How is Buddhism integrated into a contemporary Australian education?

Buddhism has developed into two traditions with Theravada being the oldest canon, and the Mahayana having been developed further from these foundation teachings. The Buddha’s teachings are inclusive, allow diversity and have a fluidity that has embraced the emergence of these two major traditions. At the Dharma School we recognise these different traditions. The school founders are from the Mahayana tradition which is why many of our practices at the school reflect elements of this approach. All of the traditions of Buddhism abide in the teachings of the Buddha that originated in Northern India in about 560BCE, spreading throughout the world across the centuries until at its peak of dispersion, a third of the population of the world identified as being Buddhist.

As Buddhism took root in different countries, it adapted to different cultures without sacrificing its basic principles. This resulted in the development of several forms or basic principles. Many of these schools have now spread to the West. In our state of Victoria in Australia, we have 14 different cultural groups who follow the Buddhist tradition.

The Buddha taught from his own direct experience, and his teachings which are called the Dharma, become a guide for others to also realise that understanding and awakening. In this way the Dharma is not an ideology or a religion in the conventional sense, but rather an invitation to embark on a journey of experiential learning – that requires individual responsibility, discernment, and practice. It is this experiential inquiry approach that holds Buddhism in good stead as a model for inner development in a modern education setting, as a graduated path of mental development that can guide individuals from ignorance to full awakening. Over 2,500 years ago in India, Prince Siddhartha Gautama became a Buddha (meaning awakened or able to understand). He realised that a complete end to suffering and dissatisfaction is possible.

The Buddha recognised that despite myriad individual differences, all beings have mind that is in its nature, pure and luminous, and so all beings have the same potential for understanding and awakening. Unhelpful habits and misperceptions of a causal, everchanging and interconnected world cloud this essential quality. When the Buddha became Enlightened he found the answer to the question of why there is unhappiness and suffering in the world and these teachings became known as the 4 Noble Truths.