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International Tibetan Buddhism

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Tibetan Buddhism

Overview


Intensive Chinese Language Classes were Being Organised

One of the four major discussions during last year's <<Conference on Dissemination of the Dharma>> (Rgyal Stan dar spell bro gleng) was actually how to provide facilities of language classes for the monastic members. Both based on that forth gone discussions, and also remaining within the framework of the objectives laid down by the Institute, it was decided that three levels of Chinese classes were to be organised for the monastic members living in Taiwan to improve their Chinese language skills. 
The main reason for organising such classes was that it was obviously the key prerequisite for whoever living in this country (Taiwan) to know their language (Taiwanese or Chinese) for both the teaching purposes and the convenience of one's daily life.  Moreover, it remains the fact that, for our Khenpos, Geshes and Lopons without the necessary knowledge of the language of the hosting country, their profound and vast learning of tenets and philosophy could not benefit the students as they intended to. The language barrier also prevents our learned scholars to showcase their deepest scholastic learning and delivering the insightful teachings of the Buddha to the respective students. Since this has become an obvious problem, we do recognize the importance of putting effort on providing a language learning facility for our monastic members.

There was a good place for our monastic members to learn Chinese in  FaGuShan (Dharma Drum Mountain) many years ago, but unfortunately it has long been discontinued. Khenpos, who went there, were said to have gained immensely in terms of their languages skills, which played a critical role in their Dharma teaching activities. In recent times, some monastic members have been taking Chinese classes at Taiwan Teachers Training University (TTTU) but they face two major difficulties; one the fees are very expensive there and they don't get to learn any Buddhist vocabularies.  Therefore, after giving some serious thoughts on the matter, Institute Taiwan International Tibetan Buddhism (ITB) had decided to launch Chinese language classes for our monastic members living in Taiwan. The classes were available from a beginners' level to the advanced ones, like any other language classes, but our classes were characteristically more focused on building up the Buddhist terminologies and the needs of the monastic members pursuing the courses. 
The classes were free of cost but those attending the classes must follow the rules and regulations of each class. The classes were divided into four levels regarding to the knowledge levels of the students. The four levels were;
1. Beginners’ classes
2. Intermediary classes
3. Advanced classes and
4. Expertise classes.   - Beginner's class consisted of learning basic vocabularies and pronunciations    - Intermediary class consisted of learning intermediary vocabularies and daily conversations.  - Advanced class consisted of learning Buddhist terminologies through two renowned works; Thirty-seven Practices of a Bodhisattva and Bodhisattva Way of Life.   - Expertise class consisted of intensive workshops on interpretation skills for those who were able to conduct their teaching activities without an interpreter.
The classes had commenced on the auspicious day of Lhakar, White Wednesday, 17th March 2021 

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