March 2025 -Monastics receive SEE Learning® and CBCT® Training

Geshe Lobsang Tenzin, Executive Director of the Emory Compassion Center, and Tsondue Samphel, Assistant Director of SEE Learning®, recently facilitated a joint SEE Learning - CBCT® (Cognitively-Based Compassion Training) workshop for Tenzin Gyatso Science Scholars and ETSI graduate science instructors at the Drepung Loseling Meditation and Science Center. This five-day integrated workshop introduced the frameworks and key concepts of both programs, offering participants hands-on activities from SEE Learning lessons and opportunities for reflective practices. The workshop emphasized the integration of scientific inquiry with contemplative practices, fostering critical thinking while building enduring skills such as self-awareness, resilience, compassion, emotional regulation, and ethical discernment. Participants also gained valuable tools to enhance their teaching and personal well-being.

The workshop hosted forty participants, including 22 current and future Tenzin Gyatso Science Scholars and 6 ETSI graduate science instructors, consisting of monks, nuns, and lay Tibetans. These participants explored methods for cultivating basic human values, such as kindness, understanding, humility, and gratitude. They also learned pedagogical techniques grounded in best educational practices.

The interactive sessions provided a platform for deep discussions, reflections, and skill-building exercises, reinforcing the importance of integrating ethics and compassion into contemporary education. The successful completion of this program marks a significant step forward in enhancing the monastic curriculum with modern educational methodologies, while staying rooted in Buddhist values. As these monastic scholars take on increasingly important roles in bridging traditional contemplative insights with modern scientific understanding, training them in these secular educational programs will further deepen their ability to support the integration of these values into education and advance the global culture of compassion that the Emory Compassion Center aspires to foster.