Soka Educators International Network Volume VI, Issue 4

Seeking to Build a Community of Life through Humanistic Education

This Fall Forum was dedicated to RUMIKO EYLATH, Soka Educator Community Member in Israel.

The Buddhist Principle of Creating the Correct Relationship between Religion and Politics in Education; Helping Nurture Social Consciousness in Our Communities using the 2008 Peace Proposal was the theme for the 2008 Fall Forum. Why has it been so hard for the world to create the correct relationship between religion and politics, or Obutsu Myogo in Japanese. We will use (OM) to refer to this principle. What action should we take? How do we help our students create a world more in harmony than the present? How can the Peace Proposals guide us?

Ultimately, young people hold the keys to the future. What we teach, then, creates the future. Sensei presents a model of engaged Buddhist humanism in his peace proposals. He is a model of OM and he wants us to take action in the areas of human rights education, particularly developing human dignity, ecological integrity, and the infrastructures of peace. How do we help others use the proposals as well?

Obutsu Myogo or the Correct Relationship between Religion and Politics
As Nichiren says, "The nation achieves prosperity through the Buddhist Law, and the Law is proven worthy of reverence by the people who embrace it." (WND p.18). Our human revolution impacts our society. Our deeper level of compassion and joy changes the environment (esho funi or life and environment are one). One participant said that as she developed her teaching skills according to Soka education values, she found her external environment also became more humanistic and the children valued her more. As Sensei says, "never deviate from the human scale"!

There are many different kinds of secular/religious relationships and many have been been problematic. Sensei believes that an institution should not try and influence another overtly but create change through the transformation of the human being who practices a particular philosophy of life. The inconsiderate blending of religion and politics can lead to confusion, disregard and lack of compassion but the perfect blending of spiritualism and politics can heighten the awareness of all peoples. As a Komeito Party member said, it doesn't matter whether you are in politics or any other field -- the principle is the same and has the same effect- you change for the better and the country will change for the better. This is how change manifests in our collective consciousness.

Teaching to nurture social consciousness is an example. One participant models "A blue more blue than the indigo" and encourages her students to play an important part in the world wide stage of peace. Youth must feel loved, feel free to express themselves and be honored by being listened to. Once, the youth feel this energy around them or for them then they will feel compelled to move forward in their lives, education and careers. The youth will then be the "models of engaged humanism" as well.

Makiguchi, Gandhi and OM Special Report
Dr. Namrata Sharma, a SGI member, held a Seminar on her book "Makiguchi and Gandhi, Their Educational Relevance for the 21st Century” in London. Also a SEIN participant, Dr. Sharma discussed the issues of citizenship and political education. Students should develop their own sense of self within the community. Gandhi, a great citizen, put his own religion at the centre of his thought correctly This helped him create the change needed in his society and the world. Soka educators can be the site of resistance and renaissance. Then we can help others see the important role, character and compassion of the teacher.

Obutsu Myogo & the 2008 Peace Proposal
"The Buddha's admonition to his followers, 'Live as islands unto yourselves, being your own refuge, with no one else as your refuge, with the Dharma as an island, with the Dharma as your refuge, with no other refuge.'" teaches us to be the site of resistance and renaissance. That is why Makiguchi felt the relationship between the teacher and the student is paramount. The whole world is moving towards dialogue and global citizenship. The application of OM also goes beyond the state and can guide us.

We discussed the difference between self mastery and self discipline and becoming a great teacher. Self mastery is finding the wisdom to find the right way to help a student and self discipline is the support we give to the individual's own efforts to learn what he or she needs to learn. Self mastery is also to perceive what problems are temporary and are the path to our human revolution or growth. Compassion enables the self mastery and the self discipline. Concentration on self mastery and self-discipline creates the vortex that enables you to be that great teacher.

Human Rights Education Framework: Human Dignity, Ecological Integrity and Infrastructures of Peace
To make human dignity our highest value we need to apply dialogue to our daily lives. Teachers have the power to enhance children's appreciation of human dignity or to cloud it with authoritarianism. A good teacher can be a wonderful mentor helping us reveal our seeds of Buddhahood and a bad one can make us cynical or hostile. The conscious role of the teacher as human dignifier is important.

Makiguchi stressed that individuals should be aware of three levels of citizenship: local, national and global. We are all citizens of the world and need the wisdom to balance our quality of life with the needs of the natural world. We need to take action in our homes and communities, engage as citizens and connect globally. We need a global dialogue on sustainable living to be a global "healing village."

Sensei patiently submits a peace proposal each year with profound suggestions on how to build infrastructures of peace. Wouldn't it be great if the world read and discuss these proposals? Eventually the value of them would sink in. We can start by drawing the best out of each student.

Accessing the Peace Proposal
The final week we discussed how best to help others use the peace proposals, both in education and in the SGI and our communities. We can bring a global perspective to local issues; create a "healing community" in school; and look for ways to cohere the issues in the peace proposals to curricula. To help other SGI members and the greater community we suggest choosing topics of interest to them and having a great discussion or sharing experiences on how we have personally affected the environment around us. We also talked through the issue that some people do not respect the people Sensei praises. We agreed that we can help by first grasping Sensei's perspective ourselves and gradually enabling others to examine our perspective that everyone has a Buddha nature and is therefore respect worthy.

The SOKA EDUCATORS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK is a volunteer project created to inspire educators who are implementing Soka Education in different ways. Our blog is http://www.sein2008.blogspot.com. The Newsletter's new goal is to create a robust network of Soka educators to support the growing development of humanistic education. To be added to the mailing list or removed from it, or to receive back issues, please contact Stephanie Tansey at Tansey@usa.net.

2nd General Meeting, Monday - October 27 through Sunday - November 3, 2008

Welcome everyone! We deeply appreciate your taking time out to attend and participate in our 2nd General Meeting! We are so happy that the Soka Educators International Network (SEIN) is growing and you are with us today to plan our future. SEIN was created to encourage all of you Soka educators and now you are really encouraging us!! As it should be with the Mystic Law.

Like the tree that is our model, we have been growing steadily but surely. We first started in 2003 with a quarterly newsletter which we sent out to less than fifty people. Since then, five years later, we have grown to over 200 in our our network and our countries include, Brazil, U.S., U.K., France, Nigeria, Netherlands, Austria, India, Japan, Canada, Portugal, Israel, Cyprus, Peru, and others. The newsletter is archived at Soka University in Japan, is on the SGI-USA Culture Department Website, has been translated occasionally into Portuguese in Brazil, and is posted on our own blogsite: www.sein2008.blogspot.com More importantly, many of you report its great value in your lives.

In November 2005 we started our Online Forums and we were asked to have them more often so we have them twice a year. We have grown from ten people to over thirty participants and from the work of one person to a team of planners and committee heads. This year we started having co-facilitators and co-hosts. We are a much more international a community and had our first multi-lingual Forum (English/Portuguese) this year for the Spring 2008 Forum.

Out of the forums grew the desire to create change together. We are now completing the first stage of four projects: internationality, disarmament, dialogue skills handbook and our own website on time!!

SEIN Website headed by Constance Haig and Martin Rees. The new SEIN website will be launched at the end of December 2008 and so we will be able to move our Online Forums to our website in early 2009. Soon Soka Educators can share lesson plans, read our newsletters, read and work on our Dialogue Primer, work on and download our Disarmament Exhibition. Next year's General Meeting will also be on this site! To view the work in progress go to - http://strangelyperfect.com The bulletin board, which you asked for last year, will be there as well.

Internationality. The last Spring 2008 SEIN Forum was hosted by Brazilian members. Participants found it difficult to understand some of the more advanced discussions in English, and felt the need to express themselves in their own language. We decided to introduce an automatic translation facility into the SEIN Forum, with non-primary-language-speakers having access to support from a instant translator. The person making the post was responsible for simultaneously posting the online translation in the second language, so the Portuguese contributor would post in English as well. This way, the individual takes responsibility for being understood by the other, which is a Buddhist tradition and develops our compassion. The next step will be bilingual translators so that Buddhist and educational terms can be better understood around the world.

Disarmament Exhibition headed by Terry Ellis with Michel Nader and Dave Koranda. We have something to celebrate!! No new nukes!! Americans urged Congress not to fund the Reliable Replacment Warhead (RRW). They heard us! On July 10, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed an annual spending bill rejecting all funding for the new weapon. This is a significant victory. Thank you all for your prayers.

There are many great resources out there; the problem is getting them to the teachers and students who will benefit. From the SEIN perspective, our goal is to continue to look for other teachers who want to take on the challenge of creating original lessons infused with the Soka/Makiguchi spirit. It will take time to develop our own touch, so that the lessons, applications, etc. we create stand out among the many other resources available. Please let Terry Ellis (calellis@worldnet.att.net) know if you are interested in contributing to this project.

The Disarmament's Exhibition's first document will be an interview by Terry Ellis with Richard Rhodes about the history of the development of nuclear weapons, and lesson plans regarding the people and physics behind this. This will be ready for the website in December. Rhodes portrays this history as a tumultuous human drama; the key is to engage students of all ages in this learning process. Many of the challenges and debates surrounding nuclear weapons have been with us from the start. We want to provide ongoing "news" about nuclear disarmament activities, research and information from around the world, educational tools for use in classrooms, libraries, and communities and an exhibition which could be downloaded and used in small spaces with PowerPoint capability as well. See attached proposal and powerpoint document created by Terry's son.

Dialogue Primer headed by Dennis Merimsky with Po Halikalani and Stephanie Tansey. The Dialogue Skills primer is going on the website in December. In 2009, we can expand it to include Buddhism and dialogue as well as Dialogue experiences. Attached you can see possible chapter headings for an expanded dialogue booklet. At this stage it is a kind of a roadmap or vision, which can be changed as we go along. Dennis' resolution is to contribute a paper about Buddhism and dialogue in 2009. Please see attached proposal.

New Development for SEIN
Buddy System for the Online Forums
The first new development is to introduce a Buddy System for anyone who wants it or for those who want to help others learn the ropes to SEIN forums so that more and more people can enjoy the riches we all get out of it. We want to offer this buddy system for new community members, for those in need of support in your language; and for those who need technical help. The current buddies are: Constance Haig, Jill Rees, Terry Ellis, Dave Koranda, Dennis Merimsky and Stephanie Tansey. If you'd like to be a buddy please contact Stephanie. If you feel like you'd like to have a buddy to help you enjoy the Online Forums, please contact Stephanie.

So now we'd like to ask your opinion on how to do this so it really works. We think that these buddy relationships should be multinational relationships as much as possible, for example, a French-American buddy team or an Austrian-Brazilian team. We also think we should limit these buddy systems to the month before and after the forums. Also that one buddy should only have five such relationships. SEIN is not a full time activity and we are all busy educating our students so we don't want to add to your work. We want the buddy system to enrich everyone's teaching.

Translations Committee headed by Jill Rees with Michel Nader. This is to support the Forums. We are developing a four-tier buddy system according to our capacity. Non-native English speakers will have the support of same language partners of different language levels or SEIN Planning members.

Now we are ready for advice and questions from you, our wonderful SEIN Community: Simply reply to this email OR go to our blog: http://sein2008.blogspot.com and if you need help logging in contact Constance Haig at (Haig.Constance@orbital.com).

Agenda for the Online General Meeting
Welcome
Appreciation
General Report on SEIN
Report on the Progress of the Forums – Jill Rees
Report on the Progress of the Website – Constance Haig
Report on the Disarmament Exhibition – Terry Ellis
Report on the Dialogue Primer – Dennis

Questions and advice from SEIN community:
How do you see SEIN supporting the development between Nichiren
Buddhism and the global society?
Thoughts and recommendations on our projects-
How do you see the new international buddy system working and growing??
How can we be of more help to you?

You will be getting a summary of our meeting. It will act like Final Encouragement from all of us!

Don't forget! Our next Online Forum will be from Sunday, November 16 through Sunday, December 13. The Online Forum is located at: www. earthchartercommunities.org/soka The theme is: The 2008 Peace Proposal: Humanizing Religion, Creating Peace, Soka Educators and the principle of Obutsu Myoho – Understanding the relationship between religion and government. We want to take this opportunity to work on ways the SEIN community can help our friends in the SGI use the ideas of the Peace Proposals in their daily lives and activities. Another deep and wonderful dialogue! See you online!

Thanks to everyone who have volunteered to be on the committees and to all of you for your support!

Stephanie Tansey (US living in Nigeria) and rest of the SEIN Team: Michel Nader (Brazil), Jill Rees (UK), Constance Haig (US), Dennis Merimsky (Israel), Terry Ellis (US) and Dave Koranda (US)

SOKA EDUCATORS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK Volume VI, Issue 3 Seeking to Build a Community of Life through Humanistic Education

Experience by Margit Urbassek, Vienna, Austria

My name is Margit and I have been chanting for 20 years in Vienna, Austria. I want to share my experience about how I changed my whole working situation as well as my teaching through chanting and through being an active member in SGI Austria.

In the beginning of my chanting I was working in an Austrian primary school as a teacher. I suffered a lot. This was just after I had come back from Great Britain where I had spent a year attending the international New Age community called Findhorn. I found the school system in Vienna to be very rigid.

In England I got in touch with alternative teaching forms. I love children very much and what I saw in the school system conflicted with what I had learned. I had very bad experiences with teacher colleagues in Austria who from my perspective treated the children terribly. So my lifestate got rather low. I felt that I wanted to support the children, but as long as I felt stuck in this school system which suppressed teachers and children, I didn´t know how to help really them.

When I started chanting I felt the pressure inside myself get bigger and I felt even more terrible. I talked often with my seniors in faith and I heard that this is all my karma. That I can change this. I wanted to leave the school system and felt that I could not be an adequate teacher there. Also I discovered by regularly dancing in studios, that I started to love dance and that I should teach in this direction. Plus I am certified in classical and shiatsu massage and I was very good at this as well.

The senior leaders told me: "NO, don't leave school, that's the place where your karma is, and I would take it with me if I left the school. I rather should chant to change something in the school and to change my situation." This was very hard for me, but I trusted the senior leaders 100 percent. I chanted sometimes inside the whole morning, to endure the situations with bad collegues and the terrible atmosphere in school.

I felt inside three abilities : I loved supporting the children, I loved dancing and I loved doing massage and bodywork for people. I realized I didn't want to teach children writing and reading. I felt that I wanted to support their artistic abilities and creativity.

I was also the only SGI primary school teacher in Austria at the time. I saw that I had to change a lot of karma.

I chanted to go to a different school and through chanting I said to myself, I will only take a teaching position in a new school where I feel free in my teaching and feel good about the working situation. In Austria at that time you had to take what you could get in the school system but I said to myself after many daimoku: I am the one who is choosing to make this change happen. I chanted Nam Myoho Renge Kyo and was convinced in the meantime I am in the perfect place for kosen rufu.

I came upon a different school where my colleagues were much more open and where the headmaster there, a very nice woman, understood me and really supported me as a young teacher.

The first time I felt good going to my work as a teacher. Through chanting and through a colleague there, I found a contact to a new Montessori education course and I immediately took part on this course. In the Montessori education I could change my whole attitude towards teaching in primary school and I felt for the first time that my inside task is very much to teach children of this age, and I felt free and not unencumbered by the Austrian school system. I felt myself as a human and as a teacher who really loves teaching and the children. I felt I had the freedom to teach really what I want.

Chanting supported me during my education very much. Mr. Claus Kaul, my Montessori teacher, who is now a friend for life, supported me to stand up for my special teaching abilities which seemed to be really in artistic expression and dance. He supported me to have the courage to change the school system from inside . So I started in my school several dance classes with daimoku as the base and also with Montessori knowledge.

The dance classes increased and I had sometimes 50 children coming on their own accord in the afternoons. The classes were a real success and I definitely demonstrated that I have the ability to teach creative dance to children. Sometimes I came with an African drummer to school or with other artists I knew, to show students examples of creative dance and different styles. Obviously such a thing was something totally new in the primary school. I got then four schools to do the same program and the children began to give little performances on a stage in the city. They were all very successful and I was very grateful.

I kept on for seven years to assist in Montessori education to keep in touch with this educational system and to keep on learning. There were many things I found that were very similar to Makiguchi's educational philosophy. I started to discuss Buddhism with our well known Montessori and reform educator Claus Kaul and gave him books and told him from Soka education. In November 1997 I succeeded to make contact between Claus Kaul, and our Austrian Culture Centre, and our general director Joshio Nakamura.

At this same time Mr. Kaul happened to be looking for a new room for his workshops. And so for four years he taught official Montessori education at our Culture Center. 45 teachers would participate at each one-year course. In this way people came in touch with Sensei's house. I was also able to offer a dance program for each course that to support it. In this way I often came to talk about our Buddhism and what we members are doing in our Culture Centre.

In my own work, more and more children came into my dance classes. My program was already in four schools yet I still had to teach twelve hours in a "normal" classroom. I felt I only lived to work for the school and had no free time.

I realized I either had to reduce all teaching classes or change all teaching hours into dance classes. But to teach "only "dance in a primary school was forbidden from the school law. I chanted again to make the impossible possible. Again my Montessori educator Mr. Claus Kaul helped me out. He said that he knew a headmaster in Vienna who wanted to start a total new reform pedagogical school where he wanted to have dance as it is good for learning. Since then I really have been a dance teacher for creative educational dance and contemporary dance full time for the past ten years.

In short, I have spent the last ten years to building up this school as well as my dance classes which are officially a fixed part of the school schedule. The children learn about dance and learn to create their own dances as well as perform with me. The school and dance classes are my mission for kosenrufu. The children love to have real dance in their program. We are the only school in Austria having a set up like this. The dance classes do also integrate our twenty-five "handicapped people" who live together with all the other children .

The school is a model school now since several years in Austria. Many students from the different pedagogical academies come to us to learn and watch our teaching.

I also presented the Earth Charter exhibition "Seeds of Change" and President Ikeda through this medium in the school. It was a big project and all of the teachers worked with their children on the different themes of the exhibition. A neighbor school took the exhibition next and I helped initiate the teachers there to create a school project from it. Many interesting things came from the work of the children. I also helped to bring the exhibition to the school where my sister works and my sister brought the exhibition to the University Klagenfurt which is south of Vienna and is a student exchange university of the Soka University in Japan.

I have to say that through my Buddhist practice and trying to go with Sensei I found the necessary free space for my pedagogical work with creative children-dance using the principals of Sensei in education which are Wholeness-Creativity and Internationality in our school and make an official contribution to his work as an educator.

I myself feel very happy there as teacher in our school. We colleagues are a very complex working team who always talk honestly with each other and try to respect each other and the children. Daisaku Ikeda said in his essay "Personality and Education," that for him the highest principle in education is the respect of the human being. I have the feeling that this means to do our best for the creativity of our children.

Now after all the activities and ten years building up the school and changing the Austrian school system through daimoku, another deep deep wish is becoming true this year, because I am expecting now my own baby together with my Nigerian boyfriend although my age is 46. Now I start to create my own family with daimoku plus I found a bigger flat 3 minutes from our SGI Culture Centre! I have a pause now in teaching and will think about dance-pedagogic(which means the way how to teach dance) from a different perspective again. I am very grateful that this still could happen and I just can tell that when the time is right the impossible is possible and everybody can become happy in all areas of life with our Buddhist practice and our relationship to Sensei Ikeda.

Vienna, 24. August Margit Urbassek
email - margit.urbassek@aon.at
http://www.lernwerkstatt.or.at/



Photos of Margit's students:














The SOKA EDUCATORS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK is a volunteer project created to inspire educators who are implementing Soka Education in different ways. The Newsletter's new goal is to create a robust network of Soka educators to support the growing development of humanistic education. To be added to the mailing list or removed from it, or to receive back issues, please contact Stephanie Tansey at tansey@usa.net.

SOKA EDUCATORS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK Volume VI, Issue 2, Seeking to Build a Community of Life through Humanistic Education

Soka Educators International Network, Online Forum VI;
Education the Fourth Power and Kumarajiva; How we create the United Nations of Education

We started off with a wonderful blossoming of ideas. It became very clear that we are all budding Kumarajivas because the translation of ideas back and forth from English to Portuguese and back never became a problem – even when the instant translation was odd! We all deeply focused on the content of the ideas being expressed and this carried through the entire month. I can see now, Kumarajiva sitting around with fellow Buddhists in deep discussion – even though in this case we are sitting down all over the planet! What a wonderful experience this was! This newsletter is a synopsis of our discussion.

We learned about the very successful Makiguchi Garden Project in Brazil and about the state of education in different countries. We were able to establish that the whole world needs us to become great Kumarajivas of Soka Education. "It is wonderful to see that in Brazil volunteer educators have been able to bring the care and "itai doshin" we work to cultivate within the SGI, out into society through the school system. What a wonderful accomplishment!"

We said the needs of the state have been taken as paramount in education in the UK. While the authorities agree with these failings within the system, changes are continually piled upon changes but these serve only to reinforce the system. It is indeed a total systemic revamp which is required. This is why making education INTERNATIONAL is the right way to go. The reasoning behind the abusive system we currently subject our children to (and many teachers say they feel they are 'abusing' the children), is destroyed when we think internationally. In Brazil in general the four evil states of life is what drives Brazilian public schools. Our experience shows us that the emotions that come from these paths have systemic effects. We have managed to create a break but as we know in Buddhism, the difficulty is not to accept the teaching, but to maintain it. In the US we also have a youth culture oriented towards impermanence, families move a lot and so the skills of building community are not well grounded in our culture. This lack of community also breeds a great distance between teacher and student.

One is sharing and documenting our successes and beginning to build a "science" of what is Soka education. Confidence in value creating education is what we need. Confidence is the key to the work we do but so is the trust we build over time in our relationships with people. (To begin is easy, to continue, difficult.)

Toward a United Nations of Education (UN/Ed)
Sensei suggests the formation of a United Nations of Education that contributes to a true world-wide peace and harmonious cooperation among the peoples of the planet. We are still feeling the effects of a violent 20th century in which ideologies and economics created interpretations of humanity. These incomplete ideologies has resulted in the dehumanization and continuing destruction of our civilization. Now humankind needs spiritual support that is deeper, and is on a higher level than communism and capitalism.

Instead of education as organized by governments, in ministries or departments of education, we need to change the principles of education from "for the country" to "for the happiness of the individual that is, to live a contributive life." We understand that every individual reconstructs the world consistent with his/her culture. To change and perceive that an individual should make choices and also feel responsible for the worldwide consequences of those choices is the teaching we must now develop with respect, attention and love. We need to establish an independent institution that is not answerable to any government, which is directed toward peace and that it will be a force will be to create and generate a fortress of spirituality and peace in the hearts of the men. Building the UN/Ed will need the participation of everyone involved in the education process -- the professors and educators, parents and relatives who are teach in the home, pupils of all the levels and this will serve to bring into reality the respect for humanity in all fields of endeavor. Finally that there are three independent parts of government today: the legislative one, the executive and the judiciary one. Sensei feels we should create a fourth on – educational. Education plays the vital function of cultivating the individual human being. Moreover, it must assume the responsibility to teach each individual the absolute respect for the life. Even though UNESCO exists to encourage international cooperation in education, science and culture, because of the current structure of the UN, it is subject to the considerable influence of politics.

Why build a United Nations Education? The state of the child is lamentable. Education and life are devoted to economic growth. The consequence of this is Fake Prosperity, creating adults who are materialistic and corrupt, and since children are mirrors of society, the decline of discipline in schools and the destructive behaviour we see. Teachers, frustrated, are thinking about leaving. If nothing is done, we are looking at the fall of the whole school system. Ikeda Sensei says we should redirect for Human Growth. Instead of an explosion of knowledge we need to have an explosion of wisdom to use this knowledge for Human Growth.

What should the UN/Ed include?
Since Sensei says that a UN/Ed is our last and best asset we need to think about how to build this reality. He proposes an International Conference of Rectors of Universities, an International Teachers Association and a World Federation of Student Associations. We can start this by taking an interest in teachers and student associations around us. We can invite them to important or international conferences in our area that we attend. This is a very Makiguchi idea of course. Education should be of practical use to students. We can seek to unite the world's young people.

• To create a great alliance of lions such as the UN/Ed is the wish of Ikeda Sensei. We can start this new fourth power locally and nationally by encouraging the use of the Earth Charter and Universal Declaration of the Human Rights in school boards and schools. We could create our own local committees that rethink the education system in this same way as well and then go forward together. SEIN could help network this.
  
• A curriculum about human rights education, including the rights of the child. UNESCO points out that human rights must not only be boxed in curricula, but also experienced. We need to find a way to discuss world history that sheds light on the strengths, weaknesses and interdependence of human experience. This curriculum should be designed in a systemic or organic way for the whole child and the whole community in mind.
  
• Teaching human rights education needs value creating education to be effective.
  
• Finally, we should include proposals from the Columbia University speech by Ikeda Sensei namely: 1) Education for the Peace, in which the young people learn about the war cruelty and foolishness, to root the practice of the non-violence in the human society. 2) Environmental Education, 3) Education about development, focusing the attention in poverty matters and social justice. 4) Education on the Human Rights, to awake a conscience of human equality and dignity.
  
• Kumarajiva and his collaborative teaching/learning community be a great model for the UN/Ed. Global citizenship through dialogue skills, ecological integrity and community-building.

Soka Education Methodology
The Expedient Means chapter is the spine of the whole of humanist education, and the origin of the educational theory of the presidents: Makiguchi, Toda and Daisaku Ikeda. The Buddha emphasizes the replacement of three vehicles with the one vehicle. Learning, absorption and Bodhisattva (which we practice every day when we teach mathematics, language, science -- socialization, integration, and the desire to assimilate, live in mutual aid -- these ways of thinking and acting) are the three vehicles. We need to change this to the "desire help others become Buddhas with the aim of Happiness for all." Within this context of teaching-learning, there is the important transfer from educator/student to the educating process of unity of mentor and disciple. Our actual proof is the so united Department of Research and Development of Sciences of Education-DEPEDUC which is reshaping a new history of education in Brazil.

Depending on the age of the student, we believe the key to human rights education is allowing students to work, govern and make decisions within their classroom. The focus is always to refer each student back to his or her own development, rather than comparing with others. Also, we should use various personality inventories informally so students can perceive better their similarities and differences and make our classrooms interesting, creative and places of discernment.

Deep dialogue and Kumarajiva is what made Kumarajiva special and unique as a translator and teacher of the Lotus Sutra. This will be a critical component of SOKA Education and the UN/Ed.

Kumarajiva
Kumarajiva broke the barriers of language, culture and brought out a very important contribution to the world, the Lotus Sutra, in Chinese. "Although we make all preparations for the international exchange at university level, if we do not remove the barriers of language, nor expand exchanges, then these plans will remain as a utopia" Daisaku Ikeda – Education Proposal, pp 43 SEIN is proving to be a means of helping to remove these barriers of language and bringing different cultures closer. Listen to the heart of another, feel the heart of another. We are moving in the right direction. We are all about to become Kumarajivas who will be influencing our particular culture towards this UN of ED. What can we learn from Kumarajiva that will help make our influence (our employment of expedient means) most effective?

It starts with our own self-development. The concepts of respect, interrelatedness and repaying debts of gratitude that underly the cultures of Asia can enrich our students. Self-control and dignity are elements that our students desperately need.

Like him, we also have the opportunity to create a learning environment where everyone contributes. We must see things from eyes from within, from the inside/out instead of outside/in. We must use our Buddhist practice to be able see our culture from three very culturally based elements: "the universe/heavens, ""the land and its features" and "'embryo"...meaning everything that comes from a source, born of a birth cycle." Whichever land we are from, born of, teach in, these are underlying principles that WE, as educators must understand fully from the inside/out! From that place, when we come from such depths, we make the difference! Then can help teach our students to be the "footsteps" of change, for themselves, others and their countries and the world. The bonds of trust between teacher and student can then deepen and transform into a single master and disciple. Buddha to Buddha, I think it is this point that differentiates the Soka Educators.

Kumarajiva was like a Lotus Flower in the muddy swamp and for this reason he turned every situation around to the positive and had victory in his life. He then paid his debt of gratitude by translating the Lotus Sutra for the World. It is what Nichiren did as well. Kumarajiva, like Nichiren, contributed deeply to the development of the UN/Ed and human rights education. It was the dialogue/interaction between Kumarijiva and those who gathered around him that made his translation so valuable and rich. We need to transform our classrooms into those type of environments, where the knowledge, talents and personality of each student is respected, and genuinely engaged to create great results.

Professional Applications
What can we do locally and how can we connect to the global movement towards the dialogic civilization we are creating? We can emphasize in our own classrooms and school curricula the value and the need to move towards a global approach to education. And encourage students going into education to think and study about how to collaborate with others in the reformation of education. That society should support education for the development of human beings.

We need to continue to develop our ideas on these forums. "Our sharing of experiences and ideas that we have in SEIN, is what I often refer to when I am doubtful about expressing myself. I think 'Deep down this person (me) probably has great thoughts and knows how to create the future, just as my SEIN colleagues do.' The SEIN community we are developing enables me to confidently fulfill my role as an educator and a citizen, in my own way."

We will need to form an international and secular community within SEIN so all educators can feel the support of a community which understands the essence of education and why we are teachers. This will encourage people to struggle to interact humanistically with their schools, governments, children, parents, education authorities and natural daily challenges, and to live according to their own true selves. We need a training 'arm' of SEIN so that teachers, educators, school leaders; academics and so on can make pragmatic changes. We will also join hands and learn from others who share our goal around the world. It means having the confidence and sense of commitment to take the next step. We can learn from both the successes and failures. Some fear or are against global education. Sensei said that research shows that people exerted 100 percent effort in a one-on-one battle, and that as the number of people on a team increased, the individual effort of each participant decreased. Sensei said one-on-one effort/dialogue was his key to his historic victory in Kamata Chapter. Dialogue and unity of purpose.

On our website we should have a teachers exchange section and a chat room for teachers who want to discuss something on our website. Two people offered to help translate Japanese Soka Researchers/Educators articles into English and Portuguese. Student's global perspectives projects results can be included in a database under "Towards the UN of Education."

We need to intensify Makiguchi's "humanitarian competition," - the endeavor to achieve individual and social goals through invisible moral influence, rather than military force or naked economic power. To raise youthful global leaders who understand the value of "humanitarian competition" in many fields of society. We can discuss this new idea of competition with our students and bring our conclusions to our forums and then compile them on our website. We 'old ones' don't actually know what the children need to learn or how to teach it, so we have to teach them to find things out for themselves and to work together.

Use the SGI discussion meeting format in school and the community. We can encourage dialogue and intercultural dialogue in the classroom and in our SGI and neighborhoods. Many students are not used to working in groups and are very competitive in the wrong way. We can change this through the discussion meeting format.

How do WE become the change you want to see --- and create a better relationship with your "enemy." Not your problem student or your problem colleague – but the people who YOU have animosity towards, even if unconsciously. Here our SGI activities become the place to create this change and polish our lives. We can introduce more global perspectives in our own SGI discussion meetings. We can polish our ability to employ the right expedient mean at our discussion meetings.

We need to begin to change the fundamental structure in our method of teaching so that our methods enable sustainable learning. To establish some subjects for the future global citizen along with teacher training in sustainable education methods. Development is not just about having more but also about being more, our spiritual growth as individuals and as a community with shared values. Makiguchi pioneered the approach of teaching children by providing them with keys so they could unlock the treasure chest of knowledge by themselves. He wanted teachers to use the school environment to develop the social awareness of the pupils and create a micro-community to simulate the global society of humanitarian competition, which was his ultimate aim. This is Sensei's "wisdom to perceive the interconnectedness of all life and living". Such children are like an additional piece of wholeness completing the world jigsaw puzzle. This is guiding of the process of enabling "Hosshaku Kempon" in each student.

Keeping up with Sensei's Proposals
Sensei is local, national AND global. We need to be this as well if we seriously want to build this UN of Ed. Not just in our classrooms but in our own national education issues but also we need to become familiar with the international community. We need to be good teachers, good citizens and then also good global citizens. We have to think like Sensei, like Kumarajiva, like Nichiren, to have the same effect as they have. How can we gather our ideas for the United Nations of Education around Sensei's ever persistent call to action? The best way is through forums like this and immediate actions in our own communities. When a teacher makes a difference for the students, people will be interested in that teacher strategy and this is how Projeto Makiguchi grew in Brazil and is still making a difference in the society. We have to put together the experiences we are having around the world and make them part of a big proposal to United Nations volunteering ourselves to keep working on the successful projects. I think that is what Sensei expects from us. Let's move on and make this a great step to a peaceful and really humanistic world.

In the 2008 Peace Proposal, Sensei says - an international conference--organized by civil society and specifically dedicated to the theme of human rights education should be held. We could connect or stay abreast of this development.

Global Education Ideas In The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, Vol. 3, page 26-27 are passages in the discussion about the seven treasures and the treasure tower. "Ikeda: Practicing faith means to lead the most correct life. Acquiring wisdom means attaining the most profound understanding of human nature. The treasure tower exists in human life. To understand it in these terms is to see beyond our apparent differences and perceive the sanctity of life itself. The reason for this is that on the most essential level of life, there is not such thing as superior or inferior. Respect for the individual is the very soul of democracy. Democracy's success hinges on whether people can recognize the lives of all as equally sacred. Everything depends on this.

"Indifference in the face of the threat of nuclear weapons is the greatest enemy to peace..." The first step that all of us should take is the one to move the world towards the abolishment of nuclear weapon. We should work to put this in the constitution of each country. Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb, said that what each of us can do, is to prevent brutality against children. This will effect and prevent the development and spread of these devastating weapons. If there was a UN of Education, we could share a collective knowledge and nurture generations of students at every level to become contributive global citizens. Although it takes time, young people raised with the understanding of the dignity of each life will naturally be able to develop programs that replenish the planet and abolish nuclear weapons. The story of Sadako and the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb and making Crane Origami for Hiroshima could be a simple way to begin.

http://www.sadako.org/

Procurando construir uma comunidade de vida através da educação humanista

SEIN Newsletter
Volume VI, Edição 1

Soluções da Educação Sustentável
por Jill Rees, United Kingdom

Em 2003, eu estava trabalhando como Chefe do Departamento de escola, numa pequena cidade um tanto depressiva e deteriorada no Reino Unido, que não tinha sido aprovada nas inspeções realizadas e encontrava-se então funcionando sob medidas especiais. Isso foi ótimo para mim, uma vez que significava que eu poderia montar o departamento como eu achasse adequado. Os professores eram todos novos, e era minha responsabilidade treiná-los. O governo também tinha trazido para a escola dois programas que eram fantásticos: o National Framework (Parâmetros Nacionais) e o Key Stage 3 Strategy (Estratégia-Chave em Nível 3). Eu tinha estado em sala de aula por 3 anos e estava começando a sentir que eu sabia o que estava fazendo. Por seis meses, eu tinha participado de sessões mensais na Divisão Educacional Soka do Reino Unido na nossa sede nacional em Taplow Court e tinha lido o Soka Education Newsletter (Boletim da Educação Soka) na internet.

Tal como eu tinha entendido, a educação Soka significava respeitar cada indivíduo e adotar como objetivo principal da educação a felicidade de cada criança. Obviamente, felicidade é algo difícil de definir e é diferente para cada pessoa, mas ela certamente envolve seguir as orientações do Sensei sobre como fazer o melhor e determinar atingir a vitória em tudo aquilo que nos pusemos a fazer. Transmitir essa atitude para as crianças naquela escola com desempenho ruim, muitas das quais não tinham ambição e freqüentemente com muito pouca auto-estima, parecia difícil. Algumas das crianças vinham de lares muito pobres e algumas vezes violentos e abusivos. Suas ambições acadêmicas eram mínimas e suas crenças em que podiam construir uma vida feliz e bem sucedida eram inexistentes. O desemprego na região significava que as oportunidades para elas eram muito poucas.

Meu departamento se tornou essencial para toda a escola. Eu encorajei meus professores explicando o princípio do itai-doshin e fazendo duas horas de Daimoku cada manhã antes do trabalho. Dentre outras atividades voltadas para a comunidade, estabeleci uma viagem anual para a França, para a qual 80% dos profissionais em regime anual se inscreveram, e um programa de intercâmbio com a escola parceira na França. Meu departamento ficou em primeiro lugar na Inspeção Governamental seguinte, na qual os professores receberam a classificação “excelente”, o que é raro. Os alunos mostraram grande entusiasmo em aprender línguas, fato que quase não se ouve falar nas escolas britânicas.

No fim de 2003, me foi oferecida a oportunidade de fazer um Mestrado como parte de meu desenvolvimento profissional, o que queria dizer que eu não teria que pagar nada! Na segunda parte do meu mestrado, estudei a teoria sistêmica da educação, a qual me pareceu essencialmente budista. O princípio da teoria sistêmica afirma que tudo está interligado, assim, se você muda uma parte, o todo se modifica, tal como uma rede de pescador. Senti que poderia implementar a Educação Soka no meu departamento se usasse algumas das idéias sistêmicas. Comecei a usar o método sistêmico com minhas classes, com bons resultados.

Quando você ensina sistemicamente, suas ações como professor são baseadas na idéia de que a classe é um sistema, e que outras áreas freqüentemente desconhecidas das vidas dos alunos também afetam suas ações. Por exemplo, a vida familiar, as outras lições que eles têm para fazer, o ethos da escola e as experiências sociais deles. Se uma criança tem um desempenho baixo, está desmotivada, apresenta comportamento inadequado ou está infeliz nas aulas, isso não é visto como um problema da criança. Em vez disso, uma mudança dentro do sistema holístico é exigida. A criança continua a ser completamente respeitada e a causa dos problemas vistos como sendo sistêmicos e não como um problema do aluno.

O professor sempre é capaz de mudar seu comportamento e isso afetará a classe como um todo e cada uma das crianças individualmente. O professor necessita trabalhar as causas do problema e encontrar uma solução adequada. Isso nem sempre é possível, uma vez que o professor pode não ter informação ou não foi capaz de perceber a verdadeira natureza do problema. Contudo, qualquer mudança no comportamento do professor, provocará mudança no comportamento dos alunos. Ou o problema será resolvido ou ele mudará de modo que o professor possa ter uma idéia melhor do que está acontecendo. O professor assume total responsabilidade pelo problema e age mudando a situação usando os princípios da prática budista. Ao incrementar seu estado de vida, ao compreender e se dispor a lidar com as dificuldades que enfrentamos no processo de ensinar, o professor pode afetar soluções humanistas. Percebi que essas são idéias budistas de causa e efeito e da interconectividade de todos os fenômenos.

Assim, ao criar mudanças sistêmica em sala de aula, fui capaz de envolver todos e senti que cada aluno estava agindo como queriam e assumindo controle do seu próprio jeito de aprender. No início, contudo, não compreendi como isso realmente funcionava. O que estava acontecendo que possibilitava que crianças com problemas muito sérios se tornassem felizes e encontrassem confiança em suas habilidades de tal forma que os resultados de suas avaliações melhoravam tanto? Senti que isso estava além do escopo do método sistêmico que eu estava usando, que eles haviam perdido algo.

O forum da Soka Educators International Network – SEIN - (Rede Internacional de Educadores Soka) é sobre o cuidado e a educação humanista. Como eu participava dessas discussões com educadores de todo o mundo e fazia Daimoku para encontrar as causas mais profundas no que eu estava fazendo, comecei a perceber que algo mais estava acontecendo. Ao aceitar cada criança com uma parte essencial do sistema – a classe, como elas são, e ao mudar a mim mesmo ou as circunstâncias em que elas estavam inseridas e na tentativa de mudar as crianças, eu estava, na verdade, respeitando profundamente e me importando com a vida de cada uma delas. Assumi total responsabilidade pela felicidade delas e estava desejoso para fazer o que pudesse para que elas fossem mais elas mesmas. Eu tinha sido capaz de descobrir em mim mesmo meu respeito fundamental por meus alunos.

Em algumas tentativas em outras escolas, que eu estava estudando para o meu mestrado, professores e gestores escolares tinham começado a empregar a teoria de sistemas, mas de uma maneira geral tinham desistido em algum ponto. A visão dos acadêmicos era que eles (professores e gestores) não tinham sido capazes de trazer para o contexto da escola a filosofia que há por trás da teoria de sistemas, a qual é muito profunda e abrangente. Contudo, eu sentia que ela ia além. O princípio subjacente da teoria dos sistemas é o Budismo. As pessoas que desenvolveram a teoria dos sistemas tinham encontrado verdades que eram incapazes de acessar mais profundamente porque os princípios budistas que falavam da importância de se permitir que cada indivíduo viva uma vida maravilhosa e desenvolva seu pleno potencial não foram compreendidos. Antes de ir para o trabalho, eu fazia Daimoku para possibilitar que cada criança fosse feliz como se fossem membros do meu distrito.

Os alunos foram estimulados a pensar em si mesmos como sendo o alicerce da sociedade do futuro. Eu explicava que eles seriam as pessoas que iriam decidir como o mundo vai ser. Eles chegaram a pensar em si mesmos como sendo mais conectados com a vida fora da escola, e a pensar mais positivamente sobre o que eles farão no futuro. Se eles tinham circunstâncias difíceis em casa, eu ou encorajava a perceber que um dia eles poderão construir um lar próprio, o qual poderia ser um lar bom e cheio de amor. Comecei a apresentar algumas orientações do Sensei para jovens em minhas assembléias e foi surpreendente em ver como os garotos mais desordeiros ouviam cuidadosamente a orientação para dar duro no trabalho, para fazer as lições de casa e mudar a sociedade para melhor. (Eles na verdade não fazia suas lições de casa, graças a Deus[1], ou eu teria morrido de choque!)

Muito dos alunos mudaram suas atitudes em outras aulas também, e os professores relataram-me que tal ou tal criança tinha parado de fazer bagunça e começado a trabalhar. Os resultados foram realmente milagrosos[2]. Contudo, houve outras conseqüências. As crianças acostumaram a se expressar, a serem ouvidas, a terem suas perguntas respondidas. Alguns professores acharam isso muito desafiador.

Neste ponto, o professor Soka pode encontrar obstáculos. Esses obstáculos são a prova de que estamos humanizando nossa parte da educação. Elas são as “perseguições do devoto” que tentam impedir que o humanismo e a iluminação se espalhem e que, portanto, impendem o Kossen Rufu.

Como Nichiren escreveu na Abertura dos Olhos:
"No entanto, se eu pronunciar uma palavra sequer sobre isso, pais, irmãos e mestres irão censurar-me e o governante da nação tentará algo contra minha pessoa. Porém, tenho a plena consciência de que se eu não proclamar essa razão, não estarei agindo com benevolência. Tenho ponderado sobre qual caminho tomar à luz dos ensinos dos sutras de Lótus e do Nirvana. Se eu permanecer em silêncio, talvez escape das perseguições nesta existência, mas, na próxima, tenho certeza de que cairei no inferno de incessantes sofrimentos. Se eu me pronunciar, tenho certeza de que terei de enfrentar os três obstáculos e as quatro maldades. Entretanto, entre esses dois caminhos, o último é certamente o que devo escolher. " Página 64 Os Escritos de Nitiren Daishonin.

A dura escolha que os educadores Soka enfrentam hoje é se devem continuar resolutos na fé, até que a vitória das escolas humanistas seja atingida, ou se desistem da visão do Sensei sobre o aspecto educacional do Kossen Rufu. Repetidas vezes tenho ouvido educadores Soka contarem-me como eles encontraram obstáculos em suas tentativas de introduzir o humanismo em suas escolas e como eles lutaram para vencer. A vitória é a nossa luta continua – a realização do Kossen Rufu na educação pode residir nas ações eventuais de nossos alunos no futuro, mas por eles, devemos levar adiante. Toda vez que lidamos de uma maneira humanista com uma criança, é uma vitória para o Kossen Rufu e uma causa para uma educação mais humanista no futuro.

Antes de deixar minha última escola, as crianças da minha sala decidiram que quando elas forem adultos, trabalharão nas escolas de seus filhos para recriar o que elas tinham experienciado comigo. Algumas delas serão líderes da educação, e é certo que as escolas mudarão quando nossos alunos, por sua vez, fazem esse tipo de decisão. Na teoria sistêmica, é aconselhado que toda a escola adote o método. A autoridade sobre uma classe é baseada no soft power e pode ser tomada equivocadamente como sendo falta de controle por professores tradicionais. A criança também pode demorar certo tempo para mudar. Às vezes, as crianças perderam a confiança no desejo do professor de genuinamente ter seus interesses no coração. Pode ser que uma criança não mude do jeito que esperamos, mas você tem que aceitar a decisão da criança na medida em que ele ou ela se tornam mais auto-conscientes. As crianças estão começando a criar valores, e onde o valor não é um objetivo da escola, o valor criado pode mudar certos aspectos da escola. Se a escola toda fosse sistêmica, essas idéias seriam ouvidas e um ambiente cooperativo seria estabelecido.

Porque a sala de aula e a escola são parte de uma comunidade mais ampla, comecei a compreender que uma educação verdadeiramente sistêmica envolveria mais do que apenas a escola em si. A educação sistêmica é freqüentemente chamada educação sustentável e pode ser parte essencial de nossa tentativa de tornar a vida na terra mais sustentável. Quando eu estava começando a ter esses pensamentos, o fórum da SEIN voltou, desta vez discutindo a Carta da Terra. Ao mesmo tempo, minha sede montou a Exposição Carta da Terra e eu participei ativamente dela. Essa ampliação na minha compreensão do papel que eu poderia ter no mundo levou-me a sentir que eu tinha uma missão global, tal como o Sensei afirma! Estou num processo de criar um programa para treinamento de professores que espero seja usado tanto no mundo em desenvolvimento, onde o método pode ajudar a montar novas escolas, como no primeiro mundo onde as mudanças também são necessárias para o novo mundo do futuro.

A educação sistêmica ou sustentável é um modo de implementar os princípios e métodos da educação Soka dentro das instituições educacionais atuais. Ela pode ser uma manual de instrução sobre como realizar a felicidade de cada criança.
O Budismo na sociedade por meio da educação, que é uma das referências chave da SGI. A educação sustentável será usada com um método humanístico de educação que cria aprendizagem colaborativa para o mundo moderno, e tal como o soft power tomou o lugar das práticas do hard power, a teoria dos sistemas se tornará cada vez mais aceita no seio da sociedade. Esse tipo de método também pode servir em lugares onde as escolas Soka ainda não são uma opção e pode ser introduzido imediatamente por educadores budistas onde quer que eles trabalhem. Ele tem credibilidade acadêmica e é secular, embora baseado em princípios budistas. Para o professor, usar o método sistêmico na sala de aula transforma a atitude dos alunos e torna o ensino uma alegria uma vez mais.

A SOKA EDUCATORS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK (Rede Internacional de Educadores Soka) é um projeto voluntário criado para inspirer educadores que estão implmentando a educação Soka de diferentes maneiras. O novo objetivo do Newsletter (Boletim) é crier uma rede robusta de educadores Soka para apoiar o crescente desenvolvimento da educação humanista.

[1] Nota do tradutor: O autor usa aqui a expressão “thank goodness” cuja tradução mais próximo é “graças à Deus”.
[2] Nota do tradutor: O autor usa aqui a palavra “miraculous”.

Sustainable Education Solutions

Seeking To Build A Community of Life Through Humanistic Education - SEIN Newsletter

Volume VI, Issue 1

Sustainable Education Solutions

by Jill Rees

In 2003, I was working as Head of Department at a school, in a depressing run-down town in the UK, which had just failed its inspection and was now in special measures. This was great for me, as it meant I could set up the department as I saw fit. The teachers were all new, and it was my responsibility to train them. Also, the government had just brought in two new initiatives which were fantastic, the National Framework and the Key Stage 3 Strategy. I had been teaching for 3 years, and was beginning to feel I knew what I was doing. I had been to six-monthly sessions with the UK Soka Education Division at our national centre, Taplow Court, and had read the online Soka Education Newsletter.

As I understood it, Soka education meant respecting each individual and adopting as the primary aim of education the happiness of each child. Of course, happiness is a difficult thing to define, and is different for each person, but it certainly involves following Sensei's guidance about doing your best and determining to have victory in everything you set out to achieve. To transmit this attitude to the children in this under-performing school, most of whom were without ambition and often with little self-esteem, seemed difficult. Some of the children came from very poor and sometimes violent and abusive backgrounds. Their academic ambitions were slight, and their belief that they could make a happy and successful life for themselves non-existent. Unemployment in the area meant that opportunities for them were slim.

My department became the key to the whole school. I encouraged my teachers to work as a team by explaining about itai doshin and chanting for 2 hours each morning before work. Among other community based activities, I established an annual trip to France, to which over 80% of the year sevens subscribed, and a French exchange in liaison with the local partner school. My department led the next Government Inspection, in which the teachers were judged 'excellent', which is quite rare. The students showed great enthusiasm for learning languages, which is almost unheard of in British schools.

Late in 2003, I was offered the opportunity to take a Master’s degree as part of my school professional development, which would mean I didn't have to pay! For the second part of this degree, I studied the systemic theory of education, which struck me as being essentially Buddhist. The principle of the systemic theory is that everything is interconnected, so if you change one part the whole changes, like a fisherman's net. I felt I could attempt to establish Soka Education in my department by using some of the systemic ideas. I started using the systemic method with my classes, with good results.

When you teach systemically, your actions as a teacher are based on the idea that the class is a system, and other often unknown areas of the students' lives are also affecting them; for example their home life, their other lessons, the ethos of the school, and their social experiences. If a child is under-performing, is demotivated, is misbehaving or is unhappy in the lesson, it is not seen as a fault in the child. Instead, a change within the holistic system is required. The child continues to be completely respected for themselves as they are, and the cause of problems seen as being systemic rather than the fault of the student.

The teacher is always able to change, however, as is their own behaviour, and this will affect the whole class and each individual child. The teacher needs to work out the cause of the problem, and find a suitable solution. This isn't always possible, as the teacher is lacking information, or hasn't been able to perceive the true nature of the problem. However, any change in the teacher's behaviour will then change the student's behaviour. Either the problem will be solved, or it will change so that the teacher can get a better idea of what is going on. The teacher takes full responsibility for the problem and sets about changing the situation using the principles of Buddhist practice. By increasing one's life-state, understanding and robustness to deal with the difficulties we face in teaching, the teacher can affect humanistic solutions. I realized that these are Buddhist ideas, of cause and effect, of ichinen sanzen, and the interconnectivity of all phenomena.

So, by creating systemic changes in the classroom, I was able to engage everyone and felt that each student was acting how they wanted to and taking control of their own way of learning. At first, however, I didn't understand how this really worked. What was happening that enabled children with quite serious problems to become happy and to find confidence in their ability such that their assessment results improved so much? I felt this was beyond the scope of the systemic method I was using, that they had missed something.

The Soka Educators International Network (SEIN) forum is about humanistic and caring education. As I participated in such discussions with educators throughout the world, and chanted to find the deeper causes in what I was doing, I began to realize that something else was going on. By accepting each child as an essential part of the 'system' – the class, as they are, and changing myself or the circumstances they were in rather than trying to change the child, I was actually deeply respecting and caring for each child's life. I took full responsibility for their happiness and their learning in my class, and was willing immediately to do whatever I could to enable them to be more themselves. I had been able to discover in myself my fundamental respect for my students.

In trials in other schools, which I was studying as part of my degree, teachers and school managers had begun to apply systems theory, but had usually given up at a certain point. The view of the academics was that they hadn't been able to take on board the philosophy behind systems theory, which is very profound and all-encompassing. However, I felt that it went further. The underlying principle of systems theory is Buddhism. The developers of systems theory had found truths which they were unable to access more profoundly because the Buddhist principles which understood the importance of enabling each individual to live an amazing life and develop his or her full potential were misunderstood. Before I went to work, I would chant to enable each child to be happy as if they were members of my district.

The students were encouraged to think of themselves as the foundation of the society of the future. I would take time to explain that they would be the people who decide what the world will be like. They came to think of themselves as more connected to life outside school, and to think more positively about what they will do in the future. If they had difficult circumstances at home, I would encourage them to realize that they will one day be able to set up their own home, which could be a good one full of love. I began to introduce some of Sensei's guidance for young people into my assemblies, and was amazed at how the naughtiest boys listened so carefully to guidance to work hard, do their homework and change society for the better. (They didn't actually do their homework, thank goodness, or I might have died of shock!)

Many of the students changed their attitudes in other classes too, and teachers reported to me that such-and-such a child had stopped messing about and started working. The results were really miraculous. However there were other consequences. The children became used to speaking out, to being listened to, and to their questions being answered. Some teachers found this very challenging.

At this point, the Soka teacher may face obstacles. These obstacles are proof that we are humanizing our part of education. They are the ‘persecutions of the votary' which try to prevent humanism and enlightenment from spreading and which therefore impede Kosen Rufu.

As Nichiren wrote in The Opening of the Eyes:

"But if I utter so much as a word concerning it, then parents, brothers, and teachers will surely censure me, and the ruler of the nation will take steps against me. On the other hand, I am fully aware that but if I do not speak out, I will be lacking in compassion, p.64…. I have considered which course to take in the light of the teachings of the Lotus and Nirvana sutras. If I remain silent, I may escape persecutions in this lifetime, but in my next life I will most certainly fall into the hell of incessant suffering. If I speak out, I am fully aware that I will have to contend with the three obstacles and four devils. But of these two courses, surely the latter is the one to choose." Page 239 The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin.

The stark choice facing Soka educators today is whether to continue resolutely with faith, until the victory of humanistic schools is achieved, or to give up on Sensei's vision in the educational aspect of Kosen Rufu. Time and time again I have heard Soka educators tell me how they found obstructions in their attempts to introduce humanism in their school, and how they fought to overcome them. Victory is our continued struggle – the actualization of Kosen Rufu in education may lie in the eventual actions of our students in the future, but for them, we must carry on. Every time we deal in a humanistic way with a child is a victory for kosen rufu and a cause for a more humanistic education in the future.

Before I left my last school, the children in my class decided that when they were adults, they would work in their children's schools to recreate what they had experienced with me. Some of these will be leaders of education, and it is certain that schools will change when our students in turn make this sort of vow. In systemic theory, it is advised that the whole school adopt the method. Authority over a class is based on soft power and may be mistaken for loss of control by traditional teachers. The child too may take time to change. Sometimes, children have lost confidence in teachers' desire to genuinely have their interests to heart. It may be that a child doesn't change in the way you hope, but you have to accept the decision the child makes as he or she becomes more self-aware. The children are beginning to create value, and where value is not the school's aim, the value created may be to change certain aspects of the school. If the whole school was systemic, these ideas would be listened to, and a co-operative environment established.

Because the class and the school is part of the wider community, I began to understand that a truly systemic education would involve more than just the school itself. Systemic education is often called sustainable education, and can be an essential part of our attempt to make life on earth more sustainable. As I was beginning to have these thoughts, the SEIN Forum returned, this time discussing the Earth Charter. At the same time, my Head Quarters put on the Earth Charter Exhibition and I took an active part in this. This enlarging of my understanding of the role I might play in the world led me to feel I had a global mission, just as Sensei says! I am in the process of designing a programme for teacher training which I hope will be used throughout both the developing world, where the method can help set up in new schools, and in the first world where changes are also needed for the new world of the future.

Systemic, or sustainable education, is a way to implement Soka education principles and methods within current educational institutions. It can be an instruction manual for how to actualize the happiness of each child.

Buddhism in society through the medium of education, which is the one of the key remits of SGI. Sustainable education will be used as a humanistic method of education which creates collaborative learning for the modern world, and just as soft power has taken over from hard power practices, systems theory will become increasingly accepted in the mainstream. This type of method also can serve well in places where Soka schools are not yet an option, and can be introduced immediately by Buddhist educators wherever they may work. It has academic credence and is secular, although based on Buddhist principles. For the individual teacher, using the systemic method in the classroom transforms the attitude of the students and makes teaching a joy once more.

The SOKA EDUCATORS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK is a volunteer project created to inspire educators who are implementing Soka Education in different ways. The Newsletter's new goal is to create a robust network of Soka educators to support the growing development of humanistic education. To be added to the mailing list or removed from it, or to receive back issues, please contact Stephanie Tansey at tansey@usa.net.

Restoring the Human Connection in Education Synopsis

Volume V, Issue 4

Seeking to Build A Community of Life Through Humanistic Education

Fall Online Forum V: Restoring the Human Connection in Education Synopsis

Forum V was the best forum we have ever had. A discussion burst into the many facets of dialogue -- what is it, methods, Eastern and Western, Buddhist concepts. There were subsequent wonderful transformations of understanding both mutual and individual and a collaboration of what we need to do on the task of helping Sensei develop Buddhist humanism. Essentially, we can use the same principle of polishing ourselves and helping others in value-creating education while at the same time helping to create the dialogical civilization Sensei envisions.

Perhaps stimulated by understanding this vision of a 'dialogical civilization' --fostering mutual understanding through dialogue and enabling the human dignity of all to shine, we asked ourselves a lot of questions, recognizing that teaching dialogue in such a world as ours is not easy. We looked at debate vs dialogue, the art of dialogue and recognized how hard it is for us to shed bad habits, let alone our students! We discussed what is dialogue and looked at our own quality of dialogue, how others perceive dialogue, methods of dialogue/dialogue skill development, Buddhism and dialogue skills, different concepts of dialogue in the West and the East, and we coined a new phrase: “value-creating dialogue,”

We shared from our personal experiences ways we have restored the human connection in ourselves. One teacher, reported her experience at a unique college community that teaches holistic science and deep ecology where she learned to listen to trees. “We, a group of educators from around the world, walked for hours through a wild forest and were encouraged to let the trees, moss and rocks touch us (yes, they touched us). We came out weeping, because we had experienced a profound dialogue with the forest and sadness about the troubling state our Planet is in at the moment (the most knowledgeable scientists are now saying climate change is irreversible). “This reconnect to the world certainly is an example of a connection being restored. She continued, “Because of this recent experience I have realized that the most important thing to teach young people is how to reconnect with nature and how to develop gratefulness and to be happy. Becoming a responsible citizen will follow automatically.”

Another, in Israel, finds ideas on mutual interdependence, and teaching people to develop solidarity with the human race, a very helpful starting point in his Earth Charter meetings. Since there is no SGI organization in Israel, they find these activities a way to reach people's hearts. In the last few months, he has been privileged to learn a little about the traditions of dialogue in both the Jewish and Muslim faiths.

Sometimes dialogue is not the answer in such matters as nuclear disarmament. We should follow Sensei's guidance and use the analysis by the philosopher French André Comte-Spomville about the four domains, and focus our attention on the second domain, legal-political. Awareness campaigns are very important, but not enough. We need to raise human beings who will create good laws and protect these laws. This we must do to eliminate nuclear weapons. So we need to help improve the quality of the people quality in these professions. Personal human revolution (which includes, today, the ability to have deep dialogue) is required to have the caliber of people who can write the correct laws. “Without the qualitative elevation of individual human beings, neither social transformation nor the creation of a more positive society is possible. While this may seem obvious, reliance on organizations and the submersion of the individual into the group is a failing all too common in human history.”

To do this we discussed raising capable people. The SGI can certainly make a contribution as an NGO through lobbying and we as members can support that. However as educators we need to support children in discovering the sanctity of life and to develop an awe and appreciation for life as well. Through Soka Education we can achieve the 'qualitative elevation of individual human beings' that Sensei is talking about. Rousseau was a big proponent of this kind of teaching as Sensei has mentioned so often.

Our teacher's intent matters. This intent to awaken the full potential of the human beings under your care is a matter which has tremendous power. You don't have to teach disarmament or awareness of nature (your passion is your passion after all) to be effective in helping the world become a safer and more interconnected place. We need to increase the power of that intent -- both in terms of life condition and in terms of faith - that our intent matters. One educator from Nigeria reminded us that the effects of being sincere are wonderful. To be well connected to others is to sincerely care for them from the depths of our lives.

We had a third week where we broke out into academic, teaching and community education sections and the dialogue continued. Again it was a milestone on how great dialogue can be. We started off asking this point from the Peace Proposal: "We need a fundamental reconfiguration of our world view if we are to move away from nuclear proliferation and toward disarmament. The crucial element is to ensure that we are rooted firmly in a consciousness of the unity of the human family. When our thinking is reconfigured around a sense of human solidarity, even the most implacable difficulties will not cause us to condone the use of force. Without this kind of shift, it will be difficult to extract ourselves from the quagmire logic of deterrence, which is rooted in mistrust, suspicion and fear."

In the academic section we talked about interconnectedness especially between teacher and student and that education today forbids this very thing. Compassion is vital to overcome this atmosphere and compassionate intent is the way we can influence our environment. Implementing the principle of the oneness of life and its environment, we can, like Nichiren in “On Establishing the Correct Teaching,” influence this toxic environment in education and restore our connection with life in our community.

We understood the power of stories that connect with the local culture and native soil; of the link between “restore” and “myo.” We discussed what we meant by “mind.” What is it? As we teach how do we reach it? What is the link between mind and nature, do we define mind as psyche or spirit. We discussed mind meaning life, mind meaning “kanjin” (observing one's mind), and the definition of ichinen sanzen as life force. We also discussed the relationship between the three realms and the ten worlds, ten factors – self, society, environment and the Greek ideas of Mind being holistic.

We looked at the Western idea of analysis as a path to understanding and discovery but which can blind a person to the three realms and the true reality of life. We also looked at how that happened – the double bind between the Western fear of the East yet parts of the West were actually created by many of the ideas of the East. Finally "Since human life encompasses biological, cognitive and social dimensions, human rights should be respected in all three of these dimensions," was a way to grasp the value of the Three Realms of ichinen sanzen and the role it can play in education.

We learned deeply about the importance of stories, learning from a Hawaiian participant about the way she uses stories to reconnect her people back to their culture. We could create stories to connect people to the global community. The Human Revolution and New Human Revolution are great eternal stories. We could broaden creating stories within the framework of this Buddhist humanism movement.

Teachers expressed the urgency of introducing teaching methods based on dialogue and interconnectedness which was made apparent by disasters such as 9/11 and the subsequent wars. The teaching of the future needs to be international and global in outlook, respecting each community as it is, and using dialogue skills to form relevant education programs for different areas and cultures. Teachers can be an important refuge from violence in the lives of young people and can show real care for young people and model compassion for other human beings in acts such as providing food for poorer children. Programs such as the SGI-USA Victory over Violence (VOV) initiative can help young people develop self awareness. Earth Charter and UNESCO, University of the United Nations were also places to go for learning about sustainability education. SEIN can provide a site with materials for global education for teachers in the future.

We spoke about the importance of the impact of Soka Education entering communities as is happening in Brazil and Hawaii; about VOV exercises where students become more aware of passive violence, how it fuels physical violence and ways they can take action to change this. The Mottos of VOV: value own life, respect all life, inspire hope and courage in others can be important part of value creating education.

We described the shock of violence of 9/11 from both sides – effect on U.S. and realization by others that Americans did not realize what everyone else knew – that people did not like the U.S. government and its policies. That the U.S. has shifted the world back to "hard power." Education is going in the wrong direction as Norman Cousins said: "The great failure of education. ….is that it has made people tribe-conscious rather than species-conscious." This life state is without control "World of Anger, self-perception of people in this life state of anger expands and swells until the ocean deeps would only lap their knees....It becomes a matter of no concern to harm or even kill others trivialized in this way." That is the internal result and the external result is: “It is this state of mind that would countenance the use of nuclear weapons; it can equally be seen in the psychology of those who would advocate the use of such hideously cruel weapons . . .People in such a state of life are blinded, not only to the horrific suffering their actions wreak but also to the value of human life."

These are all ways to reconfigure thinking toward a consciousness of the unity of the human family. Sensei says, "Dialogue is both an end and a means to human understanding. In dialogical communication we engage others as different but equal. We try to enter their world of meaning through an open-ended process of communication and exploration. In dialogue, we change through mutual appreciation, sympathy, and empathy. This is not the easiest method of human communication, but it is the most fruitful. That is why dialogue is the most meaningful path to negotiating a new global civilization based on the contributions of all past human civilizations."

We ended the forum on a deep discussion about our relationship to fundamental darkness, probably the crux of everything we had already discussed. One way fundamental darkness was defined was as being so close to us and such a part of us that we can not see it. We asked the reason why it is so difficult to have an open dialog sometimes, not just because we can't connect with the person but because we can't see that nature in ourselves. So we need others to recognize our own fundamental darkness. Sensei asks us to join together through dialogue, eliminate needless suffering, and create peace. In this way, he has challenged us to broaden and deepen our state of life. Perhaps part of the function of fundamental darkness is that winning over it makes us stronger and more understanding of what people suffer. Enlightenment means the power to see past present and future, of expedient means, of infinite wisdom, and to bring all humankind to enlightenment. We possess this inside our life but have not yet manifested it all. There are stages and gateways to this state of life that we don't understand but that a deep seeking spirit helps to discover them, and a deepening connection to the heart of Nichiren and Sensei, will get us there. Not all fundamental darknesses are the same because we come from different cultures. So we can aspire to the deep compassion of Nichiren and the three Soka Gakkai presidents who are able to reach so many people from so many cultures and eternally. The critical point is the depth of our faith.

Do we ever permanently overcome fundamental darkness? Fundamental darkness - greed, anger, and foolishness/stupidity are causes which are at the crux of nuclear weapons. We went back and forth on this using gosho quotes and guidance from Sensei and ultimately agreed that fundamental darkness remains latent but still there when we are fully awakened and enlightened.

Let's polish our lives and help others both within the SGI and in our professions. And when we meet again in the spring, let's have another wonderful discussion and report our findings of putting this into practice in daily life. Polishing ourselves and helping others – this paradigm – a Buddhist humanistic value creating paradigm. Teaching this paradigm is what will restore the human connection so desperately needed. Deepening our own seeking spirit and awakening a fresh determination to help others to do the same -- is the way to help create the dialogical civilization with Sensei.

The SOKA EDUCATORS INTERNATIONAL NETWORK is a volunteer project created to inspire educators who are implementing Soka Education in different ways. The Newsletter's new goal is to create a robust network of Soka Educators to support the growing development of humanistic education. To be added to the mailing list or removed from it, or to receive back issues, please contact Stephanie Tansey at tansey@usa.net.