Future Directions (In Tibetan) Part I - Mind & Life Institute

Dialogue 26|Session 26

Overview

The Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI), a collaborative undertaking between Emory University and the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA), was established in 2006 in order to fulfill a long-standing vision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to bring modern science into the core curriculum of Tibetan monastic institutions. The first phase of this program involved the development of a five-year curriculum and supporting scientific textbooks and materials in three scientific disciplines: physics/astronomy, life sciences/biology, and neuroscience. The first cohort of monastics graduated in 2012, and the second cohort will graduate in 2013. The implementation phase of the program, which will begin in the summer of 2014, involves integrating this program into the curriculum of the major Tibetan monastic institutions. In August 2012, the Geluk International Foundation voted unanimously to integrate the ETSI science program into the Geluk University curriculum. Integrating a modern science curriculum into this centuries-old monastic education program is unprecedented and will require significant reorganization of the existing monastic curriculum for participating institutions. Geshe Lhakdor and Geshe Lobsang Negi, director of LTWA and ETSI, respectively, outlined the implementation phase of ETSI and discussed the steps that will be taken to carry out this groundbreaking educational initiative.

Dialogue 26
27 sessions
January 22, 2013
Drepung Monastery, Mundgod, India
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Speakers

Geshe Lhakdor is the Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, India. He has served as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s religious assistant and translator for many years and represents His Holiness’s vision and work at various national and international conferences and forums. Geshe Lhakdor studied Buddhist philosophy at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, where he received his Master of Prajnaparamita, and in 1989 his Master of Madhyamika with distinction in both. In 1989 he also received his Master of Philosophy (MPhil) from the University of Delhi. From 1986-1989, Geshe Lhakdor served as a translator and research assistant in the Tibet House, Cultural Centre of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi. In 1989 he joined the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama as his religious assistant and translator, and since then has accompanied him in this capacity to over thirty countries around the world. In 1995, he received his Geshe Degree from the Drepung Loseling Monastic University in South India. He has translated, co-translated and co-produced several books by His Holiness, including The Way to Freedom, The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace, and Awakening the Mind and Lightening the Heart, among others. Geshe Lhakdor is a trustee of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility, Director of the Central Archive of His Holiness, a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of Tibetan Classics in Montreal, Canada, and Honorary Professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

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