Our Journey

Over the past decade, the landscape of monastic learning has undergone significant transformations in response to global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the proliferation of online learning platforms, and a decline in the number of monastics. While some Gelugpa monasteries initially embraced science curricula following advocacy from leaders like His Holiness the Dalai Lama, pedagogical approaches within monasteries have seen limited evolution.

Traditional methods, including memorization and debate, have remained central, prompting conversations among monastic leaders regarding the need for more inspiring dharma teachers for future generations. The most reliable way to ensure the perpetuity of the dharma is through a wide range of sustained initiatives taken up by diverse groups, including laypeople, monastics, academics, and practitioners.

Our ultimate goal is to serve as a hub and provider of monastic teacher training, as well as a connector for traditionally-trained monastic teachers as they seek to preserve the integrity of the tradition while simultaneously adapting to evolving audiences and conditions.

We seek to support teachers of young monastics, shedras, lay audiences in both traditional and contemporary contexts, and in secular and inter-faith academic institutions. We serve to provide support to teachers from Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug traditions, and over time all three yanas.

We aspire to continue the tradition and example set forth by the Buddha in the very location of the first turning, Sarnath, over 2,500 years ago. Our hearts are warmed each time one of the participants posts a message or shares an anecdote related to what they learned last year when they gathered with us at SINI.