Deer Park Institute's goal is to offer a range of both short and long-term courses in all traditions of Buddhism and other classical Indian philosophy, arts and languages. Since opening in March 2006, the Institute has been gradually developing and expanding its curriculum. In particular, we hope in future to provide scholarships for Indian students who wish to pursue full-time studies of Buddhism and other philosophy, but who lack the means to do so.

The following is an overview of the programs we hope to offer on a regular basis:

Short-term courses (1 week - 3 months)

Study of classical schools of Indian thought (Chat Darashana- Buddhist, Jaina, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Advaita and Yoga)

Study of classical schools of Buddhist thought, their origin, development and popularization. Both in the Pali and Sanskrit traditions of Buddhism.

Contemplative programs and retreats with acharyas/masters and practitioners of traditional systems of Buddhist meditation.

Study and contemplative retreats and workshops on different arts and cultural streams of these ancient systems of thought.

Teachings and retreats led by some of the greatest living teachers and meditation masters of the Buddhist tradition. Our aim is to include masters not only from all the classical lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, but also from Theravada, the 'tradition of the elders', and from other Mahayana lineages of Japan, Korea and China.

Long-term intensive programs (3-12 months, by semester)

Nalanda Studies Program

Nalanda Studies Program is a residential program, which involves learning in an Indian traditional way, of hearing, reading, contemplating, meditating and experiencing.

We are pleased to announce the start of our pilot Nalanda Studies program in September 2008 (see 'program' section for details). It is our intention to continue this as a multi-year program, developing the curriculum accordingly.

Students of this program will be exposed to some of the classical texts that were studied and still are essential to any traditional Buddhist studies curriculum. These texts/shastras were composed by the great panditas and acharyas of the ancient universities like Nalanda, Taxila, Vikramshila and Oddantapuri.

There will be study of shastras composed by acharyas such as Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Chandrakirti and Dignaga, along with classical and contemporary commentaries, led by qualified teachers.

The program will also incorporate studies in other classical Indian wisdom traditions, such as Yoga philosophy, Advaita and Jaina, to give students an experiential taste of the various traditions of this land.

Sanskrit and Tibetan language modules are offered; in the future we also hope to include workshops in Pali terminology.

Arts courses and workshops will explore the relationship between spiritual practice and classical Indian music, calligraphy, ikebana, poetry, and other aesthetic disciplines.

Daily meditation sessions and regular 1-2 day contemplative retreats, as well as hatha yoga classes, will offer students the chance to put knowledge into practice.