Tsadra Foundation’s Advanced Buddhist Studies Scholarships
Tsadra Foundation’s Advanced Buddhist Studies Scholarship program was launched in 2009 under the direction of Tsadra Fellow Elizabeth Callahan and the first recipients began study at monastic colleges in India and Nepal in 2010.
Tsadra Foundation’s Advanced Studies Scholarships provide Western Buddhists with an opportunity for in-depth study of Buddhist philosophical literature in the Tibetan language. The foundation offers three-year scholarships to Westerners who wish to study at Tibetan Buddhist institutes in India and Nepal. Scholarships are not limited to specific institutes nor to any specific tradition. However, please note that these scholarships are not available for translator or interpreter training programs.
The Advanced Buddhist Studies Scholarship program accepted 11 students for 2010 and another seven for 2011. These scholarship recipients have committed to three years of intensive study at institutions in India and Nepal and regularly report to the director of the scholarship program about their studies and experiences. This scholarship program is designed for people who are ready to enter into a “shedra” program where classes are taught entirely in Tibetan. This means that applicants already have a good grasp of Tibetan language and Buddhist studies before applying and often have completed many years of study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism.
So far the current scholarship recipients attend six different institutions:
|
Institute |
Group A(started in 2010) | Group B(started in 2011) |
| Institute of Buddhist Dialectics | 1 | 2 |
| Vajra Vidya Institute | 5 | 1 |
| Rangjung Yeshe MA+ | 4 | 2 |
| Rangjung Yeshe PhD | 1 | |
| Sera Je | 1 | |
| Shugseb Shedra | 1 |
Current statistics for the scholarship recipients:
|
Country of Origin |
Group A (started in 2010) | Group B (started in 2011) |
| USA | 4 | 3 |
| Canada | 1 | |
| Mexico | 1 | |
| Argentina | 1 | |
| UK | 1 | 1 |
| France | 1 | |
| Austria | 1 | 1 |
| Greece | 1 | |
| Switzerland | 1 | |
| New Zealand | 1 |
|
Primary Languages |
Group A | Group B |
| English | 7 | 5 |
| French | 1 | 1 |
| German | 1 | 1 |
| Spanish | 1 | |
| Greek | 1 |
|
Gender |
Group A | Group B |
| Women | 5 | 3 |
| Men | 6 | 4 |
Self identified lineage associations:
| Lineage | Group A | Group B |
| Nyingma | 1 | |
| Shangpa Kagyu | 1 | |
| Karma Kagyu | 7 | 2 |
| Sakya | 1 | |
| Geluk | 1 | 2 |
| Rime | 1 | |
| Unknown | 1 | 1 |
More information and applications can be found online at www.tsadra.org.
