Origins 

• Reflection on the difficulties and solutions when implementing life education in contemporary education

This program offers a response to the contemporary needs for diversified life wisdom through various researches and through further integration of Chan and spiritual health. The program adopts the innovative ideas of everyday life aesthetics and applies the useful knowledge and power of practice in order to build a Pure Land on Earth. Through communication, dialogue, research and exchange with related academic fields and interdisciplinary subjects, the results and the nurtured talents of this program will provide society with a variety of lifestyle choices and the possibilities of creation.

• Offering an in-depth and comprehensive learning system for different academic subjects and for educators within and outside the education system

Since the scope of life issues and related subjects encompass all who care for and engage in educational work, the program covers multiple areas from inner cultivation and experience of life to the establishment of education patterns rather than simply providing the course contents based on the knowledge aspect of philosophy, psychology, and culture. Nor does the program merely offer discussion and development on the basis of teaching plans and the compiling of teaching materials. Therefore, this program is aimed at those dedicated to life education, concerned about life’s growth, meaning, value, and the theme of life and death, regardless of the teaching subjects. It’s not important whether the field of work is within the regular education system or not, and whether they are enterprises, social organizations or corporate bodies, all of them can obtain sufficient nurturing and training through the overall inner cultivation of life and learning.

• Providing specialized talents for stabilizing society in the era of disasters and difficulties

The curriculum of the program is based on gaining real life experience by participating in the work of spiritual reconstruction at domestic and international disaster sites. The aim is to construct a learning system that closely integrates theory and practice, and to provide specialized talents that can help stabilize the minds of people in the society.

• Developing different research and practical aspects of domestic life education

Life education is a developing field of study that integrates subjects across different academic fields. Currently, the related programs of other institutes mostly focus on specialized topics and themes, and few integrate interdisciplinary course design. Therefore, our program emphasizes: (1) Dual emphasis on theory and practice (2) Integration of interdisciplinary subjects and themes (3) Experience of the inner life and academic training in specialized subjects (4) Emphasis on communication and negotiation abilities and dialogue between participating groups. Therefore the course design, the training methods, and the course objectives all have their uniqueness.

Development Priorities

There are four main points of development:

• Providing students with cognitive understanding of life course theories and methods
• Emphasize communication through dialogue and the creation of relationships
• Establish the meaning and value of life through reflection and contemplation
• Establish the educational pattern of benefiting oneself and others