Buddhist Studies in India

A semester of study and meditation while living in a Buddhist monastery near the site of Buddha Shakyamuni’s enlightenment.

Program Highlights

• Engage in rigorous academic classes with highly qualified instructors, earning 16 undergraduate semester credits.
• Explore Buddhism in Bodh Gaya – center of the Buddhist world.
• Receive meditation instruction from masters in three Buddhist traditions: Vipassana, Zen, and Vajrayana.
• Live with fellow students in a Buddhist community, the Burmese Vihar (monastery).
• Gain valuable research skills, along with a greater understanding of Buddhist culture, Indian society, and yourself.

“I don’t think one can receive this experience anywhere else.” – Conan Cheong, Wesleyan University

Program Description

This program weaves together the diverse resources of Bodh Gaya into a fall semester of study emphasizing a comparative approach to both theory and practice. At the heart of the Buddhist Studies in India program is the desire to allow students to explore this subject from as many different points of view as possible. Western academic models are systematically used in the core courses, while Buddhist philosophies are tested in the Meditation Traditions course.

Since the Buddhist Studies Program began in 1979, students from a wide range of schools have participated. Since 2008, a sampling of colleges and universities that students have come from are: Amherst College, Barnard College, Bates College, Boston University, Brown University, CSU-Northridge, Carleton College, Colby College, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, DePauw University, Drake University, Goucher College, Hamline University, Harvard University, Kenyon College, Knox College, Macalester Colleges, Mercyhurst College, Northwestern University, Penn State University, Princeton University, Rutgers University, Saint Michael’s College, Smith College, Stanford University, Stony Brook University (SUNY), Swarthmore College, The College of Wooster, UNC-Chapel Hill, Tufts University, Tulane University, University of Hawaii-Hilo, University of Illinois at Chicago, UMass-Amherst, Vassar College, Wake Forest University, Wellesley College, Wesleyan University, Willamette University and Williams College.