Buddhist Chaplaincy


Buddhist Chaplaincy Training


 

Developing training programs in Buddhist chaplaincy, in which Buddhist monastics and lay persons learn communication and therapeutic skills to support those experiencing psychological trauma and suffering, is one way to expand the socially engaged Buddhist movement. This also provides an interface between Buddhist psychology and practice with today’s fields of science, especially psychotherapy.

          While models of chaplaincy have emerged in the West, Asia is also beginning to see the emergence of organic movements of psycho-spiritual care, particularly in Taiwan and Japan. These emerging models are stimulating interest, interaction, and the desire for mutual learning throughout the Asia region. Buddhist chaplains can provide an important social resource to populations struggling with the advances of corporate capitalism such as psychological alienation and illness from community collapse, and advanced forms of trauma from armed conflict and natural disasters. INEB is in the position to host and facilitate short term training courses and promote exchange visits by persons from various countries to visit established programs in Taiwan, Japan, and the West.

Standing at the Edge: Creating Balance and Resiliency in Psycho-Spiritual Care. Special Seminar #2 with Rev. Joan Halifax

Standing at the Edge: Creating Balance and Resiliency in Psycho-Spiritual Care. Special Seminar #2 with Rev. Joan Halifax

A summary of Rev. Halifax’s second visit to the International Buddhist Exchange Center of the Kodo Kyodan Buddhist Fellowship in Yokohama, Japan, 2019. Rev. Halifax offered teachings drawn from her newest book ‘Standing at the Edge’ exploring how ‘edge states’ such as altruism, empathy, integrity, respect, engagement and compassion are essential emotional qualities for religious caregivers to develop in order to meet persistent suffering with transformative resilience.