Buddha's Pedagogy: Reviving the Timeless Wisdom

Buddhism is typically understood and interpreted as a life philosophy, a religion, a discipline, and a teaching-learning process. Buddha's primary objective in his investigation was to alleviate human suffering by identifying its root cause and revealing the truth about the world. Consequently, the Buddha discovered the 'Four Noble Truths', his first teaching after attaining enlightenment in the sixth century BCE. In the 'Four Noble Truths', the word 'truth' refers to the investigation of reality (Yun 2014). Buddha's teachings emphasized the importance of non-discrimination against individuals based on their caste, religion, gender, or any other form of identity and would not harm any species (Finn 2013; Wei 2003). Buddha devoted 45 years to imparting the Dhamma for this reason. Therefore, he embraced the principle of inclusiveness, welcoming all who desired to learn and comprehend the Dhamma (Liu & Tee 2014). As a result, he taught the path to enlightenment to achieve happiness. Buddha utilized various teaching methods and approaches: interactive and inquiry-based, question-and-answer sessions, illustrations, narrative, analytical and experimental approaches, mindfulness and critical thinking, examples to clarify concepts, ethical and character education during his lifetime. These techniques are still highly pertinent and applicable in contemporary classrooms. This paper examines the purpose of imparting the Dhamma, Buddha's pedagogy, and its application in the present context.