Teaching: Day 9 – Integrating

Last updated on: September 18, 2006 at 8:52 pm by Justin Whitaker

Teaching: Day 9 – Integrating 2006-09-18T20:52:00-06:00 Justin Whitaker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“While I have been a student of Buddhist thought for over two and a half decades, it has always remained something of a puzzle for me to work out as to how to integrate Buddhist epistemology into my workplace — academia.” — Glenn Hudak (Pace University, NYC – 1998)*

This is indeed a huge challenge – even more so than integrating Buddhist epistemology into our everyday lives outside of work. By ‘Buddhist epistemology‘ Dr. Hudak speaks of something distinctly other than our Western, Cartesian, Mind-Body, Self-Other, Subject-Object epistemology (way of knowing). Quoting an Alaskan Native educator’s words, he speaks instead of being “receptive,” “connected,” and “part of all that is.”

The platform for Hudak’s concerns about being a Buddhist in academia is a review of a book by Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh called “Cultivating the Mind of Love.” Hudak does a lovely job of letting the book speak directly, telling of its alternating chapters on love and Buddhist epistemology – from poetry to philosophy, slowly unweaving the two and yet showing their interconnectedness. Nhat Hanh speaks of how love as a concept can be clung to just as much as we in academia seem to cling to so many of our concepts – and how it prevents us from actually loving the person behind the concept, or seeing the truth behind our words. “The finger that points to the moon is not the moon.”

The point is that in love as much as in life (and most of all in academia it would seem), we can get caught up in concepts and words and miss the experience itself. Concepts and words can be good for understanding reality to some extent, but we have to know when to let them go and just be – receptive… connected… one with all that is... It is when we do this that we live in the ‘spirit’ or ‘spiritual realm.’

“Spirit is that which transcends the known, the expected, even the ego and the self. It is the source of hope.” – Dwayne Hubner (1996 – from the Hudak essay)

It is when we give up spirit, that which is beyond, that our clinging to concepts solidifies into dogma. And this is possible with all kinds of concepts and knowledge, including Buddhist ones. Such solidification, it is wrongly believed, will give one certainty with regard to the world. The antidote is to learn to live with uncertainty. But, Hudak notes, even living with uncertainty can become a dogma when we attach “a telos – a grand purpose – and that purpose is to cure.”

And notice further, once a liberation epistemology becomes a cure, then like some precious drug it is possible to barter this drug as a possession within current relations of power. That is, for example, we, the teachers of teachers, may become experts on liberation, on how to cure suffering; as such, we may gain prominence in society, earn a healthy salary, gain respect from our peers, and in short, live a comfortable secure (certain!) lifestyle.

Of course, in that security we are cut off from the flux of reality: the ever-changing emotions and thoughts of our loved ones, the flow of society and culture. Eventually our security crumbles, as our drug loses its potency and we are no longer capable (adaptive, nimble, curious) of finding a replacement.

Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us to return to our friends, those who share a common pursuit. They are our connection with reality.

Integrating such teaching into my own fledgling career as an educator seems imperative. Yet I am surely amongst the worst of those who cling to words – alone, in my office, in my car, in my home, in my head. Perhaps I am too hard on myself. In any case the point will be one of balance: using words to teach, to write, to navigate the great labyrinths of academia, and then setting them down to listen, to experience it all, with others, and to share. More importantly, or at least of equal importance, will be the ability to fully integrate the epistemology, or way of knowing, of Buddhism – knowing myself vis a vis my students, colleagues, campus, and so on; rather than just returning to it at opportune moments when the fury of concepts and tangled words has calmed down. And if Dr. Hudak’s experience is any indication, this will be a mighty difficult process.

* from a Book Review of: Addicting Epistemologies? An Essay Review of Thich Nhat Hanh’s “Cultivating the Mind of Love” by Thich Nhat Hanh – Educational Researcher, Vol. 27, No. 9. (Dec., 1998), pp. 43-47. (accessible at this address if you have JSTOR access)

Uncategorized

Previous Post

September 18, 2006

Buddhism: in the news (2)

Next Post

September 26, 2006 Buddhism: in the news (3)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Academia Activism American Buddhism Art Book review Buddhism Buddhism Today Buddhist Ethics Burma/Myanmar China Christianity Commodification Environment Gender Happiness Health Humor India Interfaith Islam Japanese Buddhism Kant Media / News Meditation mindfulness Photography Poetry Politics quicktakes Running Teaching Technology Thailand Theism/Atheism Theravada Tibet Tibetan Buddhism Travels Uncategorized Unitarian Universalism video Western Philosophy Zen

Select a Month June 2021 January 2021 November 2020 August 2020 July 2020 March 2020 January 2020 October 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 November 2004 September 2004 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz