Dharma Realm Buddhist College, nestled within the Metropolis of Ten Thousand Buddhas, may sound like a legendary faculty, in a legendary kingdom. However DRBU and “the Metropolis,” as residents name it, are very actual—even when they’re nestled in an particularly idyllic nook of California, close to Ukiah.
A completely accredited college, DRBU facilities self-cultivation and the pursuit of knowledge along with information of the humanities and sciences. The scholar inhabitants is small with solely about sixty college students. This fosters sturdy, enduring friendships.
Town of Ukiah’s web site describes the college this manner: “The philosophy of DRBU requires college students to stay in peaceable concord with neighbors and their environment. As such, college students are anticipated to chorus from partying, enjoying loud music, carrying conceited clothes, and making public shows of affection.”
Attending school whereas refraining from partying or loud music might not appear supreme for many younger adults. DRBU, nonetheless, is for individuals who need to stroll a distinct path.
Rising up, Stacy Chen had an affinity for Science, Expertise, Engineering, and Math (STEM). So, she did her undergraduate diploma on the Massachusetts Institute for Expertise (MIT), then she acquired her PhD in Molecular Biology at UC San Francisco.
Her analysis required a grueling sixty to eighty hours of labor per week, and Chen realized that she was not getting what she needed out of life. “That was a turning level,” she says. “The selection I used to be going to make was going to affect me for the following twenty, thirty years. So, I actually took that call very critically. I needed to ask myself, ‘Okay, you’ll be able to proceed in STEM. Your life may end up okay. However is there one thing else you need to do?’”
At across the similar time, Chen was requested to hitch a crew to develop curricula at DRBU, particularly to develop an accredited Bachelors and Masters packages. Now a professor at DRBU and the Affiliate Dean of Program Improvement, she sounds extra peaceable and glad. She’s growing a form of contemplative collegiate life she didn’t expertise when she was at school.
“After I was going to school,” she says, “the first mode of studying within the classroom waslistening to lectures, taking notes, and taking exams, however in our college, an important exercise is studying, asking questions, reflecting on the textual content, and dialoguing with different college students.”
DRBU affords a life and schooling for these looking for a extra dharmic path. Specifically those that need alternate options to the frenetic, samsaric life that mainstream tradition presents as fascinating.
Whereas there’s a numerous inhabitants of white, African American, and Latinx college students, about 65 p.c of the coed physique is Asian or AsianAmerican. Asian People aren’t a monolith, with a number of Asian American communities having decrease schooling and better poverty charges. However it’s well-documented that Asian People are typically extremely educated. This want or push for increased attainment can result in a stressed-out life, as Stacy Chen alluded to earlier.
Can Asian People select one other life? A quieter one? One devoted to service and self-edification? The form of life DRBU affords? James Nguyen, a fellow at DRBU, believes they will.
Nguyen, who’s of Vietnamese descent, went to Stanford, learning Enterprise and Pc Science. He did his MBA at UC Davis learning Expertise Administration and Advertising and marketing. Then he began consulting and touring for work. “I spent extra time in a aircraft than in my room,” Nguyen says, including that he checked off all the nice Asian American containers: go to Stanford, get your MBA, work in tech.
In the meantime, Nguyen, who comes from a Buddhist household, additionally started taking his Buddhist observe extra critically. “I believe all of us have our personal paths in life,” he says. “We every have our personal circumstances, so everybody’s path goes to be completely different.”
Nguyen returned to high school and acquired his Masters in Buddhist Classics at DRBU, having fun with the deep dive into Buddhist texts and different Japanese philosophies. DRBU sits on temple grounds, he notes. “Temple grounds create a distinct area. We’re influenced by our circumstances, by the areas we’re in. I imply, that’s why we examine in monasteries. It’s simpler to meditate in a Chan Corridor than in Occasions Sq..”
Dharma Realm Buddhist College is a part of the Metropolis of Ten Thousand Buddhas, one of many largest dharma communities within the Western Hemisphere, The Metropolis greets guests with a dramatic arched gate that opens as much as seven hundred acres of land, 4 hundred of that are forests, fields, and vineyards with roaming squirrels, hares, deer, and peacocks. Eighty acres are used for a monastic advanced, whereas twenty-five acres are used for academic, administrative, and residential functions. The Metropolis even has an elementary faculty, a secondary faculty, and a vegan restaurant serving Malaysian-Indo-Chinese language fusion delicacies.
The late Venerable Grasp Hsuan Hua, an influential Chan Buddhist monk, based the Metropolis of Ten Thousand Buddhas and DRBU. Born in Jilin Province, China, in 1918, he studied at Nanhua Monastery Vinaya Academy in Guangdong, China, the place he grew to become Dean of Tutorial Affairs. His was a lifelong dedication to fostering schooling.
In 1959, Grasp Hsuan Hua began the Sino-American Buddhist Affiliation, which might later grow to be the Dharma Realm Buddhist Affiliation. A couple of years later, he accepted his disciples’ invitation to come back to America, and he went on to discovered Gold Mountain Monastery in San Francisco. It wasn’t lengthy, nonetheless, earlier than its three flooring and 108 sq. toes felt too small, and so they began to search for an extra property
The location of The Metropolis of Ten Thousand Buddhas was initially a sprawling, state-of-the-art hospital constructed by the Californian authorities starting within the Nineteen Thirties. Then a extreme and unprecedented drought hit the realm, which resulted in necessary water rationing, and the hospital was not capable of operate. The federal government contracted a drilling firm to dig a properly, and although they examined numerous spots, drilling a number of hundred toes into the bottom, they got here up dry. This, amongst different pressures, led to the property going up on the market.
It was a stretch for Grasp Hsuan Hua’s group to purchase such an costly, massive property, however with dedication they managed to take action in 1974. After the acquisition, Grasp Hsuan Hua was strolling round with some employees who’d been employed to excavate a properly. All of a sudden, he tapped the bottom along with his workers and mentioned, “Excavate right here!”
“It gained’t work,” the employees mentioned. “We’ve already tried excavating throughout this spot. There positively isn’t any water right here!”
“Simply give it a attempt,” mentioned Grasp Hsuan Hua.
In order that they did, and water gushed out, greater than sufficient for the burgeoning group.
Dharma Realm Buddhist College was based by Grasp Hsuan Hua in 1976. The establishment’s pedagogical intention is twofold: to convey information and to activate the intrinsic knowledge possessed by all individuals.
DRBU affords a BA in Liberal Arts with an emphasis on important considering and internal transformation. Their core program focuses on Buddhist, Indian, Chinese language, and Western classics. For graduate work, they provide an MA in Buddhist Classics, a program the place contemplative observe is built-in into the course.
At most universities, college students change courses each quarter or semester, interacting with completely different college students each time. At DRBU, in distinction, a small cohort of scholars stay collectively all through their collegiate profession.
DRBU affords a BA which prices almost $84,000 complete for 4 years, whereas an MA can run about $28,000 complete for 2 years. Additionally they supply a one-year translation certificates program for $7,000. However DRBU affords an attractive need-based monetary help package deal with the promise that 100% of their college students graduate with out scholar debt.
Brenda Li, a convert Buddhist, went by means of the Buddhist Classics program. Her first introduction to Buddhism was whereas she was learning neuroscienceat Wesleyan College in Connecticut. A Tibetan monk was lecturing. “So, I went,” Li mentioned, “I bear in mind being very impacted by it. I needed to see extra.”
She moved to Northern California and started going to retreats at DRBU. After that, Li needed to go to high school there. She thinks it’s a snug place for Asian People to study. “You positively don’t really feel like a minority.” There are many Asians who attend, and a lot of the monastics on the grounds are of Asian descent. “I really feel like, as an Asian American, particularly in case your dad and mom immigrated, there’s a familiarity.”
For these questioning if a extra contemplative academic expertise is feasible, DRBU chaplainand assistantprofessor Bhikshu Jin Chuan has this recommendation: “It comes right down to setting a pure intention and never setting a deadline. Then let go, belief in that intention, and begin to slowly make selections which are aligned to that deeper function.”
For these at DRBU, growing a deeper function is a vital a part of their collegiate life. Alumni have gone on to work in non-profit and for-profit industries, oriental drugs, translation, and expertise. Others have continued their schooling in graduate research at UC Berkeley and College of Rochester to call a couple of. A basis in Buddhist knowledge and contemplative residing will definitely inform their futures.
As Grasp Hsuan Hua as soon as mentioned, “Training is with out starting or finish. There’s not a single location that isn’t a spot of studying, and there’s not a single second that isn’t a time of studying.”
