The Milinda Program
Create a core training curriculum for dharma teachers and set a common standard for teaching outside of Buddhist institutions.
Teacher Training
To ensure that the Buddha’s wisdom remains relevant and accessible for all those who seek it, the world needs qualified Buddhist teachers with the capacity to reach across cultural and societal boundaries. Khyentse Foundation aims to expand the pool of skillful and authentic teachers by offering innovative educational training methods that merge the tried-and-true practices of traditional monastic learning with contemporary methods of Western education.
By bridging the best of traditional and modern approaches to teacher development, we offer a monastery-like curriculum for Westerners and opportunities for cross-cultural experiences, language study, and management training for Eastern monastics and scholars.
21st-Century Buddhists
Although the Buddha lived and attained enlightenment over 2,500 years ago, his insights remain as relevant and practical today as they were so many centuries ago. Our aim is to support teachers as they navigate modern responsibilities and to encourage them to consider the current and cultural mindset of their audiences.
Monks and More
In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, senior monastic teachers often act as secular leaders, managing their own monasteries, retreat centers, or institutes, and many oversee nonprofit charities or foundations. Despite rigorous Buddhist training in the monastic environment, few acquire the training and management skills they need to fulfill their complex roles. By providing courses in languages, computer science and technology, and progressive teaching methodology, we aim to develop leaders and managers for the future.
Western Teachers
The Milinda Program is a 10-year training curriculum for nonmonastic dharma teachers that includes an annual 3-month intensive. An experimental, innovative take on the traditional shedra method, it emphasizes self-study, interactive discussion, and teaching experience. We hope that our developing curriculum will be a model for lay teacher education and will set a standard for non-Buddhist institutions. Milinda participants are selected by invitation.
