Foundation Training in Buddhist Chaplaincy/Spiritual Care

Buddhist chaplaincy/spiritual care is an emerging field in Europe.

Walking in the footsteps of the Buddha - the first Buddhist chaplain - Buddhist chaplains offer compassionate service to Buddhists and to those of others faith or of no faith.

They help to alleviate and transform the experience of suffering through spiritual, religious and pastoral care.

Responding to the need for skills and knowledge training and support from Buddhists who wish to enter this new field, the European Buddhist Union (EBU) in collaboration with Dharma Gate Buddhist College is launching a certified international adult learning programme taught in English. It is envisioned as an introductory training that integrates Buddhist teachings and practices, providing practitioners with a solid foundation for Buddhist chaplaincy/spiritual care.

Updated September 2024

COURSE OVERVIEW

What makes this skills training unique?

Experiential Practice-Focused Learning
Includes all approaches to Buddhism
Building Community
Collaborative and Accredited

The Foundation Training in Buddhist Chaplaincy/Spiritual Care invites practitioners from all Buddhist traditions who wish to serve in healthcare, end-of-life care or prison, and offer sangha care. The training offers an introduction to this new field for Buddhist practitioners. It has been jointly developed by experienced Buddhist chaplains and spiritual carers from the main Buddhist traditions (Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna).

The Foundation Training is highly experiential and practical and provides students with the necessary skills and knowledge as well as individual support to serve in the public sector and/or their own communities.

By practicing and learning together across traditions, area specialisations and nationalities, the training aims to build a strong and vibrant European chaplaincy sangha.

The Foundation Training is a collaborative effort of the European Buddhist Union and Dharma Gate Buddhist College in Budapest, Hungary.

The course will be accredited by Dharma Gate Buddhist College as an 'Adult Learning Programme'.

The European Buddhist Union is working towards this course meeting the requirements needed for professional certification in different European countries. The course may help students to fulfill the requirements of their sangha to be endorsed or ordained as a chaplain.

Who is this training for?

The course welcomes Buddhists practitioners from across Europe who are new to this field and wish to engage in chaplaincy/spiritual care, and those who are already volunteering or working in healthcare, hospitals, hospices, palliative care or prisons and wish to deepen their chaplaincy practice. It is also open to practitioners who are dedicated to sangha care and like to grow their skills and knowledge. The training is held in English.

The course focuses on three main areas:

Context of Buddhist Chaplaincy

Exploring the different fields of chaplaincy and spiritual care

Practice of Buddhist Chaplaincy

Gaining basic knowledge and essential skills needed to serve in prison, healthcare or hospice /palliative care chaplaincy as well as sangha care within our own communities

Personal and Spiritual Development

Supporting personal and spiritual development and gaining a practical foundation in dharma-based forms of spiritual care

How long is the training?

The Foundation Training is an introductory course. It is based on a modular approach combining online and in-person training. It consists of four modules with a total of 144 hours of learning. Each module takes about three months and includes three half-day online sessions on Zoom and a 4-day residential retreat. In addition, each student receives one-on-one supervision as well as peer support.

Students are welcome to take module 1 only, or module 1 and 2 together.

If students so wish, and fulfil the requirements, they can continue with module 3 and 4 of the training pathway. The entire training path of all four modules may take between 18 – 24 months to complete.

Where are the residential sessions held?

The course is a hybrid, combining online with in-person-sessions. The residential sessions are held in a supportive retreat atmosphere at the retreat center of Dharma Gate Buddhist College, The Manfa Retreat Centre located in Southern Hungary.

When does the training start?

Deadline for applications for 2024/25 course: September 6th. Course starts September 28th.

The Training Path

Course Content

DATES AND TUITION

Module 1 2024 Entering the Mandala

Session 1 online

Saturday 28th September

Session 2 online

Saturday 2nd November

Session 3 residential

Thursday 5th - Sunday 8th December

Session 4 online

Saturday 11th January

Written Assignment (Public Sector Profiling): 26th January

Module 2 2025 Chaplaincy Area Specialisation

Session 1 online

Saturday 8th February

Session 2 residential

March 13th - 16th

Session 3 online

Saturday 26th April

Session 4 online

Saturday 31st May

Written Assignment (Buddhist Formation): 14th June

Module 3 2025 Work Placement

Work Placement for 8 weeks during July - October

Mid-Point Session Online Saturday 6th September

Module 4 2025/26 Integration

Session 1 online

Saturday 1st November

Session 2 online

Saturday 6th December

Session 3 online

Saturday January 10th, 2026

Session 4 residential

Thursday 5th March - Sunday 8th March, 2026

Written Assignment (Reflection and Integration): January 31

Times for Online Sessions

Saturdays, 10 am-1pm CET

Times for the Residential Sessions

Arrival time mid-afternoon/ Departure time lunchtime

Mentoring Sessions

Each module includes 3 60 minutes session with a tutor.

Dates tba

Tuition

EUR 250/module – this is a special rate with great thanks due to the generosity of the Italian Buddhist Union in funding the delivery of this pilot.

In addition, there will be a fee of

EUR 198 for each residential session (includes accommodation and food).

WE WELCOME YOU TO APPLY

Buddhist practitioners with an established practice who are interested in serving their sangha and/or who wish to become a volunteer/professional chaplain are encouraged to apply.

Applicants must be endorsed by a Teacher / Endorsing Body or an EBU Centre.

The course may not meet all the requirements needed for professional certification in the different European countries. It may help students to fulfill the requirements of their sangha to be endorsed or ordained as a chaplain.

The course will be accredited by Dharma Gate Buddhist College as an 'Adult Learning Programme'.

The 2024/25 course is fully booked now. If you are interested in the next course starting 2026, please let us know.

I am interested!

For further questions, please contact us at:

ebuchaplaincycourse@gmail.com

FACULTY

Rev. Dario Doshin Girolami (Italy)

Rev. Dario Doshin Girolami is the Abbot of Centro Zen L'Arco - Zenmon Ji in Rome. He received Dharma Transmission from Eijun Linda Cutts, abbess of San Francisco Zen Center. He started to practice in 1986 and was ordained as a Zen monk by Zenkei Blanche Hartmann at the San Francisco Zen Center founded by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Rev.Doshin attended Zenshinji-Tassajara,Hosshinji-City Center and Soryu-ji-Green Gulch monasteries in the process of becoming a Zen monk and teacher. He studied under the guidance of Zen masters including Tenshin Roshi - Reb Anderson, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Maezumi Roshi. He also received the Avalokiteshvara initiation from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Prior to entering the Zen path in San Francisco he received a Laurea degree (M.Phil) in "Indian and Eastern Religions and Philosophies" under the instruction of Professor Corrado Pensa at Sapienza University in Rome.
Former adjunct Professor of "Zen" at the John Cabot University of Rome, and of "Comparative Religions" at the American University of Rome, he now holds a post graduate course in “Buddhism” at the faculty of Psychology of Sapienza University – Rome, where he also holds regular seminars. He is a Prison Chaplain - trained at San Francisco Zen Center and San Quentin Prison Program - and leads regular meditation courses at the Rebibbia Prison of Rome. He is the founder and coordinator of the EBU Chaplaincy Network. Author of Lo Zen Soto e I koan - La Via della Presenza di Spirito.

Kirsten DeLeo (Ireland)

Kirsten DeLeo is a longtime Tibetan Buddhist practitioner, hospice chaplain and spiritual care trainer. She has studied and practiced under the guidance of many eminent masters of the Tibetan tradition. She completed a three-year retreat and is a Meditation teacher in Rigpa.

Born and raised in Germany, Kirsten lived for many years in San Francisco, where she served patients at the Zen hospice and Maitri AIDS hospice. She helped to pioneer one of the first courses in contemplative end-of-life care, a collaboration of Rigpa's Spiritual Care Programme and Naropa University in Colorado. It now runs independently as Authentic Presence.

Kirsten was a founding member of the Harvard Buddhist Ministry working group and currently supports the EBU Chaplaincy Network. She is trained in the Hakomi mindfulness-based somatic approach to psychotherapy and holds a master's degree in literature. In 2018, she joined the community of the Dzogchen Beara Buddhist Centre/ Spiritual Care Centre (Ireland) where she teaches and supports guests who are ill or bereaved.

Kirsten is the author of Present Through The End. A Caring Companion’s Guide For Accompanying The Dying (Shambhala Publications) and has contributed to numerous publications on spiritual care.

Keith Munnings (UK)

Keith Munnings has taught meditation for more than 40 years within the Samatha Trust tradition, following a breathing mindfulness practice.

He has worked in a few major UK City Hospitals as a Buddhist Chaplain working within a number of key healthcare areas and completed a Masters degree in Chaplaincy Studies at Cardiff University involving researching the making of a Buddhist contribution to chaplaincy through providing meditation practice for patients and staff.

For over 15 years he participated in multi-faith chaplaincy initiatives, chairing for a few years the national Network for Pastoral, Spiritual and Religious Care in Health.

He has developed and run a variety of different chaplaincy training programmes and is a member of the EBU Chaplaincy steering group.

and other invited faculty from the field of Buddhist chaplaincy/spiritual care in Europe and the U.S.

JOIN US!

The European Buddhist Union Chaplaincy Network

The aim of this network is to support the new field of Buddhist Chaplaincy in Europe and highlight the application of Buddhist principles in socially engaged action by:

supporting Buddhists already serving or working in healthcare, hospitals, hospices, palliative care and prisons and in the armed forces;
fostering connections, and sharing of knowledge, best practices and experience within a community of Buddhist chaplains;
creating training opportunities for those engaged or wishing to engage in Buddhist chaplaincy;
creating professional standards for service and developing partnerships with professional accreditation bodies;
addressing religious, spiritual and pastoral needs within Buddhist communities to encourage greater community cohesion and social integration.

Network coordinator: Dario Doshin Girolami

d.girolami@romazen.it

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse