How are educational encounters understood, experienced, and lived? How are they conceptualized? How do they shape our being in and of the world? In this time of apparent distance and disconnect, this volume emphasizes the role of contact and connectedness in education, above all by understanding education as encounters, as embodied, sensory…

Transformative learning theory has provided a sound theoretical base for adult education's Western and Eastern academic field. This article aims to introduce the mandala model of transformative learning by transferring Mezirow's theory of perspective transformation onto a mandala map. In the mandala model, the learning agent exercises two…

Purpose: First, the article offers a critical examination of the Deweyan conception of "common faith" in the context of climate change. Second, the article explores the conceptual linkages among the Confucian conception of the human-nature unity, the Buddhist doctrine of "no-self," and the Deweyan conception of common faith.…

This article proposes a theoretical framework for research and pedagogy development in the context of education for sustainable development (ESD). It combines transformative learning theory with elements drawn from Buddhist and other Eastern spiritual perspectives. Firstly, it outlines the ESD context and its current gaps. Secondly, it analyzes…

The exponential growth of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) in recent years has resulted in a marketisation and commodification of practice--popularly labeled "McMindfulness"--which divorces mindfulness from its spiritual and ethical origins in Buddhist traditions. Such commodification is criticized by utilising ideas and insights…

In this article, the authors introduce and explicate Daisaku Ikeda's contributions to peace education. Ikeda is a Buddhist leader, peacebuilder, school founder, and prolific author whose six decades of contributions to peace education have had a global impact in practice but have remained unexamined in the extant, particularly Anglophone,…

Socrates' view of knowledge, Jesus' conception of love, Confucius' idea of virtue and Buddha's path of emptiness provide valuable insights and guiding principles to help us achieve a well-rounded education. Each of these individuals caused a transformation in the individual and collective lives of their followers and their respective societies…