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Learn to make sense - study Buddhist philosophy following the programme of Sera Jey Monastic University.
Go beyond mere basic Buddhist teachings and learn classic philosophical texts such as Abhisamayālaṅkāra, Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, and Pramāṇavārttika.
Combine wisdom and method - learn proper meditation techniques and mindfulness practices from our Buddhist monastics.,
We offer lamrim courses and Buddhist meditation classes year-round.
Understand the Buddhist worldview - study the traditional five major sciences as taught in the monastic universities of Tibet. We frequently offer courses on Tibetan medicine, Buddhist art, and analytical logic.
Learn to read Tibetan Buddhist texts directly without having to rely on translations.
We offer classes in both written and spoken Tibetan, held by native PhDs of the Tibetan Language.
It was not easy in the 8th century. Leaving their snowy homeland behind, Tibetan monks travelled to hot India in order to study under the great Buddhist scholars at Nalanda University.
First they had to learn Sanskrit, in which most of Mahayana Buddhist literature was written. Their end goal was to translate these scriptures into Tibetan and bring them back home.
These monks knew their translations had to be good. Everything depended on their ability to carry over the teachings into the Tibetan language. Besides learning Sanskrit, they also had to become realised masters of the Buddhist doctrine. It was a great challenge.
Thanks to their efforts, Tibetan Buddhism continues to prosper to this very day. Inspired by such great scholars, Scholastic Institute Chokyi Gyaltsen – SICGU (see-gyu) was established.
Following the inspirational example of the ancient Tibetans, our University’s mission is twofold:
Produce accurate English translations of Tibetan Buddhist philosophical texts. Distribute and teach these translated texts to students, following the curriculum of Sera Jey Monastery. As a student of SICGU, you are able to study the Dharma in its entirety – and you don’t even have to pack up and travel all the way to India like the ancient Tibetans.
We are building a Buddhist University in Connecticut USA to serve the needs of everyone interested in pursuing in-depth Buddhist studies as taught in the Tibetan tradition.
You may have faced a common problem in the past. You try to study Buddhist philosophy, but find it hard when every book seems to be using different terms to explain things. It is also difficult to see where to begin; Buddhist texts seem complex and difficult to understand. It is very easy to get totally confused while trying to learn more.
Issues like these is exactly why SICGU is creating a system of officially standardised translations of Buddhist scriptures, in collaboration with His Holiness Dalai Lama Institute of Higher Education.
Our entire study program is based on these translations, carefully designed and revised by both secular academics and Buddhist monastics with Geshe degrees. We are pleased to offer Tibetan Buddhist studies in the spirit of the ancient tradition of Nalanda University. Doing so, we follow the advice of His Holiness Dalai Lama and the noble lineage of Sera Jey Monastic University.
Imagine studying Buddhist philosophy in a monastery. Your days would be spaced by meditation sessions, Dharma lessons, and lively debate classes.
Maybe you have seen images of Tibetan monks wearing big yellow hats. That is traditionally what one wears to a formal debating examination. These debates can be fierce – one’s understanding of Buddhist topics has to be solid, built through scripture studies, analytical meditation, and debates between other students.
In a setting like this, a Geshe traditionally earns their respected degree in the Gelukpa tradition. Not by simply studying dry facts and concepts far removed from everyday reality, but by actually living the teachings and applying logical reasoning by deabting to see if the teachings actually make sense.
SICGU’s Buddhist teachers have been trained in this way. We have both Tibetan and Western geshes as resident teachers, offering classes in Tibetan language, Buddhist philosophy, and logical reasoning, teaching from their long experience.
Everyone from a complete beginner to an advanced student of Buddhism can gain valuable knowledge at SICGU.
All you needs is the motivation and commitment to put in the effort needed to learn, and SICGU will provide you the tools to deepen your Buddhist practice, or earn yourself a degree in Buddhist studies upon graduating from our full study program.
Read more about our study programs here, and discover our teachers’ stories here.
Maybe you have seen images of Tibetan monks wearing big yellow hats. That is traditionally what one wears to a formal debating examination. These debates can be fierce – one’s understanding of Buddhist topics has to be solid, built through scripture studies, analytical meditation, and debates between other students.
In a setting like this, a Geshe traditionally earns their respected degree in the Gelukpa tradition. Not by simply studying dry facts and concepts far removed from everyday reality, but by actually living the teachings and applying logical reasoning by deabting to see if the teachings actually make sense.
SICGU’s Buddhist teachers have been trained in this way. We have both Tibetan and Western geshes as resident teachers, offering classes in Tibetan language, Buddhist philosophy, and logical reasoning, teaching from their long experience.
Everyone from a complete beginner to an advanced student of Buddhism can gain valuable knowledge at SICGU.
All you needs is the motivation and commitment to put in the effort needed to learn, and SICGU will provide you the tools to deepen your Buddhist practice, or earn yourself a degree in Buddhist studies upon graduating from our full study program.
Read more about our study programs here, and discover our teachers’ stories here.
Maybe you have attempted to study Buddhism in the past, only to find the actual study materials vague, insufficient, or poorly designed. We at SICGU are familiar with this problem, and have established SICGU Dhargey Publishing to offer you only the most reliable and carefully translated study materials for your needs.
We provide books on general practices of Tibetan Buddhism and meditation, such as the following:
The Art of War and Peace
The Light of Meditation -Theories and Practice
Stories from the Land of Snow
Check out these books here.
For those interested in extensive studies of Buddhist philosophy and logic, we offer exclusive Tibetan-English translations of classic Buddhist scriptures. Our bilingual format is designed especially for in-depth Buddhist studies and for our Geshe- program students. Our bilingual translations include:
The Tenets
The Ground-Level and the Path
Commentary on the Seventy meanings
These books, as well as others, can be found here.
ཐུབ་རྣམས་སྡིག་པ་ཆུ་ཡིས་མི་འཁྲུ་ཞིང།།
འགྲོ་བའི་སྡུག་བསྔལ་ཕྱག་གིས་མི་སེལ་ལ།།
ཉིད་ཀྱི་རྟོགས་པ་གཞན་ལ་སྤོ་མིན་པས།།
ཆོས་ཉིད་བདེན་པ་བསྟན་པས་གྲོལ་བར་མཛད།
By water, the Buddhas cannot wash away non-virtue,
The suffering of others can’t be eliminated by the wiping of hand,
His own perception cannot be transferred to others,
By the showing of the truth of emptiness he has shown liberation.
