Won-Buddhism’s Education from the View of Conversation

ABSTRACT

This study suggests improvements to contemporary educational techniques, deriving insights and methods from the teaching career and the thought of Sot’aesan, the founding master of Won-Buddhism. The most significant innovation found in Sot’aesan’s teaching style is the role of conversation, and by investigating this role, we come to appreciate other valuable characteristics of Won-Buddhist educational methods. My primary source for the study is the Scripture of the Founding Master (Taejonggyong), which contains Sot’aesan’s conversations, or Discourses. First, I examine the doctrinal foundations of Won-Buddhism, focusing especially on the role of conversation and clarifying educational characteristics by analyzing the patterns and structures of the conversations. Most of Sot’aesan’s recorded conversations appear in the various sections of the Discourses, beginning with the ‘Prefatory’ section, which opens with his first words upon attaining great enlightenment, and including especially his ‘Answers to Questions’. Throughout the Discourses, it can be seen that he preferred a teaching method that enabled him to clarify and explain his thoughts simply. Because of the nature of conversation, this mode best met this need. Through conversation, he could identify and focus on the precise needs of his disciples, in order to develop their understanding. In examining the structures of these Discourses, the most striking characteristic is the high frequency of ‘question-and-answer’ mode. In addition, the second important characteristic of Sot’aesan’s conversations is the overwhelming frequency of ‘re-questioning and further explanation’. In this way, I demonstrate that Sot’aesan’s educational style makes use of an interactive and mutual method, not a unilateral one. This method enables the learners to study and correct themselves through inducing questions and pointing out one’s mistakes and misunderstandings. Based on the results of analysis of the conversations in the Taejonggyong, the characteristics of Sot’aesan’s educational system are summarized as follows: First, Sot’aesan enjoyed using the method of one-on-one conversation. Rather than giving lectures based on his path to enlightenment, he promoted and encouraged his disciples to be self-taught and independently awakened. Second, Sot’aesan did not choose the topics for dialogues. Instead of unilaterally deciding on a topic and relaying a preconceived message, he guided his disciples to express their innermost questions and curiosities so that they might conduct the task of finding the solutions. Finally, Sot’aesan personalized each interaction. He customized each encounter so that every interaction met the level of each disciple. This approach allowed individuals to identify and solve problems on their own. The overall data I have gathered concerning the points stated above demonstrate that Sot’aesan’s teaching method focused on one-on-one discussions, having the disciples discovering and identifying the issues on their own, and on customization so that each disciple discovered his or her own full potential. In further support of these findings, I also examine the educational approach of WonBuddhism as laid out in The Principal Book of Won-Buddhism. This includes the following methods for improving conversational skills: conversation, questioning and answering, appraisal, and awakening for understanding. Through this analysis, I discovered that Sot’aesan’s methods: ① talking freely and actively, ② focusing on the essential matter, proceeding to the study, ③ having a study that emphasizes the activities of introspection, and ④ having a mentor as a facilitator, were all similar to the techniques used in Problem-Based Learning(PBL). Based on this study and analysis, I believe that a new PBL approach should be developed that mimics and reflects the teaching and learning styles of Sot’aesan’s teachings and the Won-Buddhist training method.