Filmed during Mind & Life Institute’s “Mind & Life XXVI: Mind, Brain and Matter” on January 22, 2013.
Day Six: Future Directions (In Tibetan)
The Future of Monastic Science Education
SPEAKERS: Geshe Lhakdor, Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, PhD
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.
Participants
