(Hamburg, Germany) — In January 2011, Prof. Dr. Dorji Wangchuk established the Khyentse Center for Tibetan Buddhist Textual Scholarship in the Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Asia-Africa Institute, University of Hamburg. Supported by a grant from the Khyentse Foundation, the center is devoted to scholarly investigation of Tibetan texts, primarily Buddhist.

KF Executive Director Cangioli Che said that the Khyentse Center is exactly the kind of effort that the foundation wishes to support. “Very few people are focusing on such in-depth study of the texts in their original languages. While there is increasing support for exploration of basic Buddhist concepts such as mindfulness, often the objective is to make people feel good or to reduce stress, and it is often divorced from the essential Buddhist view of the four seals. Of course, mindfulness provides many positive side effects but the present day discourse is not necessarily tied to the view of emptiness. It is so important that we support rigorous academic religious studies so that the wisdom tradition can be preserved in its entirety.”

Watch this short video about the Khyentse Center, featuring Professor Wangchuk in Hamburg.