The Buddhist View of a Teacher: The Path of Bodhisattva with Compassionate Vows

ABSTRACT

The present study is concerned with the Buddhist view of a teacher and its meaning in the Bodhisattva path of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The study makes efforts to theorize ideas of practice of Bodhisattva pedagogically in order to apply its idea to actual life in contemporary educational circles. Mahāyāna Buddhists criticized and blamed the Abhidharma schools for neglecting to help people. Bodhisattva must help all sentient beings and seek own enlightenment at the same time. The practice of Bodhisattva path is called the Six Perfections(Pāramitās) which are delivered by perfect wisdom of Prajñā, i.e., Śūnyatā. Mahāyāna Bodhisattva vows heroically, I will not be a Buddha until last one being attains Buddhahood! Bodhisattvas would like to postpone to be a Buddha. This idea and process eventually make Bodhisattva path with compassionate vows. In the paper, the idea of infinite compassion of Bodhisattvas is given a special attention to some relations with educational kindness and pedagogical meanings of interactions which consists teachers and students through the educational progress. Bodhisattva must help other people and seek own enlightening at the same time. Also he doesn t have to put priority oneself, rather, have structure that one can complete oneself through saving all the other sentient beings. Because each the Six Perfection can become genuine Perfection when it is delivered by the perfect wisdom of Prajñā, other five Perfections acquire name of Perfection through the sixth, the Perfection of wisdom. The study emphasizes to apply the practice of Bodhisattva with compassionate vows to actual educational circumstance which consists of saving others and completing oneself.