Educating by Example
By Chan Kah Yein, Ph.D
Buddhist education aims to uncover the mind’s innate ability to understand the truths about life and to bring forth good qualities in our hearts. In the Pabhassara Sutta (AN 1.49-52), the Buddha says, “Luminous is the mind. It is only clouded by visiting defilements”. It tells us that the innate nature of our minds is pure and radiant. What we need to do is to dust away the defilements and the luminous mind will reveal itself again. The aim of Buddhist education is to do precisely this.
Having been a teacher for more than twenty years, I learnt the ropes of how to be an educator through the hard way – by trial and error. Although I had been thoroughly schooled in the psychology, sociology, philosophy and methodology of education while undergoing training, and theoretical knowledge does have its place and value in grooming one to be an educator, nothing beats experience and learning on the job.
In my humble endeavour at educating youths, I found that the best way to impart values is to educate by example. If we want to teach our youths virtues like truthfulness, gentle speech, patience and respect, then we have to first embrace these virtues and demonstrate our practice of them in our own speech and actions. It was Albert Einstein, world-renowned physicist and Nobel Prize winner, who said, “Example isn’t another way to teach, it is the ONLY way to teach.”
In teaching the Dhamma, for example, while we profess how important it is not to take things that are not given (the practice of the Second Precept), do we use other people’s materials in our lessons without due acknowledgement or seeking permission first? Or while we emphasise the importance of not lying (the practice of the Fourth Precept), do we ensure that our own speech to our students is always truthful? Do we apologise when we are late for class, or do we create a convenient excuse to cover up our own mistake? Similarly, the practice of metta is all about cultivating unconditional, non-discriminatory and boundless loving-kindness to ALL beings. Are we practising metta if we happily enjoy our food while a family of stray dogs is nearby, starving and hungry?
In Itivuttaka No.26, the Buddha says, “If beings knew as I know the benefits of sharing, they would not eat without having shared, even if it is their only mouthful.” Our students are watching us and they remember what we have quoted in class. If we make the effort to give half our food to the hungry dogs, we are practising what we preach, and creating a wonderful and impactful learning opportunity for our students. It is our responsibility as educators to thoroughly embrace the very virtues that we profess and impart, because the depth of our practice shows in all our actions, especially in challenging situations.
“Do as I say, but not as I do” has no place in today’s education where the younger generation is very much more discerning than those in the past. It is far more effective to educate the young by letting him or her watch what we do and how we carry ourselves rather than drumming him or her with doctrine and theoretical knowledge. This learning process is slow and gradual, and hence, requires patience from the teacher because its results may not be immediate, but such learning will not be superficial and its effects, definitely longer-lasting.
You may be surprised to know, many years down the road, that what your students remember from your class is not the factual knowledge that you have taught them, but how you made them feel, how loving and caring you had been, or how honest you had been in admitting your mistakes to them. It is the impact of your actions that will remain ingrained in their minds. These are lessons in virtues, and these real-life exemplary lessons will remain long in their memories, and hopefully, be firmly entrenched in their hearts and minds, and manifested in their speech and actions too.
The challenge for Dhamma teachers and Dhamma speakers is to wholeheartedly embrace Buddhist virtues and live by them so that these virtues shine from their speech and actions. The Buddha was flawless and unblemished in character. Perhaps this was what made Him “a guide incomparable for the training of individuals”, and “a teacher of gods and men”. The Buddha was, by far, an excellent and exemplary teacher.