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a correlation between one’s environment and enlightenment, but I do feel confident in stating
unequivocally that the students I’ve met at Putai have, in most cases, been much easier to
communicate with than students in other academic settings, and it is this fact that causes me
to wonder if there is something psychologically therapeutic about the Putai environment.

The third and final reason for my appreciation of Putai is that, simply put, I believe
the practice of mindfulness helps students understand the value of nature much more than
other ideological views. Buddhism’s practice of compassion and loving kindness and
its transformation of the mind’s ‘subject-object’ or ‘self-other’ dualisms helps us to see
ourselves, not apart from nature but instead a part of it (Bai, H. and Scott, G, 2009). The
importance of this difference should be obvious today as we find ourselves groping for
answers to serious environmental issues that are threatening our habitat. If each and every
one of us does not become more serious about protecting nature, it won’t really matter what
sort of educational approaches we deem important because our planet will die under the
heavy weight of our greed and ignorance.

Master Wei Chueh in Dharma Talks makes it clear: “If the starting point is not true, the
path to the goal will be convoluted” (Dharma Talks, Chan Master Wei Chueh, 2009). My
goal is simple enough – I want to teach and to be happy in my teaching; therefore, I desire to
be on the path less convoluted.

Notes:
Bai, H. and Scott, G, 2009; Touching the Earth with

the Heart of the Enlightened Mind: The Buddhist
Practice of Mindfulness for Environmental
Protection: Canada Journal of Environmental
Protection, 14. Simon Fraser University.
Chan Master Wei Chueh, 2009. Dharma Talks, Chang
Tai Chan Monastery.
Imtiyaz, Y., Globalization and the Need to Form
World Citizens, The Nation, 2011.
Wisner, Jones, & Gwin, 2010. School-based
Meditation Practices for Adolescents: A Resource
for Strengthening Self-Regulation, Emotional
Coping, and Self-Esteem, Children and School,
Volume 32, Number 3, 2010; The National
Association of Social Workers.

10 Why Putai? 為何選擇普台?