Western scholarship usually ignores the contributions from other civilizations, India for instance. At the same time, contemporary India seems to have forgotten to some extent the deepest achievements of its own tradition. Moreover, modern culture has often produced some kind of despise against ancient traditions as opposed to the freedom and emancipation of the modern world. This paper tries to unveil all the depth and beauty of Indian philosophy of education, especially through major traditions such as Vedas, Upanishads and Vedanta. (...) It also tries to show that the pedagogic message of the sages of modern India revives all the depth of the ancient tradition. This long history of holistic education in India through 35 centuries may enrich the Western insights with figures such as Steiner, Montessori or Dewey, aware that intercultural dialogue will be one of the major challenges of the XXIst century. It becomes crystal clear through this paper that the vision of integral education in Indian culture was inseparable from the spiritual/ mystical dimension, or to put in reverse terms, the spiritual domain constituted the very foundation of the educational process in Indian philosophy of education, a fundamental point that would be again emphasized by Indian modern philosophers such as Vivekananda, Aurobindo and even Krishnamurti. (shrink)

This paper investigates the concept of the guru within this important work of the Vedantic tradition. I identify some of the apparent problems involved with the very idea of spiritual teaching within the ontological and soteriological parameters of this tradition in general, and the work in particular. First, the emphasis on 'self-effort' on the part of the seeker of liberation seems to preclude the idea of a spiritual teacher of liberation. Second, it is difficult to see how teaching even proceeds (...) given what is being taught and the lack of desire on the part of the supposedly enlightened teacher to impart liberation. Finally, there appears to be no meaningful possibility of teaching here, at least in the ordinary sense of the term. I then consider some of the ways of thinking about the concept of the guru in this work that avoid some of these pitfalls. (shrink)

Western scholarship and culture usually ignore the contributions from other civilizations, in the field of education even more clearly than anywhere else. While the advocates of integral education, for instance, pay attention to the Western pedagogues only, there has been a profound educational philosophy in other contexts such as the Indian or the Buddhist. This paper tries to open the Western educational scenario to the Buddhist tradition in particular, outlining some achievements like the Buddhist university of Nalanda that can certainly (...) inspire and enrich the educational world, in Asia or in the West. Hence, this introductory paper wishes to contribute to the needed intercultural dialogue in Western education and scholarship. (shrink)