Dear Friend,
In today’s complex socio-religious landscape, Dharma centers and traditional monastic communities face numerous challenges in how best to present the teachings to both monastic and lay communities. Over the next few months, SINI will undertake an in-depth exploration of learning strategies to best support contemporary Buddhist monastic teachers in anticipation of an upcoming historic monastic-teacher training program. This program, to be led by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and facilitated by SINI in January, represents a significant intervention.
The goal of this training is to share insights and teaching methods from a blend of traditional Tibetan teachers and Western educators. Monastic participants will gain valuable tools for effectively communicating and teaching the dharma to students.
A Tangent
At SINI, if you visit our library, you will find a painted symbol of a mirror on the way up to the first floor, housing the Nyingma Treasures. A mirror is rich in metaphorical and actual power. Looked upon straight on, you can see yourself, at an angle, through the mirror’s reflection you can see what’s behind you. When placed in a particular position you can catch the rays of the sun and perhaps start a fire; such is the concentrated power of the mirror. For me, the decision to place the mirror on the way up to the higher level teachings at SINI’s Library was twofold: one to remind ourselves of the importance of knowing oneself, and second to understand the illusory nature of the reflection. We may envisage the mirror as a symbol for the upcoming monastic teacher-training program.
One overarching question guiding this training is: How can we best equip Buddhist monastics to transmit the dharma to both their own communities and those further afield? What pedagogical tools, both traditional and contemporary, can we cultivate to facilitate this transmission? Moreover, how does employing English as a medium of transmission influence the non-native-speaking teacher?
If you are interested in supporting the monastic teacher-training program and would like to be part of the conversation, please feel free to reach out to us at SINI at info@sinibridge.org. Thank you for your continued interest in and support of our work.
With all good wishes,
Tsering Palmo Gellek
Founding Director