This article explores the theoretical background and practical strategy in educating critical thinking, self reflection, and finally reaching enlightenment through literary education. Education of critical thinking has so far been limited by the discr...
This article explores the theoretical background and practical strategy in educating critical thinking, self reflection, and finally reaching enlightenment through literary education. Education of critical thinking has so far been limited by the discriminating nature of linguistic dichotomy. Education of self reflection has been short of examining the world perceived by the ego. Enlightenment is the mental state in which the subject is able to perceive a truth and change oneself fundamentally. I suggested that we could use Woonseup(熏習), the buddhist cultivating method, to help students get enlightened. Woonseup is like perfume, which penetrates into clothes. Woonseup can change our dirty mind into a pure one. I would like to insist that the processes of criticizing, reflecting, and cultivating students is similar to the process of Woonseup. Literary texts enable students to experience the time and space differently. Literary texts make students meet new types of human beings and sympathize with them. These kinds of new experiences give students indispensable shock which becomes the starting point for enlightenment. These days students shows two fundamentally different inclinations. Some students show very aggressive inclination. The other students show gloomy and depressive aspects. The enlightenment-oriented literary education should be helpful for overcoming these problems. So I have established the overcoming of quarrel inclined mind and depressive mind as the contents of literary education. I propose five steps for the literary education of enlightenment that gradually reach its final stage: observation, internalization, criticism, reflection, and enlightenment. I designed the class models appropriate for the enlightenment education that takes students` circumstances into full consideration. For the education of enlightenment that can help overcome depression, I selected Josin and Kuwoonmong as central texts. Two texts contain abundant samples of enlightenment process, and include the diverse moments of fundamental enlightenment. Reading Kuwoonmong is very helpful for students to change their attitude toward every day life, and make their life happy. The change of the students` attitude toward ordinary life is the most valuable phase of enlightenment. The teachers have to intervene in the process of reading texts. They have to lead students to enlightenments as if they were great mentors.