“Cut Flowers: Buddhist Education and Kokoro no Kyōiku (Heart/Mind Education) in Japan”
Presented by Dr. Stephen Covell, Director, Soga Center for Japanese Studies, Western Michigan University.
Date: Monday September 25, 2006
Time: 12:00 – 1:15 PM
Place: Institute of Asian Research, C.K. Choi Building Room 120, 1855 West Mall
Over the past two decades politicians, sectarian officials from many religions and the mass media have called into question the values of contemporary Japanese. At the same time, population growth in Japan has flattened out. In the education system this has led to converging needs: (a) the perceived need for enhanced morals education brought about by the sense that the school system no longer shapes the moral character of the youth; and (b) severe competition among schools requiring them to characterize what separates the educational experience they offer from that of other schools in order to attract the attention of students and parents. (a), the perceived moral decline, has led to increasing
calls for kokoro no kyoiku, something that can be roughly translated as education of the heart and mind. This call, in turn, has been answered by leaders in Buddhist education with claims to a natural calling for kokoro no kyoiku and increasing interest among sectarian and government officials for shukyo joso kyoiku, or education that cultivates religious sentiment. This paper examines these stances and the teachings of Buddhist educators in detail and explores specific examples of how Buddhist educators are participating in the broad national dialogue regarding morals and education by implementing kokoro no kyoiku and shukyo joso kyoiku in their schools.
Stephen Covell is a candidate for the Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Foundation Chair in Buddhism and Contemporary Society.