A Study on the actual condition and Improvement measures of Laypeople Education in Buddhist Temples It has not been long since the Buddhist temples started to provide
modern education programs to their laypeople. Traditional religious practice involve...
A Study on the actual condition and Improvement measures of Laypeople Education in Buddhist Temples It has not been long since the Buddhist temples started to provide
modern education programs to their laypeople. Traditional religious practice involved praying on the fast day. As the lifestyles of their laypeople changed, praying was not enough to run the temples.
Especially, after the arrival of highly industrialized society, the true colors of religious circles emerged and faith began to decline. Such phenomenon was not an exception to the world of Buddhism.
Laypeople education is essential for temples to be properly run and to actively propagate to the next generation. Such knowledge is well-known among the monks and temple goers. As many urban temples recognized and adapted for the need for laypeople education, remaining temples learned of the importance of it as well.
In this study, the conditions of Buddhist universities operated by temples were analyzed to study the perception of temple goers on the new laypeople education. 21 Buddhist universities were examined including Jogyesa, Hanmaeumseonwon, Neunginseonwon, Bulgwangsa and others who each had launched a successful laypeople education program. The items examined included management method, content of education, education schedule and times, lecturers, location of education facilities and learning conditions and number of students.
To determine the craving of those who wanted laypeople education, a survey was conducted on the participants. This perception survey was conducted on 403 temple goers who currently, or in the past, have studied in a Buddhist university in Seoul or Gyeonggi-do in 2017. The questionnaire included motive for studying, route of participation, evaluation on textbooks, evaluation on education duration and schedule,
and change in pride, sense of affiliation, level of participation and perception of Buddhism in order to measure the efficacy of the education program.
Through the analysis on the result of actual condition and perception survey on laypeople education, a number of improvement measures could be conceived. First, there is a need for strengthened expertise of the teachers. To achieve this, we require a longitudinal support including training and R&D. Second, to expand the exactness of the content of education, improvements must be made including development of modern education contents and education programs more associated with religious activities. Heightening the efficacy of the education programs will require development of audio-visual textbooks and new education methods. To vitalize Buddhism education, there must be development of contents related to various cultures and healing meditation, small-scale team training, mentoring, coaching, andself-directed learning method. A conclusion was drawn that training of the teachers is important for diversification, specialization and phasing of laypeople education programs.