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我們教育的根本目標，是在孩子童年時，向他們灌輸做好人的基本準則，教他們如何成為國家棟樑，如何幫助社會，和如何去向善。因為我們想要幫助社會和人類，我們教學生去除貪、瞋、癡；幫助他們培養一個好的人品；教導他們自利利他；教他們培養德行，而不是只注意於怎樣掙錢。
我們學校也教世間的課程，但只是作為在教他們成為好人時打下堅固基礎的一部分。這個基礎將使他們超越世間法，所以我覺得辦學校比我自己的生命都來得重要。
宣公上人
育良中學、培德小學及萬佛聖城創辦人
這段節錄自上人對教育者的開示，很恰當地總結了我們投身中小學教育的目的。興辦佛學教育是上人三大願之一，另兩大願是在西方發展僧團，並翻譯佛經。
我在男校高中教書，迄今已有十二年；我們已然看到：於上人設立的崇高目標，我們已有長足的進展。1994年我剛開始教書時，顏亞日先生是校長；在他做校長期間，我們建立起一套每週開一次教職員會議的強有力決策體制，來處理校務。凡是熱心學校的老師，都不會錯過這些會議；逐漸地，我們學會了如何一起工作，並以共識來作決策。這一體系，行之已有十二年，至今運作良好。
顏亞日任校長大約五年，李茂昌博士繼任，約有四年；以後李博士出家，成受具戒比丘，也就是現在的近永師。他任職期間，學校課程設置更為系統化；而且史無前例的，學校所有課程呈報給加州大學，並得到認可。這個重要的一步，使我們的課程，能得到美國所有大專院校的認可，確保了我校畢業生能申請到美國任何一所大學。
最近三年，巴斯帝克先生任校長；學校在進行逐步取得「美西大專院校協會」的檢定與認可。兩年前，我們完成了最重要的第一步，成為了該協會的檢定候選者。下學年終（2007年6月），我們可以完成我們三年的文件自我研判，而獲得全面合格；我相信，我們將成為全美第一所通過全面檢定的佛教高中。
在一所這樣小班制的學校教書（我教的班有五到十五名學生），一直是種樂趣。雖然我最專長的是教一學年課程的「佛學」，我也教一學年的「世界宗教」；在必要時，我也教過初中的佛學/道德及高中的「美國政府」。
根據上人辦學目的的指導願景，我發現要灌輸學生做好人的基本道德，就首先要自己修行。例如，如果我不高興或對人發脾氣時，就難以教導學生彼此和睦相處。老師以身作則很重要。假使一個人能經由參與廟上日常儀式及堅持個人精神修持的日常功課，而打下一個堅固基礎，其好處良多。上人總是要我們不要忽略自己的「功課」──亦即個人日常的精神修持；尤其是他教我們的慈悲法。
在給一群相當聰明的十至十二年級學生上課時，我發現很富挑戰性，同時也是樂事一樁，並且收穫豐碩。很早我就發現，面對學生，自己必須保持一個標準：即完全誠實，敞開心胸。如果你想隱藏甚麼的話，他們會很快看穿你的假面具。尤其是對於一個出家眾來教「佛學」課與「世界宗教」課，他們期許這個老師持身甚高，能達到上人所教導那樣的人品。雖然我們可能遇到困境，我發現：師生互換一下立場，對雙方都很好。我想不出有什麼比這個更好的方法，在發展自己修持與栽培品德的同時，又能幫助他人（學生）「向善」──正如上人所說的。
如果本校畢業生學術優秀，卻沒有好品德，那我們教育就失敗了。我們成功與否，取決於走出校門的學生能否做仁德的表率。雖然要達到這一目標，我們仍然有許多工作要做；但我看到，我們每年都在這方面有實質性的進步。因此，我感覺相當高興；因為我們朝著正確的方向前進──向善。作為教師，我們現在所要做的是，在教育上投注更多的心力（正如上人所說的「盡力而為」）；因此學校能繼續進步，達到名實相符的可貴目標──「育良」與「培德」。
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Our fundamental aim is to instruct children at an early age the underlying principles of being a good human being. We teach them how to be pillars of the state, how to help society, and how to go towards the good. Since we want to help society and humankind, we teach our students to get rid of greed, hatred, and delusion. We help them develop good character. We teach them not to harm others in order to benefit themselves. We teach them to nurture beneficence and virtue rather than to concentrate on how to make money…
We may teach worldly subjects in our school, but only as part of the process of laying a firm foundation for becoming a good person. And that foundation will enable people to transcend the world. That is why I consider the establishment of the schools more important than my own life.
By the Venerable Master Hua,
the Founder of the Schools and the City of 10,000 Buddhas
This excerpt from the Venerable Master’s instructions for educators, sums up very well our purpose in teaching in the schools. Developing institutions of Buddhist education was one of the Master’s Three Great Vows, in addition to developing the monastic life in America and translating the Buddhist Canon into English.
I have now been teaching in the Boys High School for 12 years. I have seen that we have made much progress in achieving the very lofty goals set by the Master. When I first began to teach in 1994, Mr. Agis Gan was the principal. During his tenure as the principal we developed a very strong system of taking care of the business of the school by holding weekly faculty and staff meetings. Those who were most devoted to the school never missed this meeting. Over time we learned how to work together and make decisions on a consensus basis. It has been 12 years since this practice was first set up, and it continues to serve the school very well.
After Mr. Agis Gan served as principal for about 5 years, then Dr. M. C. Lee served as the principal for about 4 years. Dr. Lee has since become a fully ordained Bhikshu, and is now known as Jin Yong Shr. During his tenure the curriculum became more developed and for the first time, all of our courses were submitted to and approved by the University of California system. That very important move enabled our courses to be recognized by all the colleges and universities in the United States. This helped to insure that all of our graduates would have the potential to attend any college in America.
Now during the last three years that Mr. Lewis “Mack” Bostick has been serving as principal, we had started the process of receiving accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). Two years ago we completed the first and most important step of becoming a Candidate for Accreditation. And by the end of next school year (June of 2007) we will have completed our three-year self-study document and will become fully accredited. I believe that will make us the first fully accredited Buddhist high school in the United States.
It has been a pleasure to teach in a school with such small classes; my classes range in size from 5 to 15 students. Although my area of greatest ability is teaching the one-year course on Buddhism, I also teach a one-year World Religions course and have taught the Junior High Buddhist/Virtue Studies class and Senior High US Government when needed.
Based on the Master’s guiding vision of what the school’s purpose is, I have found that in order to inculcate the basic virtues of being a good human being, one must first cultivate one’s own self. For example, it is difficult to teach the students to be kind and harmonious with other students, if I myself get upset or angry with others. It is so important for the teacher to be a good model to the students. And it helps so much, if one has a solid grounding in spiritual cultivation by attending the daily ceremonies and adhering to the daily program of one’s own personal spiritual practices. The Master would always say never neglect your “homework” meaning one’s own daily spiritual practices, especially the “dharmas of compassion” that he taught us.
When teaching a group of pretty bright 10th to 12th graders in a small classroom setting, I find it to be very challenging, joyful and rewarding. I learned early on that one must maintain a standard of total honesty and openness to the students. They quickly see through any façade that one may wish to hide behind. And for a monastic teaching Buddhism and World Religions, they expect one to maintain a very high standard of integrity in accordance with the Venerable Master’s teachings. Although we may stumble at times, I find that the interchange between the teacher and students serves both very well. I cannot think of a better way to develop one’s own spiritual practice and virtue, and at the same time help others—the students—to, as the Master said, “go towards the good.”
If the students who graduate from our school are outstanding academically, but do not have good character, then we have failed. Our success is measured by having the students who go to our school leave here as exemplars of integrity and virtue. Although we still have much more work to do to achieve this goal, I see that we have made real progress in this respect every year. Thus I feel quite gratified that we are going in the right direction—towards the good. All we need to do is to expend our effort and energy in our work as educators (as the Master would say, “try your best”) so the school will continue to progress towards the goal of being truly worthy of the names Instilling Goodness and Developing Virtue.
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