Happy Holidays!

Some welcome news...

Dear Friends & Family,

This past February, I reached out to you when Kamalashila Initiative launched its Summer 2022 campaign seeking donations to help fund KI’s Visiting Scholars Program. I’m pleased to share with you that, to date, we have raised $6,500 (of our $10,000 goal) thanks to your generous support!

If you haven’t had the chance to donate or feel compelled to help spread the word, please click HERE. Any amount, big or small, is greatly appreciated!

The Visiting Scholars Program (VSP) began as The UCI-Tibet Initiative in 2011 in partnership with the University of California Irvine (UCI). Since its inception, VSP has successfully welcomed 29 Visiting Scholars from monastic institutions in India, helping to facilitate a 10-week intensive language immersion experience on UCI’s beautiful campus.

Today, after an almost 2-year break (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), we are very excited to announce the 2022 VSP class: Geshe Tenzin Nyima (Gaden Shartse Monastery), Geshe Phuntsok Tsering (Gaden Jangste Monastery), and Geshe Lobsang Yarphel (Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies at Varanasi, and resident teacher at Chokhor Gepel Ling).

Last week, UCI’s International Center issued all three Visiting Scholars’ DS-2019 visa documents. Now the Geshes excitedly await their Visa interviews at the US Consulate in New Delhi. The Summer 2022 VSP will begin between June 15 and August 1 and the scholars will be staying at UCI’s Palo Verde housing complex. Needless to say, we are very excited to meet them, we wish them the best of luck during the interview, and our fingers are crossed that their visas will be granted.

Our sincere and humble THANK YOU, again, to all of you - our friends, family, and community, for your essential support as we relaunch this meaningful program. Please look forward to more updates as we prepare to welcome the 2022 Visiting Scholars.

Sincerely,

Bibi

2022 Update: A new chapter.

Dear Friends & Family,

For the past 11 years, the UCI-Tibet Initiative (UCI-TI) has been welcoming Visiting Buddhist Scholars from monastic institutions in India to the beautiful campus of the University of California, Irvine. 29 wonderful Visiting Scholars to be exact. UCI-TI was a 10-week language immersion program that we founded in partnership with former UCI leadership as our humble contribution to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s vision of modernizing the education system in Tibetan Buddhist monastic institutions. It has been an extremely gratifying journey.

Then, in 2020 and 2021, UCI-TI was forced to indefinitely shut down as our community, our partners in India, along with the world, dealt with the COVID-19 global pandemic. However, during this time, we’ve been hard at work.

Today, I am pleased to announce that we are opening a new chapter in this journey by starting Kamalashila Initiative (KI). During this transition phase, KI will operate as a fiscally sponsored project of the Ngari Institute Foundation (NIF). We are very grateful for NIF's support while we take the proper steps to building a solid organizational foundation.

Just as UCI-TI did, KI’s Visiting Scholars Program, will bring Buddhist scholars from monastic institutions in India to the US for an intensive 10-week ESL (English as a Second Language) course, in partnership with the University of California, Irvine. This immersion and cultural exchange program offers KI Visiting Scholars a unique opportunity to improve their English language skills and gain exposure to western academic life. In return, Visiting Scholars offer the local community insights on how to enrich their spiritual and emotional wellbeing through meditation practice and the cultivation of altruism in engaging cultural exchange. We are also very excited to announce that KI aims to invite 3 Visiting Scholars to the UCI campus this Summer quarter of 2022!

However, after many long years of sustained funding from UCI, this support is no longer available to fund the program. As such, I hope that you will consider supporting us. If you feel compelled to, please make a donation by clicking HERE. Your donation will be a tax-deductible gift and will directly fund the Visiting Scholars Program for costs such as tuition, housing, and meals during the Visiting Scholars' upcoming 10-week stay. Our current goal is to raise $10,000 for Summer 2022.

If you are unable to donate, please consider helping me spread the word by sharing this message and link to our donation page.

With much gratitude and respect,

Bibi Do

Founder, Kamalashila Initiative