The World Needs Contemplative Pedagogy: A Reflection

December 2, 2022

Fo Guang Shan (FGS) Manila Mabuhay Temple Head Abbess Master Miao Jing (middle) and FGS Bacolod Yuan Thong Temple Head Abbess Master Zrong Shih (extreme right) and NDB writer Gil Severino during the four-day Capability Building Program designed for the SDO Sagay City at Park Inn by Raddison Bacolod last November 21-24 2022. Masters Miao Jing and Zrong represented the main sponsor of the program, the Humanistic Buddhism Center Philippines.* **(contributed photo)**

It was such an auspicious four-day capability building program for about 91 school heads, superintendents and assistants, various officials and non-teaching personnel of the Department of Education Schools Division Office (DepEd-SDO) Sagay City last November 21 to 24 2022 at the Park Inn, SM City Bacolod.

Under the auspices of the Humanistic Buddhism Center, Philippines represented by the Head Abbess of the Manila-based main branch of the Fo Guang Shan Philippines – Mabuhay Temple – Master Miao Jing, she explained in her opening statement that this four-day capability building program titled “Whole Brain Self-Mastery and Mindfulness Training for Educators” is in line with the Fo Guang Shan Founder, the Venerable Master Hsin Yun and his highest regard for education.

Given the distress conditions and anxiety provocation brought by the material reality of the so-called decadent impermanence, from the bedeviling daily social issues of bullying, to gloom and hopeless mental problems, to the insufficiency of physical plants, facilities and equipment, hounding the Philippine educational system– all these, Master Miao Jing stressed, are negative energies that needed to be addressed through the cultivation of positive, uplifting, kind and hopefulness, the essence of this Mindfulness Training Seminars now unfolding upon the consciences of key education stakeholders of Sagay City.

The decadent impermanence in this world manifests in a lot of difficulties for educators. Exacerbated by the Pandemic Woes and Worries, a new level of distractions, demands, anxieties about teaching and learning and the pressure to multitask arose.

Dr. Cecilia Manikan, global educator, “whole-brain-self-mastery” expert and main facilitator of the four-day capability program reminded participating educators that this decadent impermanence created a “VUCA World”, VUCA that stands for “volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity” or the catchall, “hey, it’s crazy out there”. VUCA heightens anxiety level from mild to moderate to syndrome to clinical depression perhaps leading to suicide. It creates and causes a lot “noise” inside the brain and mind affecting the well-being and efficiency of the body thus an approach is needed to address and to provide an antidote to the complication this VUCA can lead to.

It is the “contemplative pedagogy”, a neuroscience approach “to quiet the mind and shift the habitual chatter of the mind to enable a capacity for deeper awareness, concentration and insight. It is an approach to both teachers and learners alike, an approach to teaching and learning with the goal of encouraging deep learning through focused attention, reflection and heightened awareness.” Dr. Manikan explained.

Consciously or unconsciously, the speed of the VUCA World sends shockwaves that continuously infiltrate the educators and learners’ brains and minds thus the need for a variety of practices that are creative, emphasize stillness, deep listening and centering practices such as compassion and mindfulness meditation, and where Dr. Manikan simply ask for a regular “five-minute morning exercise that sets a fresh, calming, focused, and unhurried mood that makes one ready and open to what the day brings.”

Dr. Manikan added, “Contemplative knowing has been proven fundamental in accessing deep insights in the development of wisdom and deep understanding. It is learning beyond education and the world needs it now.”* (Gil Alfredo B. Severino)