The 4th Inter-institutional Communication Symposium of Tibetan Buddhist Institutions was held recently in Guide County, Qinghai province, China. Personnel from the High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China as well as Buddhist institutions in Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu, and Qinghai discussed the establishment of a “shared master database”.   

“The knowledge structure, level of thinking, and emotional will of a master can greatly influence the physical and mental development of students,” tulku Trukang Thupden Keldro, dean of the Tibet Buddhist College, said.

Many participants believe that currently, the training of masters is the “weak point” in the development of Buddhist institutions. “Teachers outside of the schools are hard to be introduced, and teachers inside are easy to loss, restricting the level of running schools,” Liu Zhiyong, executive vice president of the Sichuan Tibetan Language Buddhist College, said. He said that inter-institutional channels for exchange and sharing masters’ resources have not yet been formed.

Wang Changyu, executive vice president of the High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China, said that his school is leading the establishment of a master exchange mechanism across Tibetan Buddhist institutions to share research and jointly compile teaching programs, basic textbooks, and basic tutorial materials.   

Wang Changyu said that the High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China has established an initial faculty database, collecting information on masters, teachers, assessing teachers, class managers, debating personnel, researchers, and torampa masters. “This is so that we can share the accumulated knowledge and experience of the masters database and reserve it for the future.”

“The information being shared by the database includes masters’ academic experiences, achievements in studying Buddhism, elite Buddhist fields, and achievements in educational research,” Gong Bao, deputy dean of the High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China said, adding, “(In future) Tibetan Buddhist institutions will be able to consult with each other and arrange the use of a shared masters database.”