The 38 Ways to Happiness :- Artfulness in Knowledge (1)

Blessing Seven:
Artfulness in Knowledge

 

A. INTRODUCTION
In fact the subject matter of the seventh Blessing also concerns our mind but it deals with the way we can find knowledge to instil in the mind.

Knowledge has many implications both for our own life and for the quality of life in society. Without worldly knowledge we could not set ourselves up in life by earning our own living. Without spiritual knowledge, we would leave the thirst of the unanswered spiritual questions in life unquenched.

For society, knowledgeable people contribute to the quality and standard of living in general. If students are demotivated or inefficient in their efforts to study, the repurcussions can bring damage to the whole educational sector and the youth in particular. Incidence of gang-fighting between schools, student drug-addiction and ‘hanging out’ on the street in search of trouble are all signs of social problems originating in an incapacity to study properly. Even the depreciation of the credability of the teaching profession has something to do with an inability to inspire children to enjoy learning. The problem is not entirely to be blamed on schools however — as we have seen in preceding blessings, a negative parental role model or a bad home environment can damage a child’s character so severely, even before starting school — to an extent that the best of teachers can do nothing to rectify the situation.

A.1 Problems & risks facing students in general
The ideal student is someone who never tires of learning new things either about worldly or spiritual matters. It is not enough just to be curious — to learn in depth, a student needs to have a real respect for the knowledge they are learning.

The reality of student life is that there are many things to interfere with the students’ enthusiasm to learn. The student’s disillusionment can be summarized into three different groups: loss of sense of responsibility towards their own sense of human dignity; loss of sense of responsibility towards the sense human dignity of others, and; loss of sense of responsibility towards a fair economy:

1. Loss of responsibility towards own sense of human dignity may lead to:
1. Early Signs of False View: Not bothering to keep the Five Precepts, ignorance of the Five Precepts or even going so far as to protest against the keeping of the Five Precepts — as a result of the example or persuasion of teachers;
2. Expression of the Defilements of Action: Taking the lives or being cruel to people or animals, stealing, committing adultery or sexual intercourse outside marriage and telling lies.
3. Loss of ‘aim in life’: leading to a general lack of motivation to study or develop oneself and consequent lack of preparation to learn new skills, fit into society or work for a living.

2. Loss of responsibility towards the sense of human dignity of others: if teachers or lecturers fail to inspire the students by their example of ethical living, students will have no feeling of responsibility towards the human dignity of others or of society in general. Consequently they may:
1. Profit from natural resources at the expense of the environment: if the students are only interested in the short-term gains of a particular item of knowledge, but fail to consider or be taught about the long-term consequences (e.g They may pull up trees to facilitate access by profitable farm machinery, but in so doing cause erosion of the top soil)
2. Always put the blame on others: This is a very basic form of bias often arising as a result of never having been praised by their teacher or lecturer. Never having seen their teacher praise the good points of others, they assume that picking on others’ faults is normal and they are the only infallible person in the world.
3. Persuades friends to be delinquent: For the convenience of keeping company with those of similar habits as themselves, disillusioned students persuade their friends to participate in various forms of delinquent behaviour such as truancy or “doing drugs”.

3. Loss of responsibility towards the sense of economic fairness: If teachers fail to instil self-discipline in their students, the students will have no sense of responsibility towards a fair economy, specifically by:
1. Unwholesome Livelihood: like selling drugs, petty theft, telephone prostitution or gambling;
2. Addiction to the Six ‘Roads to Ruin’;
3. Worshipping Money: When money becomes the most important thing, it is unlikely that a person will have any concern for the state of their family, of the nation or the religion. It is like the aphorism often heard on the lips of modern youth that “ideals don’t keep the wolf from the door”.

A.2 Definition: Artfulness in Knowledge
The word ‘bahūsūta’ in the Pali means literally ‘one who has heard much’. It refers to being learned by having heard much both in spiritual and worldly ways. A ‘bahūsūta’ is someone who is:

“artful in knowledge” — choosing to study only the things appropriate for study — being a person learned in those subjects and observant — personal qualities that lie at the trailhead of the path to wisdom. Such knowledge allows one to be independent in earning one’s living and will be the key which unlocks the door to worldly success.


 

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