Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies

About the CIHTS
The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS) was envisioned by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in consultation with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama with a view to educate the youths of Tibet and the Himalayan border region.

Established in 1967, CIHTS initially functioned as a special constituent wing of Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Varanasi. Thereafter the government of India reviewed the progress of the Institute and decided to accord it a status of an autonomous body under the Department of Culture, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India in 1977 with 100% financial support from the Govt. of India. The Institute steadily progressed with optimal success. The Govt. of India declared the Institute to be a "Deemed to be a University" on 5th April, 1988. Until 2000, the Institute was headed by Ven. Samdhong Rinpoche, the now Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile. The Institute is currently headed by Geshe Ngawang Samten as Director and is ably assisted by learned faculty members of the Institute in achieving its goal of excellence in the field of Tibetology, Buddhology and Himalayan Studies.

CIHTS is also a premier Research Institute, with a substantial staff of research scholars and many visitors from other academic Institutions in India and from around the world. It provides a platform for interaction between Buddhist and non-Buddhist Indian philosophical schools; between Buddhist and Western Philosophers; and between Buddhist scholars and scientists.

The National Assessment and Accredition Council, an autonomous Council established by the UGC for assessing the quality and standard of education of various universities and institutions in India, accredited CIHTS with 5 Stars which is the highest grading of the quality assurance after assessing the academic standard of the Institute by a peer team of experts sent by NAAC. It is the only university institution in Varanasi, and one of the two in the entire of Northern India, to recieve the highest grading.

The CIHTS campus occupies 22 acres and houses Shantarakshita Library, hostels for students, classrooms, assembly halls, quarters for staff and so forth. It is beautifully landscaped and offers a very peaceful place for study and research.

The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies is located in Sarnath, approximately 10km (6m) from the city of Varanasi (Benares) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Sarnath is one of the four principal Buddhist pilgrimage sites, being the location of Buddha Shakyamuni's first teaching after gaining enlightenment. It contains important sacred and archeological sites and an excellent archaelogical museum as well as Buddhist temples representing many Buddhist traditions.

Mission Statement
The objectives of the Institute have been carefully thought out by eminent scholars in the Indian Goverment under the guidance of His Holiness Dalai Lama. The objectives are:
 * To preserve the Tibetan culture and tradition (via CIHTS Educational System)
 * To restore ancient Indian sciences and literature preserved in the Tibetan Language, but lost in the original (via Research Department)
 * To offer an alternative educational facility to students of Indian border areas who formerly availed the opportunity of recieving higher education in Tibet.
 * To accomplish gains of teaching and scope of research in traditional subjects in a framework of the modern university system of education with the provision for award of degrees in Tibetan studies.

Visiting Faculty

 * Dr. Sonam Thakchoe Acharya CIHTS., PhD Utas.

Lecturer in Buddhist Philosophy, Ethics and Nonviolence School of Philosophy, University of Tasmania, Australia

Dr Sonam Thakchoe is a former student of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studiess (CIHTS). After nine-intensive years of training in the History of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy, he was awarded Shastri and Acharya Degrees along with Gold Medal recognition. He obtained his PhD from the University of Tasmania, and is currently lecturing on Buddhist Philosophy, Ethics and Philosophy of Nonviolence. Dr Thakchoe is one of the coordinators of the Dialogue Project--one of the School of Philosophy's many community-outreach projects promoting philosophical exchange in the areas of world's religions, faiths and communities of different backgrounds. He is also involved in School of Philosophy's (University of Tasmania) India Exchange Program with the CIHTS as a coordinator and a teaching staff. As a visiting scholar at the CIHTS, one of his primary tasks is to develop WebCT based Distance Education Programs, internationally accessible, in the areas of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist philosophy. This will be undertaken in collaboration with the University of Tasmania's School of Philosophy. As part of his ecumenical works, with the aims of promoting self-empowering techniques and furnishing the personal well-being among the prison inmates, he conducts meditation classes in the Risdon Correctional Centre. He offers similar meditation classes open for the general public.


 * Professor Jay L. Garfield

Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy, Smith College, Northampton, M.A, USA

Jay Garfield teaches and pursues research in the philosophy of mind, foundations of cognitive science, logic, philosophy of language, Buddhist philosophy, cross-cultural hermeneutics, theoretical and applied ethics and epistemology.

Jay is also is director of the Five College Tibetan Studies in India Program, and most January's he brings groups of students to CIHTS to study Buddhist philosophy.For more information, see the Tibetan Studies in India Program. (Hampshire also participates in an exchange with CIHTS through the Tibetan Studies Program.)

Jay's most recent book is Empty Words: Buddhist Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Interpretation (Oxford University Press 2002). He and the ven Geshe Ngawang Samten are currently translating the Fourteenth-Fifteenth Century Tibetan Philosopher Tsong Khapa's commentary on Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika (Ocean of Reasoning). Jay is also working on projects on the development of the theory of mind in children with particular attention to the role of pretence in that process; the impact of teaching philosophy in primary schools on the development of citizenship values, the law of noncontradiction; and the history of Buddhist idealism in India and Tibet (especially the impact of Sthiramati). He is co-directing, with Peter Gregory, Jill Ker Conway Professor of Religion and Buddhist Studies, a year-long Kahn Institute, Trans-Buddhism: Transmission, Translation and Transformation investigating the interaction of Buddhist societies with the West.


 * Dr Koji Tanaka BIT Griff., BA Qld., PhD Qld.

Postdoctral Research/Teaching Fellow at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Koji Tanaka's research interests include logic, philosophy of logic, metaphysics, philosophy of language, Asian philosophies and comparative philosophy. His current projects are 'Logical Monism' and 'Comparative Study of Buddhist Logic'. The first project is aimed to develop and defend a monist account of logic (i.e., only one logic) against a pluralist account of logic (i.e., more than one logic). In the second project, he investigates and sheds a comparative light on the Buddhist philosophy of logic.

Faculty of Language and Literature (Sabdavidya)
The Faculty of Sabdavidya consists of departments dealing with four languages: Sanskrit; Tibetan; Hindi and English. Sanskrit and Tibetan languages are compulsory up to graduate level. In addition, students have to select either English or Hindi as an elective

Staff Members Sanskrit Tibetan Language Hindi Lanuage English Language
 * Dr. D.D.Chaturvedi - Lecturer in Senior Scale
 * Prof. K.N.Mishra - Professor (Re-employed)
 * Dr Tashi Tsering - Lecturer
 * Dr. B.R. Tripathi - Reader
 * Dr. Kiran Singh - Lecturer
 * Dr Geeta Barua - Reader

Faculty of Philosophy (Hetu and Adhyatma Vidya)
The Faculty of Hetu and Adhyatmavidya consists of the subjects of Mool Shastra and Sampradaya Shastra with different branches of the disciplines. Traditionally, the Hetu and Adhyatma are two independent Vidyas and in the monastic tradition they are treated as different faculties, however in this institute they are combined together.

Staff Members Mool Shastra - (Indian Tradition of Buddhist Philosophy) Sampradaya Shastra - (Tibetan Buddhist Philosophical Lineages) Bon Sampradaya Nyingma Sampradaya Kargyud Sampradaya Sakya Sampradaya Gelug Sampradaya
 * Ven. Yeshi Thabke - Professor (Re-employed)
 * Dr. Phuntsok Dhondup - Lecturer in Senior Scale
 * Dr Wangchuk D. Negi - Reader
 * Ven. Lobsang Yarphel - Lecturer
 * Ven. Tenzin Dechok - Lecturer
 * Ven. Gorig T. Chogden - Lecturer in Senior Scale
 * Ven. Lunrig L. Wangchuk - Lecturer in Senior Scale
 * Ven. Nyima Kunkyab - Lecturer in Senior Scale
 * Ven. Tenzin Gelek - Lecturer
 * Ven. Sonam Rabten - Reader
 * Ven. Dorjee Tsering - Lecturer
 * Ven. Ogyen - Lecturer
 * Ven. Dudjom Namgyal - Lecturer
 * Ven. Sonam Gyatso - Professor
 * Ven. Lobsang Thokmed - Lecturer in Selection Grade
 * Dr Tashi Samphel - Lecturer in Senior Scale
 * Dr Ramesh Chandra Negi - Lecturer
 * Dr Tashi Tsering - Lecturer in Senior Scale
 * Ven. Ngawang Lodoe - Lecturer
 * Ven. Jigme Dawa - Reader (Re-employed)
 * Ven. Lobsang Gyaltsen - Lecturer in Senior Scale
 * Ven. Ngawang Samten - Lecturer
 * Ven. Thupten Wangchuk - Lecturer

Faculty of Social Science (Adhunika Vidya)
The Faculty of Social Science is not a traditional one, but under the modern university system some optional subjects have been introduced to the syllabi. Therefore, an independent faculty has been established. Five subjects are taught in this Faculty, namely:

Asian History Economics Political Science Tibetan History Pali.

Though Pali is a language and should have been under the faculty of Sabdavidya, for technical reasons it has been placed under Social Science.

Staff Members Asian History Economics Political Science Tibetan History Pali
 * Dr Kaulesh Singh - Lecturer in Selection Grade
 * Dr U.C. Singh - Reader
 * Dr B. Bikas Chakravorty - Reader
 * Dr Deo Raj Singh - Reader
 * Sri P.K. Sanyal - Reader
 * Dr M.P.S Chandel - Lecturer in Senior Scale
 * Ven. Tsultrim Phuntsok - Lecturer in Senior Scale
 * Dr Jampa Samten - Reader
 * Dr Surendra Kumar

Faculty of Tibetan Medicine and Astrology (Cikitsavidya)
Tibetan ayurveda is a unique combination of Indian, Chinese, Iranian, Mongolian, and indigenous medical disciplines. As this Institute aims to restore lost Indian treasures and preserve Tibetan culture, it was deemed necessary to introduce this discipline in the curricula of the Institute. The department for Tibetan Medicine under this faculty was established in 1993. In the same way, Tibetan Jyotisa (astrology) also preserves the South Indian and Central Asian astronomical disciplines.

Staff Members Tibetan Aryuveda Tibetan Astrology
 * Sri Lobsang Tenzin - Professor
 * Ven. Dorjee Damdul - Reader
 * Sri Tashi Tsering - Reader

Faculty of Tibetan Fine Arts (Silpa Vidya)
The Faculty of Silpa Vidya is concerned with Tibetan Art Painting, Architecture, Sculpture, Iconography, Wood Craft, and Weaving. This enables opportunities for student employment.

Staff Members Wood Craft Thangka Painting
 * Tashi - Temporary Instructor
 * Tsewang Norbu- Temporary Instructor