Pure Awareness and Human Development

Beyond Pedagogical Perspective

Abstract

This essay attempts to scrutinize the serious limitations within educational thinking and to provide a fundamentally different perspective that goes beyond these limitations, by drawing upon Eastern thought such as Zen, Advaita Vedanta, and Dzogchen. While educational thinking attempts to describe progressive changes in human development, these Eastern perspectives are identical in addressing ultimate reality as one that involves no change. Therefore, this essay regards educational thinking as an“ intraworld” perspective and such Eastern thought as an “extra-world” perspective. In addition, the extra-world reality is called“ pure awareness.” To expound the extra-world pure awareness, this essay explores some of the essential thoughts offered by Huang Po, Linchi, and Bankei from Zen, Ashtavakra, Sri Shankara, Sri Ramana Maharshi, and Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj from Advaita Vedanta, and Namkhai Norbu from Dzogchen. It goes on to highlight several attempts to integrate these two seemingly opposing perspectives. In conclusions, it points out the danger of reducing an extra-world perspective to an intra-world perspective. Hence, it argues for the importance of establishing the extra-world perspective in order to recollect the wholeness of reality.