as when one remembers that which pained him—or from
similarity of appearance, as on seeing one like them we call to mind the mother or father or
sister or brother, or on seeing a camel or an ox or an ass we call to mind others like them—or
by difference of appearance, as when we remember that such and such a colour, sound, smell,
taste, or touch belong to such and such a thing—or by the knowledge of speech, as when
one who is by nature forgetful is reminded by others and then himself remembers—or by a
sign, as when we recognise a draught bullock by a brand mark or some other sign-or from
effort to recollect as when one by nature forgetful is made to recollect by being urged again
and again: “try and think of it”—or by calculation, as when one knows by the training he
has received in writing that such and such a letter ought to follow after such and such a
one—or by arithmetic, as when accountants do big sums by their knowledge of figures—or
by learning by heart, as the repeaters of the scriptures by their skill in learning by heart
recollect so much—or by meditation, as when a Bhikkhu calls to mind his temporary states in
days gone by—by reference to a book, as when kings calling to mind a previous regulation,
say: “Bring the book here,” and remind themselves out of that—or by a pledge, as when
at the sight of goods deposited a man recollects (the circumstances under which they were
pledged)—or by association, as when one remembers a thing because one has seen it, or a
sound because one has heard it, or an odour because one has smelt it, or a touch because
one has felt it, or a concept because one has perceived it.’
‘Very good, Nāgasena!’

The practice of co-operative learning through memorisation and group recital began
while the Buddha was still alive. In the oral world, the followers of the Buddha’s teach-
ings began to assemble his teachings, discuss them, and commit them to memory.
This involved ongoing discussions among themselves and also with the Buddha
5.2 Stage 1: Pariyatti Learning the Doctrine 87

when he returned to their town or village over his years of teaching across the
region (see Chap. 2, this edition for more detail). They discussed various points
of understanding they had, arising from the Buddha’s teachings and also from their
experiences, checking for meaning and drawing on other teachings and discussions
to establish what was to be memorised. To achieve their goal of protecting, main-
taining, and preserving the Buddha’s teachings, the Sangha of monks and nuns and
his lay followers began the practice of group recital. This practice continues to be
the principle way of transmission in Buddhist temples across Asia, where it is still
possible to hear monks and nuns chanting Suttas over many hours. These feats of
memorisation through group recital are remarkable in a time when so much human
knowledge is being committed to written and digital forms that are far more transient
in their capacity to be forgotten. The oral method of chanting has endured because it
relies only on human motivation in order to provide a tangible, cooperative learning
environment for those who believe that these teachings are worthy of preservation
and unbroken transmission to future generations. It does not rely on the written word
and its digital counterparts where books can disappear and digital platforms become
corrupted or unreadable. The vulnerability of the oral methods of cooperative learning
is that the transmission relies on the reliability of the memory of the teacher and other
chanters. This is the vulnerability that has caused aspects of the teaching to take on
the personal understandings and experiences of the teacher. Killen (2013) provides a
succinct explanation of the benefits and drawback of cooperative learning that have
echoes of the descriptions of cooperative learning found across the EBTs. Killen
(2013, pp. 227–228) emphasises the aspect of positive interdependence whereby
those involved need to form a cohesive group to achieve specific learning goals
and have ongoing direct interaction over time. The temple environment provided the
ideal context to support cooperative learning in ways that would be recognised by the
contemporary teacher (Pichard & Lagirarde, 2003). The Sangha and lay followers of
the Buddha had the interpersonal skills and ability to reflect on what they had learned,
to work cooperatively in a manner that has ensured that, over 2,500 years the words
of the Buddha, his teachings, and his manner of teaching have been preserved. To
achieve such a remarkable accomplishment, those learning from the Buddha also
needed to involve themselves in the second stage of the Majjhima Patipada Middle
Way using the techniques for pat.ipatti ‘practising it [the Buddha-Dhamma]’.

5.3 Stage 2: Pat.ipatti Practising the Doctrine

It is important to highlight that despite the importance of the context of cooperative

learning that has carried the Buddha-Dhamma into the present day, it has been the
autonomous efforts of myriad humans who have been individually motivated to seek
out and practice the Buddha’s teachings. While the Buddha’s pedagogical approach in
Stage 1 was shaped by explicit methods, he taught for understanding. In doing so, he
urged those who listened to him to test everything they heard, to believe nothing, and
to effectively construct their own meaning of their experiences. He was confident
88 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

Table 5.2 Teaching strategies and techniques for Pat.ipatti practising the doctrine
Teaching strategies Teacher pedagogical techniques Learner engagement practices
Experiential learning Encouraging students to practice Believe nothing
Constructivist practices Modelling good practice Take a gradual path
Providing clear instruction for Follow the Paññanaya wisdom
practice method
Tailoring practices to the needs • Sı̄la moral conduct practices
and abilities of the individual • Samādhi Calm meditation
learner practices
• Vipassanā Clear-seeing insight
practices

that through hearing his explanations, that with experience, his followers would
have the same experiences and come to the same insights about the development
of their wisdom as he had done and found. The Buddha modelled his teaching but
expected his students to take opportunity to experience is methods for themselves. His
teachings invited his students to change their mental and emotional maps about how
they perceived their world. He taught and modelled axiological (values), ontological,
and epistemological aspects. He provided his students with many opportunities to
examine sı̄la their moral and ethical behaviour (Table 5.2).
These examinations led to being able to go inward, supported by samādhi calm
meditation practices that would lead to single-pointed concentration. He encouraged
his students to engage in vipassanā epistemological reflection practices that would
allow discernment to arise. This stage of the Majjhima Patipada Middle Way relied on
education theories that would employ experiential learning and be called construc-
tivist approaches to teaching and learning (Killen, 2013, pp. 41–47). This second
stage of Pat.ipatti is most closely aligned to Bloom’s ‘Apply’ category of cognitive
development (Krathwohl et al., 2001) involving cognitive processes of executing and
implementing.

5.3.1 Teacher Pedagogical Techniques for Pat.ipatti Stage

There are four techniques that I have identified as being key to understanding how the
Buddha taught students to practice his teachings: encouraging students to practice,
modelling practice, providing clear instruction for practice, and tailoring practices
to the needs and abilities of the individual learner. These four techniques were the
anchors for opportunities for experience-derived understanding to arise.
5.3 Stage 2: Pat.ipatti Practising the Doctrine 89

5.3.1.1 Encouraging Learners to Practice

In the Sikkhāpadasutta (AN 4.99, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1, 5), the Buddha identi-
fies one of four types of students as being an ideal for encouraging others to practice,
here explaining through the lens of Sı̄la moral conduct practices that:
“Monks, these four types of individuals are to be found existing in the world. Which four?
The one who practices for his own benefit but not for that of others. The one who practices
for the benefit of others but not for his own. The one who practices neither for his own benefit
nor for that of others. The one who practices for his own benefit and for that of others.”
…
“And how is one an individual who practices for his own benefit and for that of others?
There is the case where a certain individual himself abstains from the taking of life and
encourages others in undertaking abstinence from the taking of life. He himself abstains
from stealing and encourages others in undertaking abstinence from stealing. He himself
abstains from sexual misconduct and encourages others in undertaking abstinence from
sexual misconduct. He himself abstains from lying and encourages others in undertaking
abstinence from lying. He himself abstains from intoxicants that cause heedlessness and
encourages others in undertaking abstinence from intoxicants that cause heedlessness. Such
is the individual who practices for his own benefit and for that of others.”

5.3.1.2 Modelling Good Practice

The Buddha also emphasised the need for teachers of the Buddha-Dhamma to model
good practices such as in the Alam. sutta (AN 8.62, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 1) where
he describes the six qualities of someone who wants to teach, saying:
“Mendicants, a mendicant with six qualities is good enough for themselves and others. What
six? A mendicant is quick-witted when it comes to skilful teachings. They readily memo-
rize the teachings they’ve heard. They examine the meaning of teachings they’ve memo-
rized. Understanding the meaning and the teaching, they practice accordingly. They’re a
good speaker. Their voice is polished, clear, articulate, and expresses the meaning. They
educate, encourage, fire up, and inspire their spiritual companions. A mendicant with these
six qualities is good enough for themselves and others.”

5.3.1.3 Providing Clear Instruction for Practice

The Buddha also highlighted the need for a teacher to provide clear instructions
for practice. This point is also reinforced in the other 2 stages but is of particular
pedagogical importance here because, without clear guidance, also known as explicit
instruction, the embedded principle of the constructivist approach would founder. In
the Sālasutta (SN 47.4, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–3) the Buddha is instructing
some bhikkhus monks about how to achieve and maintain a calm meditation state
using ekaggacittā single-pointed awareness practices:
90 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling among the Kosalans at the brahmin village
of Sala. There the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus thus:
“Bhikkhus, those bhikkhus who are newly ordained, not long gone forth, recently come to
this Dhamma and Discipline, should be exhorted, settled, and established by you in the
development of the four establishments of mindfulness. What four?”
“Come, friends, dwell contemplating the body in the body, ardent, clearly comprehending,
unified, with limpid mind, concentrated, with one-pointed mind, in order to know the body
as it really is. Dwell contemplating feelings in feelings … in order to know feelings as they
really are. Dwell contemplating mind in mind … in order to know mind as it really is. Dwell
contemplating phenomena in phenomena … in order to know phenomena as they really are.”

5.3.1.4 Tailoring Practices to the Needs and Abilities of the Individual

Learner

In this teaching, he also explains about the importance of tailoring practices to the
needs and abilities of the individual learner, noting the different needs of students
who are at different stages of development in their practice. In the Vitthārasutta (AN
4.162, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–6), he provides precise detail for four different
modes of practice that should be chosen depending on the characteristics of the
learner, saying:
“Monks, there are these four modes of practice. Which four? Painful practice with slow
intuition, painful practice with quick intuition, pleasant practice with slow intuition, &
pleasant practice with quick intuition.”
“And which is painful practice with slow intuition? There is the case where a certain indi-
vidual is normally of an intensely passionate nature. He perpetually experiences pain &
distress born of passion. Or he is normally of an intensely aversive nature. He perpetually
experiences pain & distress born of aversion. Or he is normally of an intensely deluded
nature. He perpetually experiences pain & distress born of delusion. These five faculties
of his—the faculty of conviction, the faculty of persistence, the faculty of mindfulness, the
faculty of concentration, the faculty of discernment—appear weakly. Because of their weak-
ness, he attains only slowly the immediacy that leads to the ending of the effluents. This is
called painful practice with slow intuition.”
“And which is painful practice with quick intuition? There is the case where a certain
individual is normally of an intensely passionate nature. He perpetually experiences pain &
distress born of passion. Or he is normally of an intensely aversive nature. He perpetually
experiences pain & distress born of aversion. Or he is normally of an intensely deluded
nature. He perpetually experiences pain & distress born of delusion. These five faculties
of his—the faculty of conviction, the faculty of persistence, the faculty of mindfulness, the
faculty of concentration, the faculty of discernment—appear intensely. Because of their
intensity, he attains quickly the immediacy that leads to the ending of the effluents. This is
called painful practice with quick intuition.”
“And which is pleasant practice with slow intuition? There is the case where a certain indi-
vidual is normally not of an intensely passionate nature. He does not perpetually experience
pain & distress born of passion. Or he is normally not of an intensely aversive nature. He
does not perpetually experience pain & distress born of aversion. Or he is normally not of
an intensely deluded nature. He does not perpetually experience pain & distress born of
delusion. These five faculties of his—the faculty of conviction, the faculty of persistence,
5.3 Stage 2: Pat.ipatti Practising the Doctrine 91

the faculty of mindfulness, the faculty of concentration, the faculty of discernment—appear

weakly. Because of their weakness, he attains only slowly the immediacy that leads to the
ending of the effluents. This is called pleasant practice with slow intuition.”
“And which is pleasant practice with quick intuition? There is the case where a certain indi-
vidual is normally not of an intensely passionate nature. He does not perpetually experience
pain & distress born of passion. Or he is normally not of an intensely aversive nature. He
does not perpetually experience pain & distress born of aversion. Or he is normally not of
an intensely deluded nature. He does not perpetually experience pain & distress born of
delusion. These five faculties of his—the faculty of conviction, the faculty of persistence,
the faculty of mindfulness, the faculty of concentration, the faculty of discernment—appear
intensely. Because of their intensity, he attains quickly the immediacy that leads to the ending
of the effluents. This is called pleasant practice with quick intuition.”
“These are the four modes of practice.”

These explanations are maintained to this day, discussed by teachers of the Dhamma
with those they are training to teach. Such training involves learning how to identify
the needs of each student and relies on oral transmission as it has done for 2,500 years.
The exhortations to practice continue to be very strong within temples and on course
about Buddhism and these pedagogical techniques are used.

5.3.2 Learner Engagement Practices for Pat.ipatti Stage

There are three learner engagement practices that I have identified that the Buddha
regularly referred to in discussing his teachings and how to practice them. He
encouraged his students to believe nothing he taught without confirming for them-
selves by their experiences that what he was teaching was true. For example, in the
Kesamuttisutta (AN 3.65, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1, 19), it is recorded that:
On one occasion the Blessed One was wandering on tour among the Kosalans together with a
large Saṅgha of monks when he reached the town of the Kālāmas named Kesaputta … “Come,
Kālāmas, do not go by oral tradition, by lineage of teaching, by hearsay, by a collection
of scriptures, by logical reasoning, by inferential reasoning, by reasoned cogitation, by the
acceptance of a view after pondering it, by the seeming competence of a speaker, or because
you think: ‘The ascetic is our guru.’ But when you know for yourselves: ‘These things are
wholesome; these things are blameless; these things are praised by the wise; these things, if
accepted and undertaken, lead to welfare and happiness,’ then you should live in accordance
with them.”

He emphasised that this was a gradual path of developing wisdom through a process
of following his Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum of the cattari ariya saccani Four
Noble Truths and the at..thaṅgikam
. maggam . Noble Eightfold Path (see Appendix
C). To follow this path, he developed guidance for his students about following the
Paññanaya wisdom method. This involved them doing sı̄la moral conduct practices,
samādhi calm meditation practices, and vipassanā clear-seeing insight practices that
provided them with the necessary experience-derived, tacit understanding of the
teachings such that they could confidently move to the third stage of the Majjhima
Patipada Middle Way method developed by the Buddha.
92 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

5.4 Stage 3: Pat.ivedha Understanding the Experience

In this third stage of the method, the first round of the Buddha’s approach comes
together. In the Pat.ivedha stage, the teacher helps the student to understand their
experiences, also referred to as ‘penetrating the doctrine’, guiding them to a deeper
understanding of what had been taught in Stage 1 (Table 5.3).
Part of the teacher’s role in this stage is to assess learner readiness to move into
more complex teaching of the core curriculum, thereby returning to Stage 1 to begin
the process again, as was noted earlier, imagined as a spiral of development. This
third stage of Pat.ivedha is most closely aligned to Bloom’s ‘Analyze’ and ‘Evaluate’
categories of cognitive development (Krathwohl et al., 2001) involving cognitive
processes of differentiating, organising, attributing, checking, and critiquing.
In this third stage, the Buddha combines the experiences of the student with
questioning and encouragement to reflect helps the student to make sense of their
experiences. Such questioning and reflection are interweaved with teaching for
understanding in such discussions to enable constructivist elements to emerge.
The Buddha assists his students to reflect and change their cognitive and affec-
tive maps in the gradual manner of his approach to support their development in
wisdom. This approach is neatly summarised in the Pat.isaṅkhānabalasutta (AN
4.155, SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 1) Power of Reflection Sutta where he affirms that:
“Mendicants, there are these four powers. What four? The powers of reflection, development,
blamelessness, and inclusiveness. These are the four powers.”

5.4.1 Teacher Pedagogical Techniques for Pat.ivedha Stage

To support the development of these powers, the teacher is encouraged to use a

question and answer format. While this might involve some explicit teaching, in
this third stage, the questions and answers are more of a dialogue with the student
to probe their experiences and help them to penetrate the deeper meaning of them.
The Buddha’s technique is mainly to use student reflections on their experiences

Table 5.3 Teaching strategies and techniques for Pat.ivedha understanding of experiences
Teaching strategies Teacher pedagogical Learner engagement practices
practices
Combining constructivist Q&A Reflecting and analysing
approach with teaching for Using student reflections on • Inquiry
understanding: experience and questions: • Problem solving
• Questioning acknowledging, modifying,
• Encouragement to reflect applying, comparing, and
summarising
5.4 Stage 3: Pat.ivedha Understanding the Experience 93

and, depending on the question, experience, or context, acknowledging, modifying,

applying, comparing, and summarising to aid the development of Pat.ivedha.

5.4.1.1 Question and Answer

In Stage 1, when I was discussing Pariyatti learning the doctrine, I gave the example
in the Alagaddūpamasutta (MN 22, SuttaCentral, 2020) of the Buddha using similes
to explain to Arit.t.ha, formerly of the vulture killers, the dangers of sensual pleasure.
After he concludes his discussion with Arit.t.ha, he then uses this teaching to instruct
the Sangha about the need to undertake this third stage, explaining in the Simile of
the Snake (MN 22, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 19–20, 23), that:
“Here, bhikkhus, some misguided men learn the Dhamma—discourses, stanzas, expositions,
verses, exclamations, sayings, birth stories, marvels, and answers to questions—but having
learned the Dhamma, they do not examine the meaning of those teachings with wisdom.
Not examining the meaning of those teachings with wisdom, they do not gain a reflective
acceptance of them. Instead they learn the Dhamma only for the sake of criticising others and
for winning in debates, and they do not experience the good for the sake of which they learned
the Dhamma. Those teachings, being wrongly grasped by them, conduce to their harm and
suffering for a long time. Why is that? Because of the wrong grasp of those teachings.”
“Suppose a man needing a snake, seeking a snake, wandering in search of a snake, saw a
large snake and grasped its coils or its tail. It would turn back on him and bite his hand or
his arm or one of his limbs, and because of that he would come to death or deadly suffering.
Why is that? Because of his wrong grasp of the snake. So too, here some misguided men
learn the Dhamma…Why is that? Because of the wrong grasp of those teachings …”
“Therefore, bhikkhus, when you understand the meaning of my statements, remember it
accordingly; and when you do not understand the meaning of my statements, then ask either
me about it or those bhikkhus who are wise.”

There are numerous examples of the Buddha and the teachers who followed him and
used his methods acknowledging, modifying, applying, comparing, and summarising
experiences of their students to help them to understand and develop.

5.4.2 Learner Engagement Practices for Pat.ivedha Stage

The student is asked to undertake three practices in this third stage: reflecting
and analysing, problem-solving, and ongoing inquiry. It is recorded in the
Dhammānudhammapat.ipannasutta (Iti 86, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 3–4) that the
culmination of these allows for the development of inner wisdom, with well-
developed abilities to remain aware and restrained in mind and conduct, will achieve
inner peace:
A bhikkhu enjoying the Dhamma
And delighting in the Dhamma,
Reflecting upon the Dhamma,
94 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

Does not fall from the true Dhamma.

Whether walking or standing,
Sitting or lying down,
With mind inwardly restrained,
He attains to lasting peace.

The Buddha gave numerous teaching that used analogies and figurative language to
support his students to penetrate their experiences and thoughts. In a discussion with
his son, Rāhula, in the Ambalat..thikarāhulovādasutta (MN 61, SuttaCentral, 2020,
paras. 17–20) he uses a combination of acknowledgement of his son’s growing under-
standing, with techniques of comparison and summary to help him to understand a
particular point, engaging Rāhula in dialogue about the importance of reflection:
What do you think, Rāhula? What is the purpose of a mirror?”
“It’s for checking your reflection, sir.”
“In the same way, deeds of body, speech, and mind should be done only after repeated
checking.”
“When you want to act with the body, you should check on that same deed: ‘Does this act
with the body that I want to do lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting both? Is it
unskilful, with suffering as its outcome and result?’ If, while checking in this way, you know:
‘This act with the body that I want to do leads to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting
both. It’s unskilful, with suffering as its outcome and result.’ To the best of your ability,
Rāhula, you should not do such a deed. But if, while checking in this way, you know: ‘This
act with the body that I want to do doesn’t lead to hurting myself, hurting others, or hurting
both. It’s skilful, with happiness as its outcome and result.’ Then, Rāhula, you should do
such a deed.”

As the student develops the capacity to reflect, they are encouraged to also use the
teachings of the Buddha to inquire into and to solve other problems they face, using
the same strategies they have been taught through stages one and two. This ability to
use the techniques in other contexts is similar to the final level of Bloom’s ‘Create’
category of cognitive development (Krathwohl et al., 2001, pp. 27–37) involving
cognitive processes of generating, planning, and producing (see also, Killen, 2013,
pp. 27–323). In this way, the complete process supports the student to become an
autonomous learner.

5.5 Educating for Wisdom

In the contemporary era, 2,500 years after the Buddha became a teacher of the path
to wisdom, there are many schools and universities beginning to incorporate studies
about his life and the development of Buddhism as a global religion. Less common
is the examination and scholarship about the Buddha’s educational approach, his
methods and techniques and his core curriculum. The purpose of this monograph
is to stimulate and disseminate his ideas because I believe that the development of
inner wisdom is a missing piece in modern schooling and university education.
5.5 Educating for Wisdom 95

There are schools such as the Daylesford Dharma School (DDS), in rural Victoria,
Australia that are developing aspects of his teachings, particularly providing oppor-
tunity for students to practice aspects of the teachings, given by the teachers in
age-appropriate forms.
As the first publicly-funded school in Australia to be established according to the
philosophy of the Buddha, DDS is finding its way and working out what it means
to be a dharma-inspired school in a country such as Australia that is experiencing
the third wave of expansion of the Buddha’s ideas (see Chap. 3, this edition). For
example, for sı̄la moral development, all school policies are all held together by the
pañca-sila Five Precepts, the Buddhist guiding principles for living. These are, as
worded by the school as:
1. Deep Listening and Loving Speech;
2. Generosity;
3. Bodily Responsibility;
4. Mindful Consumption; and,
5. Reverence for All Life.
The teachers help the students to make these real in the classroom and the playground.
For the development of samādhi serenity, each school day begins with the Aware-
ness Program and children arriving early to school are invited to sit quietly and
meditate with the on-duty teacher. In the early days, this was not possible because
there was not yet a cohesive school culture. In 2019, the children moved into a beau-
tiful new school and became more familiar with the tempo of the school and its ways
of doing schooling. In 2020, in the face of the impact of COVID-19, the teacher
faced the challenge of maintaining the Awareness Program through the use of online
video technologies, enabling students and their families to join the teacher. At the
start of each day, everyone meditates together before returning to their class groups
with their teachers. There might be a reading, a story, a discussion about a particular
issue that has arisen, and the children are encouraged to raise and contribute to issues.
The daily Awareness Program gives the teacher an anchor for reminding the children
of the key Buddhist idea for the day and provides a point of critical reflection for
strengthening the self-awareness of the children and the staff and creating learning
spaces of self-responsible peace. For the development of vipassanā discernment, the
older students are encouraged to do many projects associated with developing critical
thinking skills bringing in Buddhist perspectives to help them develop this discipline.
The governing board, its Dharma Education Sub-Committee and the school staff also
doing a number of staff development projects and bringing Buddhist ideas to life in
the daily practices of the school. This is made possible by the fertile soil carefully
tilled twelve years ago to provide a space for the third generation of Buddhists with
distinctly Australian characteristics to grow and thrive.
Examples such as DDS allow scholars to begin to examine what approaches used
by the Buddha to cultivate inner wisdom are transferrable to the modern formal
education system. Schools and universities tend to focus mainly on the transfer of
knowledge and information and pay little attention to the cultivation of wisdom.
With the increase in interest in Buddhist ideas in mainstream education, (e.g. the
96 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

popularity of the ideas about sati mindfulness), it is timely to consider what materials
derived from the Buddha-Dhamma Buddha’s core curriculum the monk, nun, teacher
educator, and teacher have used to undertake such work and what pedagogies have
been used successfully over the past 2,500 years.
My research over many years suggests that there are enduring elements of
Buddhist pedagogy and curriculum that have been transferrable across time and
space. Common curriculum elements include use of scriptures found in the Tipitaka
Buddhist Canon: the three baskets (Vinaya Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka, and Abhidhamma
Pitaka), the same Vinaya, the pañca-sila Five Precepts, and all teachings have as
their foundation the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths and the at..thaṅgikam .
maggam . Noble Eightfold Path (see Appendix C).
The Buddha’s pedagogical approach was remarkably consistent employing a
three-stage method known as the Majjhima Patipada Middle Way comprising pariy-
atti ‘learning the doctrine’), providing techniques for pat.ipatti ‘practicing it’ [the
doctrine], and helping students in pat.ivedha the understanding of their experiences
(Table 5.4).
He used, and taught others to use, explicit instruction and teaching for under-
standing blended with a strong commitment to constructivist engagement of the
student. He modelled both cognitive and verbal clarity. He received questions from

Table 5.4 Summary of key elements of the Buddha’s Majjhima Patipada Middle Way pedagogy
Teaching strategies Teacher pedagogical Learner engagement practices
techniques
Stage 1: Pariyatti learning the doctrine
Explicit Instruction Standardisation of words Co-operative learning
• Cognitive clarity and phrases • Memorisation
• Verbal clarity Numbers and Mnemonics • Group recital
Teaching for understanding Analogy and figurative
language
Stage 2: Pat.ipatti practising the doctrine
Experiential learning Encouraging students to Believe nothing
Constructivist practices practice Take a gradual path
Modelling good practice Follow the Paññanaya wisdom
Providing clear instruction method
for practice • Sı̄la moral conduct practices
Tailoring practices to the • Samādhi Calm meditation
needs and abilities of the practices
individual learner • Vipassanā Clear-seeing
insight practices
Stage 3: Pat.ivedha understanding the experience
Combining constructivist Q&A Reflecting and analysing
approach with teaching for Using student reflections on Inquiry
understanding: experience and questions: Problem solving
• Questioning acknowledging, modifying,
• Encouragement to reflect applying, comparing, and
summarising
5.5 Educating for Wisdom 97

anyone but emphasised that he could, and would, only speak about those matters
about which he had experienced and penetrated the deeper meaning. He encouraged
his students to practice and reflect on what they experienced, always checking that
they were developing an understanding of their inner wisdom through ideas and
experiences that made sense to them. This element of constructivism overcame the
tendency of students to believe what they were being told without making it their
own. In this, I feel this was a unique educational insight and one that he referred to
as distinguishing him from other teachers around him.
My analysis of the Early Buddhist Texts and in discussion with, and by observing,
contemporary teachers of Buddha-Dhamma also shows that he employed a variety of
pedagogical techniques to great effect. He created a language where people were able
to apprehend the complexity of his teachings in a manner that was familiar to them. He
standardised the meaning of words and phrases, regularly clarifying for his audience
what he meant by his key terms. Given the conventions of orality and rhetorics of
his era, he employed numbers and mnemonics to assist with the memorisation of his
teachings. While much of his use of mnemonics does not translate into the English
language, translators have attempted to provide verses of his discourses that convey
some of the sense of the skilfulness of the Buddha as an orator. Some of the Buddha’s
oratorical skill is conveyed by his use of analogy and figurative language, providing
enduring examples that can still evoke powerful imagery that connects with the
listener or reader’s emotions to create ‘ah ha!’ moments of understanding that work
subliminally to shift a person’s axiological (values), ontological, and epistemological
understandings of their world towards the development of their inner wisdom.
For the Buddha though, it was not sufficient that someone simply heard his teach-
ings. He insisted that his followers, and even those who disagreed with him, exper-
iment with what he was telling them. He modelled what he considered to be good
practice, he provided clear instruction for practice, and he tailored practices to the
needs and abilities of the individual learner. After a person had undertaken a period
of practice, and the Buddha assessed that they were ready, he would invite questions
about what they were experiencing using a question and answer format to draw out
reflections on their experience and questions. He employed specific techniques such
as acknowledging, modifying, applying, comparing, and summarising that would
be familiar to a classroom teacher who was undertaking a formative assessment
of student learning in the contemporary era. In these discussions with particular
students, he was often also teaching to a larger audience who were listening but may
not yet have had the particular experience. In such a manner, often he was teaching
across all three stages of his Majjhima Patipada Middle Way method: pariyatti where
some of his audience might have been hearing his teaching for the first time; through
his discussion of finer points of a technique he was also reminding others of tech-
niques for pat.ipatti practicing his teachings; and at the same time specifically helping
a particular student or group of monks, nuns, lay followers, merchants, farmers, or
kings in pat.ivedha with an understanding of their experiences.
His educational approach also included some expectations about student engage-
ment practices, knowing as he did that teaching for understanding relies on effective
engagement by the student. People needed to know why his teachings were important
98 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

to them and why they were willing to learn from him. His was an example of how a
teacher develops an effective teaching-learning engagement at a time when teaching
practices were quite didactic and hierarchical. He invited his listeners to engage in
co-operative learning, using memorisation and group recital to support them being
able to continue to learn when he was not living in their village or town. He encour-
aged them to believe nothing without experiencing it for themselves, encouraging
and strengthening people’s sense of autonomy. He gave them the tools to take a
gradual path in their development but was able at the same time to explain the entire
path so that they knew they were following a kalyān.amitta reliable guide. He guided
his monks, nuns, and lay followers to follow the paññanaya wisdom method of sı̄la
moral conduct practices, samādhi calm meditation practices, and vipassanā clear-
seeing insight practices, reflecting on and analysing through their use of inquiry and
problem-solving.
I also found in my research and analysis that there are elements of the Buddha’s
educational approach and ideas that have undertaken a process of ‘adaptive balancing’
in order to find fertile soil in new geo-locations. I have found this through a close
examination of how Buddhism has migrated through Asia to a country such as
Australia to the first school inspired by Buddhist philosophy, Daylesford Dharma
School and through interviews with monks, nuns, and lay teachers of Buddhism in a
number of different temple traditions and schools in many countries in Asia and in
Australia.
In the Australian example, a modern nation with a strong multicultural presence,
I have found that: first, Buddhists who have migrated to Australia stay very close
to the way that the Buddha’s teachings are conveyed in their home country; second,
there is an emerging form of the Buddha’s teachings in both temples and schools that
is adaptive to Australian culture. This is most clear in the analysis of the approach to
pedagogy and curriculum taken by monks, depending on where they have undertaken
their training.
Overall, the ancient educational philosophy and approach taken by the Buddha
continues to be relevant in the modern world, and the expounded pedagogical pathway
to the cultivation of wisdom is finding fertile soil in modern temples, schools, and
universities, East and West. The challenge facing these institutions is to ensure that
there remains a coherence in the commonalities of Buddhism even as the core teach-
ings and pedagogical approach developed and enacted over 45 years by the Buddha
adapt to local languages, schooling requirements, and interests. Education systems
stand at an important juncture in re-imagining their role. I want future generations
to have access to reliable teaching about this wonderful philosophy and its myriad
forms of religious expression.
References 99

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(CC0). You are encouraged to copy, reproduce, adapt, alter, or oth-erwise make use of this
translation in any way you wish. Attribution is appreciated but not legally required.
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translation in any way you wish. Attribution is appreciated but not legally required.
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translation in any way you wish. Attribution is appreciated but not legally required.
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scope of this license may be available at Wisdom Publications. Prepared for SuttaCentral by
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from the Pāl.i by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution—Non Commercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to
other restrictions. Transcribed from a file provided by the translator. Access to Insight (Legacy
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Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1894. This SuttaCentral edition was prepared by Bhikkhu Sujato
based on the digital text of the Internet Sacred Text Archive. The work of the Sacred Text Archive
to make this text publically available is gratefully acknowledged. In preparing this edition minor
editorial changes have been made. The structure has been adapted to agree with the Mahāsaṅgı̄ti
Pāl.i text as found on SuttaCentral. In addition, the corrections proposed by the translator in the
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has been made available by the kind permission of the Buddhist Publication Socie-ty. It was
released under the following licence terms: For free distribution. This work may be republished,
reformatted, reprinted and redistributed in any medium. However, any such republication and
redistribution is to be made available to the public on a free and unrestricted basis, and transla-
tions and other derivative works are to be clearly marked as such. Prepared for SuttaCentral by
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102 5 The Gradual Path for the Development of Wisdom

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alter, or otherwise make use of this translation in any way you wish. Attribution is appreciated
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Appendix A
Glossary

I have collected together the key terms used by the Buddha to explain his educational
philosophy, pedagogy, and core curriculum and given some further explanation than
can be found in the main body of this text. The Glossary is not intended to be
exhaustive. For key terminology, I have drawn on the treasure trove of definitions
available at Sutta Central ([SC] 2020; https://suttacentral.net/) and the extensive
Glossary that has been collated at Access to Insight ([AtI] https://www.accesstoinsi
ght.org/glossary.html). I encourage the reader to also refer to additional reference
texts as detailed.
Many reliable commentaries and discussions of the Buddha’s teachings are to be
found online in many languages and informed by many traditions. In keeping with
the focus of this monograph, I have limited my discussion to the accepted meanings
of key words within the Early Buddhist Texts. An excellent online resource that, in
addition to its Glossary, provides deeper explanation of many of the ideas and terms
used in this text can be found at Access to Insight ([AtI] 2020; https://www.access
toinsight.org/ptf/index.html).

Ācariya A teacher; an instructor (of religious texts); a teacher or a

master; in some skill; an authority (https://suttacentral.net/
define/ācariya).
Aññamañña paccaya lit. ‘in mutual conditionality’ (BD, pp. 134–140), a central
concept in the Pat.iccasamuppādasutta (SuttaCentral, 2020,
SN 12.1), where the Buddha explains how suffering arises
and how everything is aññamañña paccaya interdependent
and mutually arising.
At..thaṅgikam
. maggam
. lit. at..thaṅgika having eight constituents, being made up of
eight (intrinsic) parts and -magga path, meaning Eightfold

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license 103
to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Z. M. Diamond, Gautama Buddha, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1765-2
104 Appendix A: Glossary

Path, conventionally called the Noble Eightfold Path (see

Appendix A, this edition).

Brahma-vihāra A divine state of mind; a name collectively given to the emotional

states of mettā loving kindness, karun.ā compassion, muditā altru-
istic joy, and upekkhā equanimity, known as the Four Divine
Abodes (Nyanatiloka, 1980, pp. 43–44).

Cattari ariya saccani Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha (see AtI, https://
www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/index.html;
see also, Appendix A, this edition).

Dhamma A key term used extensively by the Buddha, as translated

into Pāli meaning ‘doctrine; nature; truth; the Norm; morality;
good conduct’ (https://suttacentral.net/define/dhamma); see
also, Dharma.
Dhammabhān.akas Mentioned in the Mahavamsa, the ancient Sri Lankan Buddhist
text, being those people who recited the Dhamma to help
people remember the teachings. Carries the ancient Sanskrit
meaning of one who is a public reader of sacred texts.
Dharma Sanskrit spelling of the Pāli term Dhamma; used commonly as
the translation into English versions of Mahayana teachings.
Dukkha lit. suffering; pain; misery; agony; discomfort (SuttaCen-
tral, 2020, https://suttacentral.net/define/dukkha; see also AtI
2020, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/sacca/sac
ca1/dukkha.html).

Four Noble Truths See Cattari ariya saccani (see also Appendix A, this edition).
Appendix A: Glossary 105

Kalyān.amitta A good friend; a person of fine qualities who is a friend, esp. in

helping one to progress spiritually by his/her example and advice
(SuttaCentral, 2020, https://suttacentral.net/define/kalyān.amitta). I
employ this term to denote the teacher as a reliable signpost,
knowledgeable about the Buddha’s teachings and having undertaken
extensive practice, someone who knows the way because they have
followed the same path.

Majjhimā patipadā Majjhimā carries the meaning of ‘middle’ (Buddhadatta

Mahathera, 1958, p. 203). The word patipadā conveys a
meaning of a ‘line of conduct; mode of progress’ (https://
suttacentral.net/define/pat.ipadā). In contemporary times, its
English language translation of the ‘Middle Way’ is used to
encapsulate the Buddha’s key idea that nothing in education
should be extreme, of either great discomfort, or great indul-
gence, but that the student should find the ‘Middle Way’ as
the Buddha did. It is explained (SuttaCentral, 2020, para. 6)
this way:
And what’s the middle practice? It’s when a mendicant meditates
by observing an aspect of the body—keen, aware, and mindful,
rid of desire and aversion for the world. They meditate observing
an aspect of feelings … They meditate observing an aspect of the
mind … They meditate observing an aspect of principles—keen,
aware, and mindful, rid of desire and aversion for the world. This
is called the middle practice.

Nibbāna Lit. ‘cooling; extinction (of a fire); emancipation; the final

bliss’ (https://suttacentral.net/define/nibbāna). The purpose
of the Buddha’s educational ideas was to enable people
to cease from producing new karmic resultants that would
cause the endless rounds of suffering to continue. To have
achieved inner wisdom allowed a student to cool the fires
to eventual extinction. In English, this concept is known as
enlightenment.
106 Appendix A: Glossary

Noble Eightfold Path See At..thaṅgikam

. maggam
. (see also Appendix A, this
edition).

Pacceka-buddha A distinction is made within the Buddha’s teaching between

a person who achieves nibbāna during a life through their
own efforts, a pacceka-buddha and, far rarer, one who having
achieved nibbāna goes on to teach others becoming what is
known as a Wheel-turning Buddha.
Pañca-sila The Five Precepts, the core moral code of all Buddhists (see
also AtI, 2005, https://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/dhamma/
sila/pancasila.html).
Pañcavidyā Five subjects studied at Nalanda University during the time of
Xuanzang (602–664CE).
Pañña wise; endowed with knowledge (https://suttacentral.net/def
ine/pañña). In the Buddha’s educational approach, the pursuit
and development of inner wisdom was paramount. His peda-
gogy and curriculum were focussed on its cultivation and
fruition.
Pariyatti First stage of the majjhimā patipadā Middle Way approach
developed by the Buddha, meaning accomplishment in the
Scriptures, learning by heart of the holy texts (https://suttacent
ral.net/define/pariyatti). This stage emphasises learning from
the teacher and from books.
Pat.iccasamuppāda A core advanced teaching of the Buddha, meaning causal
genesis; dependent origination (https://suttacentral.net/define/
pat.iccasamuppāda). After a student had developed their under-
standing through following the Buddha’s majjhimā patipadā
Middle Way approach and the core curriculum of the Buddha-
Dhamma, the student was introduced to more complex teach-
ings that followed the same method.
Pat.ipatti Second stage of the majjhimā patipadā Middle Way approach
developed by the Buddha, meaning ‘conduct; practice;
behaviour; religious practice’ (https://suttacentral.net/define/
pat.ipatti). This stage emphasises practice and experience.
Pat.ivedha Third stage of the majjhimā patipadā Middle Way
approach developed by the Buddha, meaning ‘penetration;
attainment; comprehension (https://suttacentral.net/define/pat.
ivedha). This stage emphasises the development of under-
standing based on experience through the development of
discernment.
Appendix A: Glossary 107

Pavı̄n.aupāya Lit. pavı̄n.a ‘clever; skilful’ (https://suttacentral.net/define/

pavı̄n.a) and -upāya ‘means, appropriate way’ (https://suttac
entral.net/define/upāya). This word combination is used here
to denote in English translation the idea of pedagogy as ‘skilful
means’ and also describes the teacher’s overall approach to
teaching the Buddha-Dhamma.

Sangha Lit. ‘a multitude; an assemblage’ (https://suttacent

ral.net/define/saṅgha). Over time, this word became
used to denote the men and women who followed
the Buddha’s teachings, became bhikkhus monks and
bhikkhunis nuns, and continued his work of education.
Sekha/Sekkha a learner; one who is in the course of perfection
(https://suttacentral.net/define/sekha).
Sikkhā study; discipline (https://suttacentral.net/define/
sikkhā).
Sikkhana learning; training (https://suttacentral.net/define/sik
khana).
Sikkhāpada code of training; instruction (https://suttacentral.net/
define/sikkhāpada).
Sikkhāpaka/ Sikkhāpanaka a teacher; trainer (https://suttacentral.net/define/sik
khāpaka).
Sikkhāpana teaching; instruction (https://suttacentral.net/define/
sikkhāpana).
Sutta This word has a wide range of meanings. In this text,
I use it to denote a teaching given by the Buddha as a
discourse or dialogue. It is also used to denote a chapter
of the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon.

Tipitaka Meaning three baskets, translated into English as the Buddhist Canon. In
this book, I concentrate my focus on the Sutta Pit.aka containing the core
teachings of the Buddha and his explication of his educational philos-
ophy and approach. The two other Pit.aka parts are the Vinaya Pit.aka
containing the rules for the Saṅgha and the Abhidhamma Pitaka, the
analytic exposition of the Tipitaka Buddhist Canon.
108 Appendix A: Glossary

Uggan.hāpeti teaches; instructs (https://suttacentral.net/define/uggan.hāpeti).

Uggan.hāti learns; takes up https://suttacentral.net/define/uggan.hāti).
Uggan.hiya having learnt or taken up (https://suttacentral.net/define/uggan.hiya).

References

Suttas
SuttaCentral. (2020). Aṅguttara Nikāya 3.156–162. Retrieved 30 December 31, 2020, from https://
suttacentral.net/an3.156-162/en/sujato. Translated for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato, 2018.
Dedicated to the public domain via Creative Commons Zero (CC0). You are encouraged to
copy, reproduce, adapt, alter, or otherwise make use of this translation in any way you wish.
Attribution is appreciated but not legally required.
Authored Texts
Buddhadatta Mahathera, A. P. (1958). Concise Pali-English dictionary (Reprinted) Singapore
Buddhist Meditation Centre.
SuttaCentral. (2020). Early Buddhist texts, translations, and parallels. Retrieved December 31, 2020,
from SuttaCentral. https://suttacentral.net/.
Ven Nyanatiloka. (1988). Buddhist dictionary: Manual of buddhist terms and doctrine (4th ed.,
Reprinted). Buddhist Publication Society.
Appendix B
Defining and Shaping the Buddha’s Education
Theories from Pāli and Sanskrit into English

While this monograph is predominantly written in Australian English, it draws on

words and ideas that have been expressed by the Buddha in Sanskrit, Pal, and probably
several other dialects and languages spoken in the region where he taught (for more
detailed discussion, see Chap. 2 and Appendix A, Glossary, this edition).
The first question to consider is in what languages might the Buddha have taught.
There has been considerable debate about this matter. Sujato and Brahmali (2015,
p. 55) explain that:
In all probability, a similarly close relationship obtains between Pāl.i and the historical
Buddha’s own dialect. Moreover, the Buddha himself may have used varying dialects
depending on where he travelled and certainly his disciples did: they were in fact encouraged
to speak in their own dialect. As Buddhism spread throughout Northern India, this diverging
use of language must eventually have led to a need for standardisation, and this probably
explains the introduction and development of Pāl.i.

Gombrich (2013) offers the following background information about the inter-
relationship of these languages and dialects. Sanskrit is native to India. It is an
Indo-European language and was first an oral language going back approximately
to the year 2000 Before the Christian Era (BCE) and first written down in approxi-
mately 300 BCE. Its oldest texts are the Vedas that were preserved by the hereditary
priestly caste known as the Brahmins. Prakrit is an Indian term for languages directly
derived from Sanskrit. Pāl.i is a Prakrit language. Gombrich observes that Pāl.i was
‘not exactly what the Buddha spoke but was fairly close to it’ (Gombrich, 2013, p. xi)
and it was the language used to orally first codify and then preserve in written texts
over later years. Over time, the Pāl.i texts were preserved by what became known
as the Theravāda Doctrine of the Elders Buddhist tradition. During the migration of
Buddhist monks, nuns, and their ideas and practices across Asia (do be discussed in
more detail in Chap. 3), the southern migration preserved the Buddha’s teachings in
the Pāl.i text as the authoritative source; a practice maintained into the contemporary
era (Gombrich, 2013, p. xv). The development of these ideas after the Buddha’s
passing became known as Mahayana The Great Vehicle and the migration of these
ideas across northern India and north and then east towards China and then Tibet

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license 109
to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Z. M. Diamond, Gautama Buddha, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1765-2
110 Appendix B: Defining and Shaping the Buddha’s Education Theories from Pāli …

was preserved in Sanskrit, in addition to many northern Indian dialects together

with the languages of the Indigenous peoples of the lands now known as Pakistan,
Afghanistan, China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and Tibet. Initial orally-transmitted
teachings memorised in both Sanskrit and Pāl.i were increasingly translated into
local languages and dialects, work undertaken at Nalanda as it grew to university
status and ‘on the road’ as Buddhist monks travelled the trade routes spreading the
teachings and organising for them to be translated and eventually written down as the
practice of writing developed. Echoing my previous point about how Buddhist has
spread and found fertile soil in many geo-locations, Conze (1957, p. 77) observed
that:
In Buddhism, there is nothing which cannot be easily transported from one part of the world
to another. It can adapt itself as easily to the snowy heights of the Himalayas as to the
parched plains of India, to the tropical climate of Java, to the moderate warmth of Japan …
Indians, Mongols and the blue-eyed Nordics of Central Asia could all adjust it to their own
needs.

In this monograph, I follow the practice of Sujato and Brahmali (2015) in using Pāl.i
spelling of Indic terms, simply because I am more familiar with Pāl.i. In specific
contexts, however, convenience or custom dictates my use of Sanskrit. Similarly, I
adopt their approach to the use of the teachings of the Buddha by predominantly
examining a body of work as described by them as being Early Buddhist Texts
(EBTs), accepted in the main as being an authentic reflection, and possibly the actual
words of the Buddha, and a reliable reflection of his ideas and intentions. In this, I
follow Sujato and Brahmali (2015, pp. 9–10) who make the following definitional
remarks:
Early Buddhist Texts: Texts spoken by the historical Buddha and his contemporary disciples.
These are the bulk of the Suttas in the main four Pāl.i Nikāyas and parallel Āgama literature
in Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit, and other Indian dialects; the pātimokkhas and some Vinaya
material from the Khandhakas; a small portion of the Khuddaka Nikāya, consisting of
significant parts of the Sutta Nipāta, Udāna, Itivuttaka, Dhammapada, and Thera- and
Therı̄gāthā. The “Suttas”. in a narrow sense are those passages that are directly attributed
to the Buddha himself (and to a lesser extent his direct disciples).

Non-EBTs: Abhidhamma, Mahāyāna Sūtras, Buddha biographies, historical chronicles, as

well as the majority of the Khuddaka Nikāya and the Vinaya Pit.aka. The Jātakas are non-EBT
but derive from stories that in some cases may even be earlier than the Buddha. Commentaries
and other late texts may contain some genuine historical information alongside much later
invention.

I have also consulted numerous sources to provide a helpful understanding of the key
Pāl.i and Sanskrit words that I have used in this book. For more detailed information,
please refer to Appendix A, Glossary (this edition).
Appendix B: Defining and Shaping the Buddha’s Education Theories from Pāli … 111

References

Conze, E. (1957). Buddhism: Its essence and development. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt.
Ltd.
Gombrich, R. F. (2013). What the Buddha thought. Equinox Publishing Ltd.
Sujato, Bhikkhu & Brahmali, Bhikkhu. (2015). The authenticity of the early buddhist texts.
Chroniker Press. https://ocbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/authenticity.pdf.
Appendix C
Buddha-Dhamma Core Curriculum

The major scaffold for the Buddha’s teachings is the cattari ariya saccani Four Noble
Truths (Dhammacakkappavattanasutta SN 56.11, SuttaCentral, 2020; Story, 1961).
The Buddha elaborated this framing of his ideas over many years, in a multitude of
towns, villages, and temples and to thousands of people. As Venerable Thanissaro
(1999, p. 1) explains,
The four noble truths are the most basic expression of the Buddha’s teaching. As Ven.
Śāriputra once said, they encompass the entire teaching, just as the footprint of an elephant
can encompass the footprints of all other footed beings on earth.

Books that preserve the corpus of the Buddha’s teachings, the Buddha-Dhamma and
commentaries about their meaning fill libraries and temples across the world into the
present day. The Sangha of monks and nuns, together with laypeople, continue to
teach aspects of this core curriculum according to their training and there is growing
interest by teachers and parents in aspects such as awareness and mindfulness that
are proving beneficial to children’s development in the modern, formal education
system. A deep examination of the Buddha-Dhamma core curriculum, while beyond
the scope of this monograph, will provide the teacher with a reliable framework of
content by which to develop a curriculum that would lay the groundwork for the
development of wisdom in students, even in the modern classroom. The balancing
of content knowledge, with an emphasis on personal experience and then a process
of critical engagement with the experiences to foster deeper learning is important
and as such, this text focuses on the pedagogical approach to teaching this Buddha-
Dhamma core curriculum. The first three Truths lead to the most detailed exposition
of eight steps in a pathway to the cultivation of wisdom.
The Budda introduces his idea about this very precise path, for example, in the
Maggaṅgasutta (SN 43.11, SuttaCentral 2020, para. 1)
“… And what, bhikkhus, is the path leading to the unconditioned? The Noble Eightfold Path:
this is called the path leading to the unconditioned.”

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license 113
to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Z. M. Diamond, Gautama Buddha, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-1765-2
114 Appendix C: Buddha-Dhamma Core Curriculum

This path is known as the at..thaṅgikam . maggam . Noble Eightfold Path

(At..thaṅgikasutta SN 14.28, SuttaCentral, 2020, paras. 1–3). I quote it here in
abbreviated versions of both Pāli and English:
Sāvatthiyam. viharati.
“Dhātusova, bhikkhave, sattā sam . sandanti samenti. Micchādit..thikā micchādit..thikehi
saddhim . sam. sandanti samenti; micchāsaṅkappā … pe … micchāvācā … micchākammantā
… micchāājı̄vā … micchāvāyāmā … micchāsatino … micchāsamādhino micchāsamādhı̄hi
saddhim . sam. sandanti samenti.
Sammādit..thikā sammādit..thikehi saddhim . sam. sandanti samenti; sammāsaṅkappā … pe …
sammāvācā … sammākammantā … sammāājı̄vā … sammāvāyāmā … sammāsatino …
sammāsamādhino sammāsamādhı̄hi saddhim . sam. sandanti samentı̄”ti.
At Sāvatthı̄.
“Mendicants, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element: those of
wrong view with those of wrong view … wrong thought … wrong speech … wrong action …
wrong livelihood … wrong effort … wrong mindfulness … wrong immersion …”
“Those who have right view … right thought … right speech … right action … right livelihood
… right effort … right mindfulness … right immersion with those who have right immersion.”

Bhikkhu Bodhi provides an extensive factorial analysis of the at..thaṅgikam

. maggam
.
Noble Eightfold Path that is a step-by-step guide to the pathway for the development
of wisdom: (Bhikkhu Bodhi, 1984, pp. 131–136)
I. Samma ditthi—Right view
dukkhe nana—understanding suffering
dukkhasamudaye nana—understanding its origin
dukkhanirodhe nana—understanding its cessation
dukkhanirodhagaminipatipadaya nana—understanding the way leading
to its cessation
II. Samma sankappa—Right intention
nekkhamma-sankappa—intention of renunciation
abyapada-sankappa—intention of good will
avihimsa-sankappa—intention of harmlessness
III. Samma vaca—Right speech
musavada veramani—abstaining from false speech
pisunaya vacaya veramani—abstaining from slanderous speech
pharusaya vacaya veramani—abstaining from harsh speech
samphappalapa veramani—abstaining from idle chatter
IV. Samma kammanta—Right action
panatipata veramani—abstaining from taking life
adinnadana veramani—abstaining from stealing
kamesu micchacara veramani—abstaining from sexual misconduct
V. Samma ajiva—Right livelihood
Appendix C: Buddha-Dhamma Core Curriculum 115

miccha ajivam pahaya—giving up wrong livelihood,

samma ajivena jivitam kappeti—one earns one’s living by a right form of
livelihood
VI. Samma vayama—Right effort
samvarappadhana—the effort to restrain defilements
pahanappadhana—the effort to abandon defilements
bhavanappadhana—the effort to develop wholesome states
anurakkhanappadhana—the effort to maintain wholesome states
VII. Samma sati—Right mindfulness
kayanupassana—mindful contemplation of the body
vedananupassana—mindful contemplation of feelings
cittanupassana—mindful contemplation of the mind
dhammanupassana—mindful contemplation of phenomena
VIII. Samma samadhi—Right concentration
pathamajjhana—the first jhana
dutiyajjhana—the second jhana
tatiyajjhana—the third jhana
catutthajjhana—the fourth jhana

References

Suttas
SuttaCentral. (2020). Sam . yutta Nikāya 43.11. Maggaṅgasutta The Eightfold Path. [Bhikkhu
Bodhi, Trans.]. Retrieved December 31, 2020, from https://suttacentral.net/sn43.11/en/bodhi.
The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publica-tions, 2000). This excerpt from
The Connected Discourses of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution—Non Commercial—No Derivs 3.0 Un-ported License. Based on the
work Connected Discourses of the Buddha at Wisdom Publications. Permissions beyond the
scope of this license may be available at Wisdom Publications. Prepared for SuttaCentral by
Blake Walsh.
SuttaCentral. (2020). Sam. yutta Nikāya 14.28. At..thaṅgikasutta The Eightfold Path. [Bhikkhu Sujato,
Trans.]. Retrieved December 31, 2020, from https://suttacentral.net/sn14.28/en/sujato. Trans-
lated for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato, 2018. Dedicated to the public domain via Creative
Commons Zero (CC0). You are encouraged to copy, reproduce, adapt, alter, or otherwise make
use of this translation in any way you wish. Attribution is appreciated but not legally required.
SuttaCentral. (2020). Sam . yutta Nikāya 56.11. Dhammacakkappavattanasutta Setting in Motion the
Wheel of the Dhamma. [Bhikkhu Bodhi, Trans.]. Retrieved December 31, 2020, from https://
suttacentral.net/sn56.11/en/bodhi. The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (Wisdom Publica-
tions, 2000). This excerpt from The Connected Discourses of the Buddha by Bhikkhu Bodhi is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution—Non Commercial—No Derivs 3.0 Un-ported
License. Based on the work Connected Discourses of the Buddha at Wisdom Publications.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Wisdom Publications. Prepared
for SuttaCentral by Blake Walsh.
116 Appendix C: Buddha-Dhamma Core Curriculum

Authored Texts
Bhikkhu Bodhi. (1984). Noble eightfold path: The way to the end of suffering. Buddhist Publication
Society. Retrieved December 31, 2020, from https://www.bps.lk/olib/wh/wh308_Bodhi_Noble-
Eightfold-Path.pdf.
Bhikkhu Thanissaro. (1999). The four noble truths: A study guide. Retrieved December 31, 2020,
from https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/study/truths.html.
Story, F. (1961). Foundations of Buddhism: The four noble truths. Buddhist Publication Society.
Retrieved December 31, 2020, from https://www.bps.lk/olib/wh/wh034_Story_Foundations-of-
Buddhism--Four-Noble-Truths.pdf.