"The main objective of sentient beings in this universe is to get rid of suffering and to obtain happiness and benefits. By using other trivial methods, this objective can only be partially and temporarily realized. Only the Buddha Dharma can eradicate the entire suffering and accomplish permanent happiness. Therefore it is essential to engage in the practice of the Buddha Dharma. In order to do so, it is important to study and contemplate on the Buddha Dharma. In Tibet, the Buddha Dharma is studied by the outstanding masters in a complete and comprehensive manner. As a result, even in present days, the Buddha Dharma exists as a subject to be studied and practiced. In this age, there are many who are interested in Tibetan Buddhism. With the hope that people can study the Buddha Dharma and that the Buddha Dharma will flourish in the world, I have started the International Buddhist Academy." H.H. the Sakya Trizin is considered second only to His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the spiritual hierarchy of Tibetan Buddhism. His Holiness was born into the noble Khon family, upholders of the Sakya religious tradition for over nine hundred years. His Holiness is distinguished among the great Lamas by the vast amount of teachings he has received. His Holiness spends most of his time practicing the Dharma, and has completed many solitary retreats. His Holiness has also taught extensively both in Asia and the West, generously bestowing his wisdom for the benefit of living beings through such major sets of initiations and instructions as the Collection of Tantras, Collection of Sadhanas, and the Path and its Result (Lam-Dre).
In short, His Holiness the Sakya Trizin upholds the entire Buddhist doctrine and has caused it to flourish far and wide, throughout the world. He has been an unfailing source of wisdom and compassion for all of his Dharma students.
"Many people are now interested in the Buddha's teachings and it is very important for them to study properly in order to follow the Dharma correctly. In the IBA our aim is to give the facilities to those foreigners who are interested in studying the Buddha's teachings. It is our wish that the IBA will become a great learning center where foreigners can come and study, contemplate, and meditate, so that eventually they will be able to accomplish the great realization."
Audio: History of the Sakya Tradition and the importance of studying at IBA |
| | Khenchen Appey Rinpoche - The Founder |
 Ven. Khenchen Appey Rinpoche
The late Most Venerable Khenchen Appey Rinpoche was the founder of the International Buddhist Academy. Rinpoche studied under outstanding masters, including Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, Deshung Ajam Rinpoche and Dragyab Lodro. He taught in several distinguished institutions in Tibet and India, before coming to Nepal, where he began the work of establishing the International Buddhist Academy. The IBA is dedicated to making the great Buddhist tradition of rigorous scholarship and soundly-based practice accessible to international scholars. Rinpoche was renowned for the precision, vastness and inspirational power of his teachings. His detailed knowledge of vast numbers of commentarial texts has made him a precious, and greatly-missed treasury of the Buddha's teachings.
"The main objective of sentient beings in this universe is to avoid suffering and obtain happiness. This objective can only be partially and temporarily realized through worldly methods. Only the Dharma can eradicate all suffering and accomplish permanent happiness. So it is essential to practice the Dharma. For this, it is important to first study and contemplate. Since many people in this age are interested in Tibetan Buddhism, I founded the IBA with the hope that they can study the Dharma and that it will flourish worldwide." The Academy is situated in the Boudha area, which overlooks the beautiful Boudha Stupa and the valley of Kathmandu. The campus architecture creates an inspiring and harmonious setting with marble stairways, arch windows and custom made furnishings. The school has a shrine hall which can accommodate up to 500 people for special lessons and events. There are 10 classrooms available, as well as a common lounge for the students' relaxation and use. There are three dining halls, which accommodate up to 80 people. The Academy maintains a scholarly library which provides all the reference books required for students' use, available on loan to students during the school term.
There are 64 individual rooms available for student accommodation. The dormitory rooms in both mens' and womens' wings have an attached balcony overlooking the Boudhanath Stupa and the Kathmandu Valley. Student rooms are provided with a single bed, closet, desk and chair. Every floor in each wing is equipped with clean, modern shared bathrooms with showers and flush toilets. There are also basketball and badminton courts, as well as a garden with shaded pavilions for students' recreation, relaxation and study. The Academy campus is secured by a day and night guard. Courses offered are selected from the principal texts of the five subjects studied in Tibetan Buddhist monastic colleges from all traditions:
- Madhyamaka (Philosophy of the Middle Way)
- Abhidharma (Phenomenology)
- Prajñāpāramitā (the Perfection of Wisdom)
- Pramāṇa (Logic and Epistemology)
- Vinaya (Moral Discipline)
Each year the IBA aims to teach one philosophy text and one "pith instruction" text supporting practice. These two courses are designed to complement each other, thus providing a balanced approach between understanding the profound meaning of the Buddha's teachings and applying it in ones life. The courses cater to students at all levels of academic experience and Buddhist study and practice. This diversity contributes to a stimulating and enriching environment. It is a joy to interact with dharma students from various walks of life, many countries, different traditions and of all ages. Courses are conducted in English. Please contact the office to organize translation from English into other languages. The IBA's Monastic Leaders' Program trains talented graduates of monastic philosophy colleges to become text translators, oral translators, administrators and teachers. Our program focusses on language courses in English and Chinese, along with computer literacy and translation classes, and additional courses in Sanskrit, Spanish, administrative methods, and leadership effectiveness.
Our specific aim is to prepare many of these scholars for leadership roles within their own monastic communities, while those with the keenest aptitude for text translation will receive opportunities to apprentice within IBA's Translation and Publishing Department.
This Monastic Leaders' Program is intended to work in tandem with our School of Translation Intensive Program training courses for international scholars. We foresee that teams of translators drawn from both our Schools will form the working foundation of our Translation Department.
Under the guidance of our experienced Khenpos and distinguished guest scholars, our translation teams will endeavour to make the Buddha-dharma more widely available in non-Tibetan languages, through translation into English, Chinese and Spanish.
We hope that our efforts will also enhance the vitality of the international community of Buddhist scholars (of which IBA is part) with significant numbers of new translators and scholars who are deeply rooted in the authentic Buddhadharma, and who moreover, have the communications skills to help in its transmission. |
| Though in the past we have attracted dedicated and talented volunteer teachers, our current policy for the Monastic Leaders' Program is to employ professional teachers capable of working together under the clear guidance of a curriculum designed especially for our monastic scholars' unique needs.
Since a central goal of our program is the acquisition of English for the use of our highly-educated future Dharma teachers and translators, we are fortunate to have the expert curriculum development assistance of Dr. Clea Schmidt, Professor of English as an Additional Language (EAL), at the University of Manitoba, Canada. She has been working with us since June 2010, and has made a 5 year commitment to oversee our development of a program not only for our own use, but also as a fully-documented potentially transferrable pilot-project for other monastic institutions.
Academic English language acquisition, as opposed to conversational English, is of vital importance for IBA monks preparing to teach the Dharma, to assume high leadership positions, and to study post-secondary subjects in English. For this reason, our program will focus primarily on the acquisition of academic English.
This will be accomplished through:
- language features such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling, structure and discourse
- strategies for academic learning like effective listening, note-taking, summarizing, paraphrasing and editing
- relevance to contexts in which our scholars will be working: dharma teaching and learning, translation, leadership in monastic communities (e.g., administration; communication with sponsors, staff, and students) and western academic studies in a monastic setting
- inter-culturalism – self-awareness of world views; engaging with diversity (religious, cultural, linguistic, ethnic, gender) and working collaboratively
While offering techniques and exercises for acquiring academic English, our program will make use of academic content drawn from the following subjects: Dharma teachings, basic science, environmental science, psychology and western philosophy.
Almost no resources exist specifically to guide EAL curriculum development in monastic settings, let alone for use with monastic college post-graduates. For this reason, in addition to the careful adaptation and use of existing academic English text resources, Dr. Schmidt, working with IBA, plans to produce a textbook especially written for teaching English in the monastic college setting, for use at IBA and other high-level monastic institutions.
Our program is ambitious. It's aimed at helping Buddhist scholars to make the important leap that will allow them to share their depth of Dharma understanding with you and with others, in your own languages.
We can not accomplish these goals without your practical help, your participation with us in gathering support funding and letting others know about our unique initiative. Our present staffing will allow us to begin to accomplish this goal in English. But we will need your help to envision, as well as to support, future efforts to place us in a position to offer translation programs for Chinese, Spanish and other languages.
How well we will be able to develop each of these academic language programs, is largely up to your far-sightedness and your willingness to invest in our initiative to make the Dharma more accessible to you. |
| | Our MLP Donors and Sponsors |
Individual IBA supporters from the United States, Switzerland, Canada, France, Taiwan, Germany, Chile, Singapore and the Netherlands have generously sponsored the living costs of our monk scholars. Many of the sponsored students are writing or e-mailing in English with their sponsors, strengthening Dharma friendships that are beneficial for each participant.
Now that we have support pledges for the basic living costs of our monastic scholars, the focus of our present fundraising efforts is to invite sponsors to contribute to the educational costs (teachers and textbooks) for our thirty Dharma scholars. Individual education sponsorships can open the door to a meaningful exchange between you and your sponsored student, who can correspond with you, and even receive your visits here at IBA. Mission Statement“It is our wish to make authentic Buddha-dharma more
widely available by producing accurate and accessible
translations of important texts into non-Tibetan languages.” Chödung Karmo Translation Group
- Translation projects in the Pandita-Lotsawa structure
- Training and supporting translators working from classical Dharma languages
- Co-operative creation of necessary lexicons, philosophical terminologies
- Publication of translations and digitized Tibetan texts
- Active communication with other translation initiatives
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| Translation Projects
Khenpo Ngawang Jorden (PhD), Director of IBA, compiled a list of priority translation projects, including important texts by the main upholders of the Sakya tradition. The first texts to be translated include: • Khenchen Appey Rinpoche’s Teachings on Sakya Pandita’s "Clarifying the Sage’s Intent" (thub pa'i dgongs gsal)
This text has been translated into English and is being translated into Mandarin, Russian and Spanish. • Sakya Pandita’s "Bodhicitta according to the Madhyamaka Tradition" (dbu ma lugs kyi sems bskyed kyi cho ga)
This text serves as a manual describing the theory and practice of generating bodhicitta, the altruistic disposition to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all beings. • Rongtön Chenpo’s "Commentary on the Uttaratantraśāstra" (theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos legs par bshad pa) (sponsored)
This text is an authoritative commentary on the classic Indian Treatise concerning Buddha Nature. • Rongtön Chenpo’s "Commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra" (tshig don rab gsal)
This comprehensive text details the stages and realizations a Bodhisattva experiences on the Mahāyāna path. • Rongtön Chenpo’s "Commentary on the Dharmadharmatāvibhāga" (chos dang chos nyid rnam 'byed rnam bshad)
This commentary distinguishes conventional phenomena from the ultimate nature. • Rongtön Chenpo’s "Commentary on the Madhyāntavibhāga" (dbus mtha' rnam 'byed rnam bshad mi pham dgongs rgyan)
Commentary on the future buddha Maitreya’s differentiation of the pure view from the erroneous views of eternalism and nihilism. • Künkhyen Gorampa’s "Abhidharma treatise on aggregates, fields and elements of perception" (phung khams skye mched kyi rnam bzhag)
A clear presentation of the various factors underlying our fundamental human experience according to the Mahāyāna Abhidharma. • Künkhyen Gorampa’s "General Meaning of the Middle Way" (dbu ma spyi don)
An encyclopedic treatment of the development of Madhyamaka in India and Tibet with thorough clarifications and refutations of its various philosophical points.
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