a future education project

Professor Gao Chunman (Tsinghu

PureInsight | March 11, 2002

Education has always been called the project that shapes human spirit. The fundamental issue of education is an issue of people. Human beings have two sides. They can learn to be good or bad.
People who associate with good people become good while those who associate with bad people become bad. A precious and rare opportunity has come to us from throughout millions of years. The highest Buddha law is rectifying the colossal firmament, renewing the universe, and creating a new science and culture for future human beings. Dafa, the great Buddha law, will appear again in the human world.

1. Human Beings
The reason a human being is called human is that a human being has human precepts. Human beings are the soul of all matter on earth. They have thoughts. Humans' mind activities and behavior are all dictated by their thoughts. When facing a decision, a human always thinks, "Why does this happen? Should I or shouldn't I? How should I proceed?" Not only does man have to think, but he also has to comply with certain standards. However, true standards are not created by human beings but by heavenly principles. The reason that human standards are not true standards is because human standards are formed post-natally and often deviate from the truth.
1.1 Life
The mission of education is to teach people. What kind of life forms are human beings? The vast universe is full of unlimited kinds of life forms. All things and matter have spirit and are created by Dafa. All lives have the inherent characteristics of "Truthfulness-Benevolence-Forbearance." On certain levels everything possesses positive and negative sides. So do human beings.

Master Li said in Lecture at the Conference in Europe (in Frankfurt, Germany on May 30 and 31, 1998) that: "Every person has characteristics, half of which are positive and half of which are negative. In addition, post-natally acquired notions and thought karma are also a part of him." Human beings will do good deeds under the dictate of righteous thoughts. When he endures suffering, humiliation, pain and setbacks, he transforms his own karma into de (virtue, merit). Bullying other people, harming others, or taking over other's interests will all cause karma, a black substance. By contrast, de is white matter. It is assimilated to the characteristics of the universe, while karma, the black substance is opposite to the characteristics of universe. Both substances exist in deep dimensions, forming a field. Human beings carry them forever. De and Karma determine the destiny of a person.
1.2 Fate
The two substances named above, de and Karma, will bring two different fates for humans, creating retribution or reward from cause and effect — evil will be met with evil, good will be rewarded with good. The person with a lot of de will have the rewards of good fortune; those with predestined relationships will obtain the Fa and assimilate into the Dao, cultivate, ascend and return to their original, true selves. Those with a lot of karma will be met by evil. Karma is the root of all disasters, pain, disease and poverty in human world. This is the heavenly principle. If the evil is not punished, there will be no fairness. Karma is formidable, as it accelerates the degeneration of humans and speeds up their self-destruction. What is more formidable is that karma can stain everything dark and dirty and form an evil environment that surrounds human beings.
The decay of the environment intensifies the warping of human notions and leads to acceleration of the process of human degeneration. Human attachments are the concentrated manifestations of postnatal notions formed through multiple life cycles, warped surroundings and warped social status. After its formation, a notion will control a person's life and dictate his actions. A human being observes and thinks about matters, judges right and wrong based on these postnatal notions. The foundation of these postnatal notions is selfishness; thus, thought karma is formed. Under the control and dictates of thought karma, human beings head further and further away from the characteristics of the universe and create more karma. Human beings then fall into a strange cycle from which they cannot escape - warped humans are the catalysts who corrupt society; warped society in turn speeds up the further degeneration of humans. This is a vicious cycle, a path of degeneration, and a path of self-destruction.

Education's mandate is to awaken people so that they value virtue and do good deeds. This approach offers a bright future for human beings.
2. Education
Creating a new generation of human beings and cultivating quality abilities – that is the essence of education. Education must be a systemic undertaking.
2.1 Bad Education and Warped Human Beings
As far as the future education is concerned, we have to correct the errors in education first. Bad education ruins people. The current flowing in society is like a big vat of dye. People who associate with good people tend to become good, while those who associate with bad people tend to become bad. Nowadays, bad trends in society, warped culture, legitimized advocacies of anti-orthodox, anti-moral, and evil teachings infuse people with violence, pornography, mind games, and materialism. In this way the human spirit is constantly eroded and human beings become warped.
Self-indulgence, self-importance, and arrogance are all soil for degeneration. They are the origins of people's decay, deterioration, and tendency to commit crimes. If there are no restraints in human hearts and humans no longer possess righteous thoughts and humans can commit all kinds of wrongdoings, the results becomes worse and worse. This malfeasance leads to warped education and also presents a lesson of education in history. Living human beings shouldn't let bad deeds destroy them. Master said in Lecture at the Assistants' Fa Conference in Changchun on July 26, 1998: "Parents are committing a crime when they indulge their children." Here, I understand that Master pointed out not only the necessities for education but also the seriousness of this issue.
2.2 The Foundation of Education
Can humans be taught? Yes, they can. The above points talk about results of bad education. Humans can be taught to become outstanding members of society, and it should be so. Humans are the soul of all matter on earth. Humans have thoughts, and the thoughts can be influenced and changed. To teach this is the foundation of education. Master said in "Melt into the Fa," "A person is like a container; he is whatever he contains." That is definitely the case. A human is constantly receiving, observing, and experiencing various kinds of information through his sensory organs. Insidious forces from family and society also affect a human being. A person gradually forms his life values and perception of the universe through these influences and the impact of the systemic teachings in school, accumulating knowledge and broadening horizons from subjects taught at school. If we want to rear a good person, we need to provide him with an education that is righteous and pure. We can create a generation of new humans with decent moral standards, mastery of advanced scientific skills, and good cultural knowledge. Cultivating outstanding members of society is a systemic project. The responsibility for cultivating talented people, especially in educating children not only lies with school and in society, but also primarily with the parents. Parents are the first people to instill knowledge in a child. Young children are innocent and pure. Their childish innocence is the closest to original human nature. We must give children a good education while they are little. The best examples for a child to live by and learn from are the behavior and moral standards modeled by the parents. Righteous family environments are the best schools for children.
From these expressed viewpoints it is obvious what the keys are to what kind of education is to be passed on, and the so-called educational principles or educational policies have been made clear, namely virtues based on "Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance."
2.3 Educational Policies
Education should serve to forge abilities. Future education policies should focus on eliminating evil and promoting benevolence, promoting original human nature and discarding the negative aspects of the human mind. Education should disseminate Dao, impart knowledge and expound mysteries and make those being educated respect heaven. It also ought to teach to care for living beings, understand cosmic timing, follow human moralities, cherish virtue and do good, understand science, treasure civilization and conduct oneself as a decent person with rationality and a clear mind, in an upright and noble manner.
3. Truthfulness, Benevolence and Forbearance Should Be the Basis for Future Education
Future education should embody the re-emergence of Dafa in the human world and show human beings the truth.
3.1 Master pointed out in "Congratulatory Statement to the New York Fa Conference" on February 1, 2002: "…everything of yours that is pure and righteous will be what ensures that the colossal firmament has formation and stasis, but not destruction." A human being is originally pure and innocent. Education's duty is to teach humans to be decent, know Dafa and break out of the maze, tell right from wrong, discriminate between good and evil, retain a clear heart and keep desires in check, without seeking fame. Humans are originally selfless. Education should teach people to restrain their desires and instead contribute to the public good, watch out for and eliminate selfishness. Selfishness is despicable. It is the root of all evil in the human world. Teaching people to give of themselves to others creates a social environment of "righteous Enlightenment of selflessness and altruism." (From "Non-Omission in Buddha-Nature" in Essentials for Further Advancement)
Benevolence is one of the perfect attributes of a human being, a desirable virtue, and it is the basis of new, true interpersonal relationships. Only when people treat everything with a benevolent heart can they truly think of others first, keep difficulties to themselves and give consideration to others. Thus, education should teach people to cherish virtue and do well, treat other people equally, be civilized and generous. We should teach people who are being educated to have a generous heart. Humans should not be selfish and narrow-minded. Humans should not be envious and hateful. Humans should not be self-indulgent. Humans should not be lazy and should not merely pursue comfort.
3.2 Being tolerant, humble and forgiving is the manifestation of a person's broad scope of mind. It is the manifestation of great will power and grand aspirations. It is also courageous and demonstrates belief in one's inner strength. It is solidity to truth, faith to one's belief. Only a strong person can achieve great forbearance. Only a rational person can achieve great forbearance. Education should teach people to be solid and non-conforming, do everything for the big picture, judge everything clearheadedly and rationally. "… he is full of great aspirations while minding minor details." (From "Sage" in Essentials for Further Advancement) Creating a generation of new human beings is our responsibility and mission that cannot be avoided. Dafa has created everything for us. A new epoch is arriving. A new, future human being is about to be born. Let's cheer for him. Let's try our best to welcome him!