Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: George J. Dei.

Thesis (master's)--Mahāwitthayālai Thammasāt, 1988. / In Thai. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-234).

Thesis (master's)--Mahāwitthayālai Thammasāt, 1988. / In Thai. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-234).

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This study chronicles a non-modern pedagogical tradition, Indo-Tibetan (Gelugpa) Buddhist education, as it negotiates a modern, global context in exile in India. As an enlightenment tradition, Buddhism emphasizes investigative inquiry over scriptural orthodoxy and belief, making it compatible with some aspects of modern, secular culture. This is a study of the relationship between these two educational cultures within one educational institution—Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute of Dialectics in the Indian Himalayas. The text itself is arranged in the form of a mandala, which is divided into five sections or stages of learning: intention, path, inference, experience, and realization. The intention section highlights the value of cultural and educational diversity, and includes a brief synopsis of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist educational history. The path section describes specific Buddhist approaches to ethnography and social research. The inference chapter is the empirical (ethnographic) component of the study, and considers the practice of dialectical debate as a case of what Wittgenstein called a "language game." This chapter includes photographic documentation and the text of a public (Western-style) debate held at Dolma Ling on the subject of the merits of their traditional debate system. The experience chapter considers the unique role of direct perception (experience) in Buddhism, and how it can be educated through combined meditational and testimonial practices. The author explores the tendency to segregate experiential from rational paths, especially when liminal experiences of suffering, bliss, and death are involved. She concludes that such experiences strain our powers of reason and, in some cases, representation, resulting in a tendency to marginalize such experiences within formal, rational education systems and their knowledge bases. Narrative, poetic, and direct experiential methods of meditation are better suited to deal with these subjects. The "realization" chapter discusses conceptions of realization, praxis and embodiment, that is, rational inferences translated into direct experience and action, as of particular relevance to educators. In the Buddhist view, such realizations are the desired end of all inquiry. This end is accomplished through creative and direct "conversations" (testimonies, dialogues) between reason and direct experience on the path of learning.

This study chronicles a non-modern pedagogical tradition, Indo-Tibetan (Gelugpa) Buddhist education, as it negotiates a modern, global context in exile in India. As an enlightenment tradition, Buddhism emphasizes investigative inquiry over scriptural orthodoxy and belief, making it compatible with some aspects of modern, secular culture. This is a study of the relationship between these two educational cultures within one educational institution—Dolma Ling Nunnery and Institute of Dialectics in the Indian Himalayas. The text itself is arranged in the form of a mandala, which is divided into five sections or stages of learning: intention, path, inference, experience, and realization. The intention section highlights the value of cultural and educational diversity, and includes a brief synopsis of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist educational history. The path section describes specific Buddhist approaches to ethnography and social research. The inference chapter is the empirical (ethnographic) component of the study, and considers the practice of dialectical debate as a case of what Wittgenstein called a "language game." This chapter includes photographic documentation and the text of a public (Western-style) debate held at Dolma Ling on the subject of the merits of their traditional debate system. The experience chapter considers the unique role of direct perception (experience) in Buddhism, and how it can be educated through combined meditational and testimonial practices. The author explores the tendency to segregate experiential from rational paths, especially when liminal experiences of suffering, bliss, and death are involved. She concludes that such experiences strain our powers of reason and, in some cases, representation, resulting in a tendency to marginalize such experiences within formal, rational education systems and their knowledge bases. Narrative, poetic, and direct experiential methods of meditation are better suited to deal with these subjects. The "realization" chapter discusses conceptions of realization, praxis and embodiment, that is, rational inferences translated into direct experience and action, as of particular relevance to educators. In the Buddhist view, such realizations are the desired end of all inquiry. This end is accomplished through creative and direct "conversations" (testimonies, dialogues) between reason and direct experience on the path of learning. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The Swedish school and the teaching aids have been reworked multiple times during the 1900s. Textbooks had a central place and the material that was supposed to be included in the books was changed for every new curriculum. The subject “religion” has had one of the biggest changes during these years. It went from “Christian knowledge“ to “religious knowledge“ in 1969. The changes in the curriculum made it impossible for the old books to be used in the education, because they did not include the variation of information of different religions apart from Christianity. This essay investigates the differences between textbooks in Christian knowledge and religious knowledge from 1949–1990. The methods used are image analysis alongside comparative content analysis in order to decode the intention behind the images in the books and the thought behind the choices of legends, myths and daily life of Hindus and Buddhists represented in the books. The differences in the description of Hindus and Buddhists show a clear change from 1949 to 1990. Moreover, the essay shows how the language changed from an exotifying depiction to a more neutral tone in the description of the different religions. The conclusion is that the textbooks until 1972 had a very negative and deeming way of describing non-Abrahamitic religions.