MA in Religious Studies

The MA Religious Studies degree offers two concentrations: Contemplative Religions
and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism.

The Contemplative Religions concentration is a 45-credit degree especially designed for the student who wishes to join the study of comparative religions with related contemplative practices and interreligious dialogue. Students of this degree program develop literacy in the living practice traditions of world religions, with a special emphasis on dialogue skills and an appreciation for religious pluralism. Graduates of this program will be especially suited for higher degree studies in religion, as well as teachers within their respective faith communities and secondary school teachers in the humanities, and as adjunct faculty in religious studies at colleges and universities

Departmental course offerings on the graduate level examine the phenomenon of religion as it affects individuals, as it operates in culture and as it addresses questions of life’s ultimate values.

Students who select this concentration integrate academic study and personal investigation, through exploring the spiritual and meditative dimensions as well as the teachings, history, and cultural expressions of many traditions. Building on a foundation of methodologies for studying religious traditions, the program explores these religions with faculty members who are both academically trained and spiritually practiced in their respective traditions. In addition, students are trained in interreligious dialogue as an avenue to communicate across religious differences in an environment of global pluralism. The degree is designed to be flexible through incorporating many electives that enable students to select from the departmental course offerings in accordance with their interests.

While there is a wide array of courses in Buddhism in departmental offerings, courses in the other major world religions are represented, all with a balanced emphasis upon study and contemplative practice. The methods applied draw from the academic disciplines of history of religions and theology, and from a commitment to presenting traditions from perspectives sympathetic to the living religious communities themselves.

This approach honors the distinctive place of contemplative traditions and practices, especially those of Buddhism, within many of the world’s great religions. Contemplative experience and training are found in many of the world's great spiritual traditions. Students who select the Contemplative Religions Concentration examine the mystical and meditative dimensions of many traditions, integrating academic study and personal investigation.

The Indo-Tibetan Buddhism concentration is a 45-credit degree with an in-depth study of Tibetan Buddhism and its Indian roots, and a balance between study and the practice of meditation. These students seek personal enrichment and career enhancement through systematic study of Buddhism and applied meditation. Completion of this degree provides a foundation for further academic work in Buddhism and in the humanities, in general, as well as preparation for careers in nonprofit agencies, dharma centers, secondary school teaching and social service, and as adjunct faculty in religious studies at colleges and universities

The Indo-Tibetan Buddhism concentration spans two years involving the broad, in-depth study of Buddhism as a spiritual, theological and cultural tradition. Course work emphasizes Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Selective attention is also given to Buddhism in Southeast and East Asia, and the contemporary West.

Tibet played a central role in the development of Buddhism in Asia, preserving the scholastic traditions and texts from its Indian progenitors while deepening the meditative practices and insights from the Indian oral traditions. This Concentration surveys Indian and Tibetan Buddhism with emphasis on textual and meditative lineages, integrating study and practice approaches each semester. The faculty includes Western-trained academics and Acharyas (master teachers) who are steeped in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist practice as well as English-speaking Tibetan lamas extensively trained in their own traditions.

The approach of these programs is nonsectarian, scholarly and critical, relying on the best of contemporary Western and traditional Buddhist scholarship. At the same time, they are also informed and nourished by students’ “hands-on” exploration of the major Buddhist meditative traditions and by contact with the living lineages of Asian and Western teachers. The study of Buddhism is carried out within a context of respect for the tradition and appreciation for its humane values and profound spiritual perspectives.

The MA Indo-Tibetan Buddhism concentration combines a western-style History of Religions approach and a classic Tibetan Tradition approach to the study of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism in their first year of study. The History of Religions approach includes cultural, social, artistic, historical, phenomenological, and religious perspectives that has been developed over more than twenty-five years of teaching Buddhism to westerners at Naropa University. The Tibetan Tradition approach presents the in-depth foundational material of the traditional educational system of a Tibetan monastic college (shedra), based on the Western-style classes and materials developed at Nitartha Institute since 1995 when it was founded by the Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. (The Tibetan Tradition Emphasis fulfills the core and intermediate curriculum of Nirtartha Institute.) By the end of their first year, students chose either a History of Religions Emphasis or a Tibetan Tradition Emphasis for their remaining courses in Buddhism. The curriculum of both emphases is arranged according to the Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma.