The Podcast
Episode 7: Gen Jampa Gyaltsen
About the Guest
Gen Jampa Gyaltsen is a Tibetan Buddhist monk and scholar from Sera Jey Monastic Institute, with over twenty years of training in Buddhist philosophy within the Gelug tradition. Alongside his traditional monastic education, he has pursued academic studies in Buddhist Philosophy and Buddhist Studies at the University of Delhi and Gelugpa University. He has also served as a teacher and director of the Sera Jey Translation Department, participated in the Emory–Tibet Science Initiative, and visited the University of Oxford as a visiting scholar, where he taught Buddhist textual studies. His academic work explores the connections between Buddhist philosophy, modern science, neuroscience, and psychology.
Episode Summary
In this episode, Gen Jampa Gyaltsen reflects on how traditional Buddhist education can engage with modern academic learning and science. He recalls that his monastery offered opportunities to study languages, translation, and other subjects alongside philosophy, and that an early interest in languages, encouraged by a supportive educational environment, drew him toward further study rather than any sense that traditional education alone was insufficient. He describes how exposure to different Buddhist traditions broadened his understanding: his studies at Delhi University, particularly in socially engaged Buddhism, showed him how the teachings can be applied in everyday life, while time spent in Thailand opened his eyes to the wider dimensions of Buddhism beyond the Tibetan tradition.
Gen-la considers how valuable Buddhist teachings can be brought into wider society, suggesting conferences with scholars across traditions and the inclusion of Buddhist perspectives on ethics and the environment in university curricula. He reflects on the growing responsibility of laypeople in preserving and transmitting the Dharma, pointing to the Thai model of children spending time as monks and suggesting that similar opportunities, paired with lasting education, could benefit Himalayan communities. For Gen-la, preservation ultimately means laypeople weaving the teachings into daily life and continuing to learn from qualified teachers at monasteries, since the essence of Dharma lies in transforming the mind, and meditation and retreat remain as essential today as ever, even when that practice is not always visible.
Drawing on his time at Oxford, Gen-la discusses the value of monks travelling and encountering different cultures, which he sees as a way to test and correct preconceived ideas about the outside world. Paradoxically, his experience in Thailand left him with a deeper appreciation for the comprehensiveness of Tibetan monastic education and its study of Buddhist philosophy. He argues that monasteries should combine this traditional foundation with modern education and practical qualifications, preparing monks to serve the Dharma and, if they choose to leave monastic life, to live in the wider world as well. He closes by sharing how his study of science has strengthened rather than challenged his faith, as he finds the parallels between neuroscience and Buddhist concepts such as interdependence, dependent origination, and impermanence increasingly logical and meaningful.