{"id":6549,"date":"2010-06-14T14:10:21","date_gmt":"2010-06-14T06:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/?p=6549"},"modified":"2010-06-14T14:10:21","modified_gmt":"2010-06-14T06:10:21","slug":"on-buddhist-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2010\/06\/on-buddhist-education\/","title":{"rendered":"On Buddhist Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

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S:<\/strong> Long general Buddhist courses (some spanning years, including degrees) might appear comprehensive, but this is often an illusion as there are so many topics to cover, that it is a matter of touch and go for many sub-topics.<\/span> For example, if I know there is a place in Singapore that teaches the Pure Land practice in English, with as much detail as I do, there would no need for me to hold classes on the subject. I’ll just gladly promote this course. Also due to the lack of time for coverage, general courses also unwittingly end up giving partial and thus biased unbalanced views of certain teachings. Sad but true.<\/p>\n

M:<\/strong> Yes, kind of inevitable but still, it can be avoided. Certain foundational teachings that are much easier to accept or understand, which are also important should make known to more – provided that they are taught inside-out and with clear explanations.<\/span> Briefly touching on them will not be beneficial especially when doubts are not cleared and may produce even more doubts. This is the problem. I am not learning enough, or in fact I should say I don’t know what is enough. It is challenging to learn the Dharma correctly and completely.<\/p>\n

S:<\/strong> Yes, basic core teachings should be taught clearly and made readily available. Probably the only feasible way to avoid the problem of long general Dharma courses diluting specific teachings is that there are detailed courses on them offered too. As long as we are unenlightened, we have not learnt and practised enough. The good news is that once Pure Land is reached, all the essential Dharma can be mastered there. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to reach Pure Land \u2013 to enrol in the best school in the universe! <\/span>In this sense, for now, learning and practising general Dharma teachings, coupled with the Pure Land teachings is the least that should be done – for the safest passage towards liberation. Amituofo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

S: Long general Buddhist courses (some spanning years, including degrees) might appear comprehensive, but this is often an illusion as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-6549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mix","tag-pure-land","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}