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Intercultural philosophy and the nondual wisdom of ‘basic goodness’: Implications for contemplative and transformative education

Resource type
Date created
2015
Authors/Contributors
Author: Bai, Heesoon
Author: Nguyen, Tram
Abstract
Radical personal and systemic social transformation is urgently needed to address world-wide violence and inequality, pervasive moral confusion and corruption, and the rapid, unprecedented global destruction of our environment. Recent years have seen an embrace of intersubjectivity within discourse on educational transformation within academia and the public sphere. As well, there has been a turn toward contemplative education initiatives within North American schools, colleges and universities. This article contends that these turns might benefit from openness to the ontologies, epistemologies, and ethics of the ‘wisdom traditions’ from which many contemplative practices are drawn. To illustrate this point, we discuss the value of intercultural philosophy of education, and introduce Eastern philosophical ideas, specifically, the Shambhala Buddhist notion of the nondual ground and wisdom of basic goodness and related teachings. We detail how awareness of basic goodness and its holistic expression in the ground, path, and fruition of Shambhala teachings can open vital questions regarding intersubjectivity, challenge and reinvigorate aspects of current engagements with contemplative practices, and provide significant insights and educational paths for transformational endeavours in neoliberal times. Informed by our learning from Shambhala, we conclude with a deepened understanding of intercultural philosophy of education.
Document
Published as
Eppert, C., Vokey, D., Nguyen, T. & Bai, H. (2015). Intercultural philosophy and the nondual wisdom of ‘basic goodness’: Implications for contemplative and transformative education , Journal of Philosophy of Education, 49 (2), pp. 274-293.
Publication title
Journal of Philosophy of Education
Document title
Intercultural philosophy and the nondual wisdom of ‘basic goodness’: Implications for contemplative and transformative education
Date
2015
Volume
49
Issue
2
First page
274
Last page
293
Copyright statement
Copyright is held by the author(s).
Permissions
You are free to copy, distribute and transmit this work under the following conditions: You must give attribution to the work (but not in any way that suggests that the author endorses you or your use of the work); You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
Peer reviewed?
Yes
Language
English
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