We can approach education with humility and good motivation!

"These three truths are what we call in Buddhism the three characteristics: impermanence, suffering, and emptiness or nonself—annica, dukkha, and anatta. I think an education system that supports this knowledge will make a difference in children when they grow up. So, we can approach education with humility and good motivation, and that good motivation means trying to bring children closer to the truth, which is these three characteristics" - Khyentse Rinpoche 

"I would like to create an atmosphere at the schools so that classes can be taught under a big tree, by the bank of a river, or in the paddy field, so that lessons can involve getting up at 3 in the morning to watch the colors of the sky and listen to the sound of silence. But this might just be me being too romantic." - Khyentse Rinpoche 

In 2010, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche asked his Chökyi Gyatso Institute for Buddhist Studies in Dewathang, East Bhutan, to initiate high-quality modern education for his young monks there. The program was to be based on Buddhist principles and Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness development philosophy, yet be sufficiently rigorous to enable students to sit for standard examinations and enter lay life if they chose to. Rinpoche emphasized that the children should learn to be good human beings, relating to the world with decency and compassion. 

With these goals in mind, Lhomon Education (LME) was launched in May 2011 with 20 young monks receiving 3 hours a day of integrated project-based holistic education. The rest of their day was devoted to shedra studies. Ten years later, the program is going strong, with 70 students and a wide range of well-developed curricula, innovative teaching methods, and creative activities.

One core focus is to highlight the interdependence of all phenomena. Through engaging research activities that explore how everyday objects are produced and disposed of, students begin to understand cause, condition, and result and to recognize that these objects are not as solid as they seem. This approach, which is based on Rinpoche’s advice, subtly introduces the view of emptiness and dependent arising. It also provides a useful lens through which to examine the ecological and humanitarian crises facing the world, such as climate change and humanity’s excess and unequal resource consumption, and to suggest potential solutions that can arise from changing key causes and conditions.

In this and many other innovative ways, a dharmic, inquiry-based approach permeates LME’s 20 thematic educational units on science, history, math, English, health, and other subjects. Buddhist practice is coming alive for students and teachers in very personal ways that align closely with Rinpoche’s own initiatives, such as his zero-waste feasts and ban on plastics at his monasteries. 

Lhomon Education’s reach is rapidly expanding far beyond Rinpoche’s Chökyi Gyatso Institute in Dewathang. Bhutanese youth and educators, including school principals, administrators, teachers, and monastic khenpos, are taking an increasingly active interest in LME’s offerings, which also reflect Bhutan’s balanced Gross National Happiness development philosophy. For example, more than 300 principals, teachers, counsellors, civil servants, youths, and others from 12 of Bhutan’s 20 districts have attended LME’s six annual mindfulness retreats led by Drubgyud Tenzin Rinpoche, Khenpo Sonam Phuntsho, and other teachers.

By: Khyentse Foundation, Annual Report, 2020