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 other faiths or of no faith.
They help to alleviate and transform the experience of suffering through spiritual, religious, and pastoral care.
Updated May 2026
In March 2026, the first group of twenty-one Buddhist practitioners graduated from the Buddhist Chaplaincy course, created by the European Buddhist Union in collaboration with Dharma Gate University in Budapest, the oldest Buddhist university in Europe.
What made this training programme unique was its pan-Buddhist approach and emphasis on experiential learning. Developed for and attended by practitioners from the Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna traditions, the two-year programme combined online and residential learning with practicums in hospitals, nursing homes, palliative and hospice care, and prisons.
By practising and learning together across Buddhist traditions, areas of specialisation, and nationalities, the course was the first step to building a strong foundation for a vibrant European Buddhist chaplaincy sangha.
The newly trained chaplains now serve their communities in a variety of ways, and many have already begun working as full-time, part-time, or volunteer chaplains in the public sector.
A new course is already in the planning for autumn 2027.
The network supports the new field of Buddhist Chaplaincy in Europe. It highlights the application of Buddhist principles in socially engaged action by:
supporting Buddhists already serving or working in healthcare, hospitals, hospices, palliative care, and prisons.
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
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. 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. It 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 is 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.
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. 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
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.
The course is a hybrid, combining online and 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.
Deadline for applications for the 2024-26 course: September 6th. Course starts September 28th.
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
Monthly Tutorials
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
Monthly Tutorials
Written Assignment (Buddhist Formation): 14th June
Module 3 2025 Work Placement
July 7th - October 31st
Work Placement 8 weeks during July - October
Mid-Point Session:
Online Saturday 6th September
Tutorials in July, September and October
Reflective Log Assignment
Summerbreak in August
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
Monthly Tutorials
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).
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 2024/26 course is fully booked. If you are interested in the next course starting in the autumn of 2027, please let us know.
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 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.
