Welcome to Western Buddhist University
December 13, 2011 in Front Page
Tenzin Yangchen (Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati) - Satguru & Present Root Lama of Khenpo Gurudas Śunyatananda
Western Buddhist University grew out of the Tenzin Yangchen Centre for Contemplative Dialogue & Monastic Studies, and is now a non-profit, distance learning institution, run under the auspices of the Contemplative Order of Compassion — a non-sectarian, intentional spiritual community, rooted in the rich tradition of Buddhist Dharma, interpreted through an inclusive, non-religious, culturally relevant, post-denominational and post-modern lens.
Western Buddhist University is a non-profit, distance learning university, which offers a unique academic education, with undergraduate and graduate programs, leading to Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Arts (MA) degrees in Buddhist Studies.
Drawing on a diverse heritage, inspired by the monastic and contemplative spirituality of the Benedictine Camaldolese, the Quaker tradition of interior listening and discernment and the non-dualistic philosophy of Buddhist dharma and Advaita Vedanta, Western Buddhist University is committed to an unorthodox, non-traditional and often controversial approach to Buddhist education, because it mindfully chooses to take the very best scholarship, teaching and wisdom from many schools and lineages, and strives to make that wisdom and teaching more accessible, culturally relevant and reflective of the needs, concerns and challenges of a twenty-first century, post-modern society.
This does not mean that we’ve stripped Buddhism of its important, beautiful and culturally diverse roots and traditions in any way. In fact, Western Buddhist University is one of only a few very rare institutions today, which encourages its students to honour, observe and celebrate the traditions of many schools and paths, while mindfully interpreting the essential truth of the Buddhist philosophy through a postmodern, secular humanist lens.
For this reason, our faculty and students include individuals from the Kamapa and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, from Japanese and Chinese Zen/Chan Buddhism, from Secular Humanist Contemplative Punks to Gnostic Catholic Contemplatives, religious and clergy. Governed by a Quaker-inspired consensus, and operated as a non-profit institution of higher learning, our Board of Directors represents as diverse a population as the students we serve.
We are here to serve you, and assist you in getting an authentic, culturally relevant and accessible education in the Dharma. If you are looking for a particular course and do not see it here, please inquire and one of our academic advisors will help you find what you’re looking for.
Our approach is very unique, because we tailor each education program to the specific needs, skills and circumstances of every student. Class sizes are limited, and professors are closely involved in every step of the student’s education process.
Western Buddhist University supports and encourages an open-source approach to Buddhist education, and having witnesses the academically unprofessional and spiritually immature and litigious behaviour of some smaller, seemingly profit-oriented institutions, who whine about any semblance one school’s curriculum or websites might have to their own, we warmly encourage any upstart Dharma centres, seminaries and other non-profit institutions to freely use and adapt anything you find on this website for the purpose of spreading the Dharma in the Ten Directions. We find behaviour to the contrary to be disappointingly childish, self-cherishing and a disgrace to the charism of authentic Buddhism.
