The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath

 The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies

The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS) which was formally known as The Central University of Tibetan Studies (CUTS)) at Sarnath is one of its kind in the country. The CIHTS lies in the village Sarnath surrounded by Buddhist temples, Stupas, and gardens. The 27-acre campus is located only a few minutes' distances from Deer Park, the place where the Buddha gave his very first teaching. The Institute was established in 1967. The idea of the University was mooted in course of a dialogue between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama with a view to educating the young Tibetans in exile and those from the Himalayan regions of India, who have religion, culture and language in common with Tibet. In the beginning, the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS) began functioning as a constituent wing of the Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, and eventually emerged as an autonomous body in 1977 under the Department of Culture of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. The Institute’s unique mode of functioning has been duly recognized, and on the recommendation of the University Grants Commission, the Government of India bestowed upon it the status of a ‘Deemed University, under Section 3 of the UGC Act 1956 on the 5th of April, 1988. Ven. Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche was the first Director of the Institute, who continued his office till 2000. Presently, the Hon’ble Culture Minister, Government of India, Ministry of Culture, is the Chancellor of the Institute. Professor Geshe Ngawang Samten is the present Vice Chancellor Under his able leadership and with the support of the learned faculty-members.

The Institute is on its march towards achieving further excellence in the fields of Tibetology, Buddhology, and Himalayan Studies. Besides these regular academic activities, the Institute is also furthering various research programs by in-house scholars, and visiting fellows from other academic institutions in India and abroad. CIHTS provides a large platform for interaction between the Buddhist and other philosophical schools of India, and also between the Buddhist and the Western philosophers and scientists. In recognition of its achievements of excellence, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council of the UGC rated the Institute with a Five-Star credit. The Institute has envisaged projects jointly by eminent scholars under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Government of India, to cover the following objectives for over four decades:

 To preserve Tibetan culture and tradition,

 To restore ancient Indian science and literature preserved in the Tibetan language, but lost in originals,

 To offer an alternative educational facility to students from the Tibetan diaspora and the Indian Himalayan border areas those who formerly used to avail themselves of the opportunity of receiving higher education in Tibet,

 To impart education in traditional subjects within the framework of a modern Institute system with provision for the award of degrees in Tibetan studies and

 To impart education on modern disciplines along with Buddhism and Tibetan studies for the inculcation of moral values with a view to developing an integrated personality.

During the last five decades, the Institute has achieved immeasurable success in all its objectives much more than the expectation of its founders. The emergence of this Institute is one of His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama’s far-sighted visionary initiatives in the early years of a large number of Tibetan people taking refuge in India with four specific objectives such as preservation of Tibetan Culture, restoration of the lost Indian ancient text from Tibetan sources, offering the alternative opportunity to Indian Himalayan-region students for higher studies, who used to go for education centers in Tibet in the past and to bring ancient monastic education into modern Universities academic system.

The uniqueness of this Institute is that the entire ancient Indian Buddhist traditions preserved in Tibet for more than a thousand years in four major schools as well as the tradition of Bon, the pre-Buddhist wisdom of Tibet, are now placed in this Institute as on learning center. The Institute has developed skillfully the holistic curriculum and courses in which all the modern methods of teachings, learning and research are included without disturbing the traditional methods of teaching, learning and research. The Institute offers Shastri (B.A.), Acharya (M.A.), M.Phil., Ph.D., and MD/MS degrees in Buddhist Studies, Tibetan Medicine, Astrology, Tibetan Painting, and Woodcarving. It has been awarding its own Certificates, Diplomas, and Degrees for the courses of studies conducted by the institute. Through an integrated course of nine years of Buddhist Studies program from Secondary School to Acharya, students study Tibetan, Sanskrit, Hindi, English, Indian Buddhist texts, Tibetan commentaries, and other treatises. The indigenous Tibetan Bon tradition is also taught parallelly with Buddhist studies. Besides, students are taught

such subjects as Pali, Asian History, Economics, and Political Science. Students of the Sowa-Rigpa study the theory and practice of traditional Tibetan medicine as well as modern Western pathology, anatomy and physiology, and receive complete clinical training so as to qualify them to practise Tibetan medicine. Students of Tibetan fine arts learn Thanka painting and Tibetan woodcarving along with subjects like Buddhist philosophy, Tibetan Language and Literature, English Language, and History of Arts and Aesthetics.