心靈環保生命教育芻議

Abstract
Life education has been practiced in Taiwan for many years and has been ofﬁcially advocated by the Provincial Department of Education and the Ministry of Education. It is also highlighted in the high school curriculum. However, this has led to the institutionalization and subjectification of life education, turning it into a modular component of integrated teaching at lower levels and an important indicator of higher education, especially general education. As a result, life education has become limited to the ﬁeld of education.
However, life education should not be limited to just teaching in a classroom. Firstly, because of limited class time, it is difficult to deeply explore life issues within the curriculum. Secondly, it is not only students who need to learn and explore life issues. Therefore, after the concept of “life education” was introduced in Taiwan, a dialogue began around its integration with lifelong learning, western holistic education, non-institutional experiential teaching, social care, etc. It has evolved into something which is not just an educational or disciplinary phenomenon, but a comprehensive development of “life education”.
During this process, the researcher’s involvement included working as a consultant for the Ministry of Education’s Subject Center, serving as an executive director for a private life education association, and teaching in general education centers, life education master’s programs, and community colleges in higher education. After engaging in various areas, the researcher was motivated to begin integrating and exploring the meaning of life education.
After applying the concept of “spiritual environmental protection” proposed by Master Sheng Yen to this exploration, there seemed to be a potential inherent connection between the two ideas. Therefore, an attempt was made to identify a life education framework that covers lifelong learning from birth to death, based on the ideas and learning patterns of spiritual environmental protection as described by Master Sheng Yen. This framework proposes the concept of “speculation,” which aims to provide a different frame of reference for this ﬁeld that is distinct from the previous holistic and curriculum-based life education modules.

Keywords
spiritual environmental protection, life education, lifelong learning, holistic education