의상계(義相系) 화엄을 통해 본 교육의 목적과 주체

Purpose and Subject of Education through the Hwaom thought of the Uisang(義相) Lineage

This article is to compare the purpose and subject of education and Buddhism, specifically the Hwaeom thought of the Uisang lineage. However, due to my lack of competence, I did not have a professional approach based on the philosophy of education and dealt with only the common sense based on current education laws. A comparison of goals shows that education and Buddhism are very similar. In the case of education, it has the goal of changing learners so that they can live a happy life as a human and for all mankind. Buddhism also aims to lead learners, i.e. sentient beings, to the way of enlightenment with the help of instructers, i.e. buddhas and bodhisattvas in order for learners to live a life of complete happiness. On the other hand, the Uisang lineage does not make any fundamental difference between learners and instructors. Therefore, it does not aim at making a learner who is sentient being as a teacher who is a buddha through education. This is because from the perspective of this lineage, a learner is a teacher from the past. According to this lineage, the goal of education is not to be a buddha, but to realize that he or she is a Buddha and live as a Buddha. This difference is also true for the subject. Unlike education and other Buddhism that distinguish the roles of learners and instructors and define their qualifications, the Uisang lineage does not distinguish between them. In most Buddhism, sentient beings are learners and Buddha and bodhisattvas are teachers. However, this distinction is meaningless in this lineage where sentient beings are a buddha from the past. Therefore, one, who has been a buddha from the past, teaches oneself and learn from oneself.