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《菩提田》

 

BODHI FIELD

現代時空下談道德教育
Virtue in a Modern Context

鮑果勒講於1998年12月2日萬佛聖城男校會議A talk given by Doug Powers at the Boys School Meeting on December 2, 1998
文正後 中譯 Chinese translation by Wen Zheng-hou

(一)時代背景

當代思潮的本質是每一個人都是上帝的化身;既然人人都是上帝的化身,那就不可能立一條可以約束所有的人的規 矩。我們可以說是生活在一個一切都需要即刻就得到滿足與回應的世界。在此情形之下,什麼是我對真理的判斷標準呢?「我今天愛做什麼就做什麼」,這就是我對 真理的判斷標準。我的目標是什麼呢?我的目標就是,「我今天明天都過得心裡舒服!但願一輩子都能舒服下去。」這種人生觀,是十足的個人主義,享樂主義的人 生觀,也很科學化。以國家的立法精神而言,你還真不能說它是資本主義化呢!因為它很開放,所以有它的一些價值存在,如慈悲心與對環境的關注。

如果談到我們所應具備的工作素質,我們教育工作者應該清楚我們的工作對象。我在上面提及環境,是因為在萬佛聖 城的這些孩子們,還是很關心他們周遭環境的。他們是有一些慈悲心,與這個國家的學生一般相比較,他們更具有仁愛之心,他們心胸也比較開闊。

我先談談這個時空環境,及我處理這個問題的方法。我想教德育之首要條件,就是我們應該要明白我們所處的時空背 景,要明白我們工作的對象,我們要能配合這個特定的時空背景,來進行工作。

我先說說我們所要處理的問題上的另外一些特點。因為我們這個學校所處的環境,是在一個修行的道場裡,是這個道 場辦的一所正規(非宗教性)學校。我們應該很小心地,根據學生們的環境背景來與他們溝通。雖然我們的學校是設在這麼樣一個宗教的環境裡,但是這學校裡大多 數的孩子也有很入世的一面;他們與外界有著密切關係。

(二) 立威不如立德

雖然這裡學生的父母給這些學生灌輸的價值觀較強烈,但是這些價值觀,跟我在柏克萊中學所面對的價值觀有許多重 疊之處。尤其在科學理據方面,更是如此。現代的社會講求實用,樣樣事都講究科學證據,所以在教德育的時候,有一些條件必須先行考慮到。實用主義很重要;科 學的教導方法也很重要,我們需要掌握好心理因素。有一點我們一定要記住:絕不是具權威地位的人怎麼說,就怎麼樣;作學生的理所當然地就應該服從。所以我們 別想藉著權威來灌輸德育,而期望學生服從。以道德的角度來看,權威之確立,其先決條件是--必須大家事先都承認這個權威。不管是什麼樣的權威地位,都必須 有這個假設前提--大眾的認同;一旦大家不認同了,那你就失去了你的權威地位。孩子可以附議點頭地喊:「對!對!對!」但是那個「對」字,卻沒有什麼意 義;除非你的權威地位,是事先經過大家的認可的。使用權威就是一個德行問題;沒有德行樹立不起權威。光用權威,對孩子來說是沒有什麼用處的。為什麼呢?就 因為這個前提--權威的認可,沒有建樹立起來的關係。我們自己也必須認同這一個權威的建樹立;要把權威之樹立說明白,又會牽涉到很廣的哲學問題。

如果你想跟孩子商榷出一個使用權威的基礎,那得花上很多時間。我現在所講的權威,不是指課堂上或課後對孩子行 為管理;我是指教授孩子德育。我們所教授的這種道德素質,必須是孩子們自己所相信,能接受的;必須是一種他們自己內在本已具備的東西。權威,在這裡涉及兩 個方面:一方面是有關學校行政之運作,現在我們不談那個。我所要說的是另一個方面--以權威來教授德育。

任何善行,若想要人實行的話,其唯一途徑,就是先要讓人看到這種善行,是他自身原本具備的。品德,從定義上來 說,即由心生信,由信而行之,因為這是一個內在的心理過程。如果這種素質是一種外來的要求,那就變成法律了。我們說:「某某某違反法律了。」所以這兩點是 不同的。如果是法律的話,那就是說,有什麼什麼事是不應該做的;如果做了,就會有什麼什麼樣的後果。這就已經脫離道德的範疇了,也不是我言論的根據。

權威與法律都是外來的,我們所要談的是德育。德育,必須是一種讓人能夠看得見是在自己身上本自具有的素質,並 且還都願接受的;如果人看不見這種道德在他自己的生命中,是怎麼樣地運轉,而影響到他的生活,那麼一旦這個人離開了這個地方,或處於另一個環境之下時,他 就會隨著新環境而轉變了。

待續


The Modern Background

At the heart of the current ideology is the concept that everyone is God incarnate and so since each person is God incarnate certainly there couldn't possibly be any rules that apply to anyone. Basically we live in world of immediate feedback, immediate feeling and sense data. In that context, what is my criterion of truth? Whatever I feel like doing today! What is my goal? My goal is to feel good today and tomorrow! And hopefully I will feel good for my whole life. The perspective is very hedonistic, very scientific, very individualistic. You couldn't really say it is capitalistic in the sense of the laws of the country because it is very liberal and so it has some values like compassion and concern for the environment.

You have to know what you are working with in terms of the criteria. The environmental issues are there because these kids are a little bit concerned about the environment. They have a little bit of compassion. They are a little bit more humanistic than the average student in the country as a whole because they have a little more liberal edge to them.

I am going to give you the context first and then show how I relate to that. I think the first thing you have to understand about teaching kids anything about virtue is to know your context; to know the people you are working with and to deal within that context.

Let me mention some other characteristics that you are dealing with. You have to be very careful because you are in a secular school at a religious school context. You must take care to talk about things within the same terminology as they are living in. Even though this school is in a religious setting, still most of the kids here I think have a very worldly side; most of them are very connected to the outside.

To Teach by Virtue Rather than by Authority

Values that I deal with in Berkeley and in the kids here at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas have a lot of overlap, despite the fact that the ones here have come from backgrounds in which the parents have given them stronger value systems by comparison. This is true particularly in the scientific area. I think that, in the modern world, you have to come to everything with at least some scientific reference in order to be pragmatic. So in teaching something like virtues, you have to take into account certain criteria. Pragmatism is very important; a scientific approach is very important. You have to be psychological. Remember: nothing is taken for granted because of authority. So, if you are using authority, forget it, because outside authority in terms of virtue requires that that authority has been agreed upon. Remember that when you are dealing with authority, there is always an assumption with authority that whatever authority you are using has already been agreed upon by everyone. If the authority has not been agreed upon, then you have no basis. A kid can nod his head yeah, yeah, yeah, but it doesn't mean anything unless the basis for the criteria on which you are operating has been established. The use of authority is a question of virtue and is pretty much useless with kids. The reason it is useless is just because all the assumptions would have to be worked out first. You have to agree to the same assumptions of authority. Working those out, however, gets into a huge philosophical problem.

If you want to sit down and to figure out with a kid the basis of using authority, you will have to spend a lot of time. I am not talking about authority now in terms of how kids act in the classroom or around school with each other. I am referring to actually teaching virtue. It has to be something they believe in, something in themselves. There are two issues here. One is running a school administratively. We are not talking about that. My job here today is to talk about teaching virtue.

The only way that anyone can actually do virtue is if they themselves see it in themselves.

Virtue by definition is something I believe in and act upon because it is an internal process. If it is an outside process—we call that law—we say “They broke the law.” That's different. If it is a law, that means they are not supposed to do a particular thing or such and such will happen—that is not virtue. That is not the basis of what I am talking about.

Authority and laws are external. What we are going to talk about is trying to teach virtue: which must be something that they totally see and agree upon in themselves. If they do not agree upon it within themselves; if they do not actually see how it operates within their own lives, then as soon as they leave this place or are in another situation, they just act according to whatever context that is.

To be continued

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