K.I.B.I.’s primary objective has always been to offer long-term, University accredited courses. To this effect, we have run since 2013 a Bachelor of Arts in Buddhist Studies in collaboration with Mewar University. This year marks the final year of the B.A. program, with our final batch of students having graduated on the 2nd of May 2018. From 2013 to today, K.I.B.I. has seen the graduation of 16 students with a B.A. in Buddhist Studies. In the near future, K.I.B.I. will revive a University-accredited program under the academic guidance of our Director, Professor Sempa Dorje, once the necessary conditions are gathered.
In the meantime, however, we will offer short study courses to our students from all over the world. Our preliminary plan is to run these short courses for the next 3 years, over 6 sessions; sessions 1, 3 and 5 will take place around the month of November in 2018, 2019 and 2020; sessions 2, 4 and 6 will take place between the months of February and March in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
The first session of these short courses will run for 4 weeks, from the 12th of November to the 7th of December 2018. The second session will also run for 4 weeks, from the 11th of February to the 8th of March 2019. These dates have been set to allow participants travelling to India on a 60-day E-Visa to attend all the events surrounding the Short Courses, whether it be the Kagyu Monlam and the Public Meditation Course of K.I.B.I. (Dec. 2018), or the Losar celebrations (Feb. 2019) and the Karmapa Public Course of K.I.B.I. (Mar. 2019).
The subjects taught in Session 1 and Session 2 will be exactly the same; this will allow people who are not able to attend the November session to join us for the February session, and vice versa. For Session 1 and 2, the following topics will be taught:
- A glimpse into the Abhidharma literature, through the study of Gateway to Knowledge, Volume I by Mipham Rinpoche.
- A look at the preparatory stages to the bodhisattva path and the cultivation of bodhicitta, through the study of the Jewel Ornament of Liberation by Gampopa.
- An explanation of Buddha-Nature and the related topic of taking Refuge in the 3 Jewels, as taught in the Uttaratantra-Shastra, one of the Five Treatises of Maitreya.
For those of you who have an interest in studying Buddhism in more depth and enhance your understanding of Buddhist practice, we warmly welcome you to attend these short courses. More details about these courses will soon follow this announcement, including detailed information about the course content, registration procedure and fee structure. To stay updated with the latest news from K.I.B.I., please sign-up to the K.I.B.I. newsletter and follow the official K.I.B.I. Facebook page.
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