Han de Wit 0105
Question: You are involved in building a Naropa Institute between Belgium and the Netherlands. Can you tell us something about this?
de Wit: The Naropa Institute is a kind of "shedra" as it is called in the Tibetan tradition, or a school where you delve a bit deeper into certain texts or commentaries - the shastras - and where you can do serious study. The Naropa Institute, as it is now being developed by Frans (Goetghebeur), seeks to offer this possibility of delving deeper into Buddhist study. So it is less broad than the Naropa University in Boulder, where you can also study art and a number of other subjects like anthropology and so on.
Question: So is it closer to the idea of the former Naropa University in India?
de Wit: I see it as follows: the dharma started to take shape in Europe in the 1970’s since then plenty of centres have been set up, people have started to practice and become acquainted with some insights. But the Buddhist tradition as a whole, of course, is 2500 years old. There is an enormous number of commentaries, writings that can really deepen ones practice, but which are only accessible once you have a certain foundation. But now we are starting to see - not only on the European continent but also elsewhere, in England and America for example - that there is a need for an institution where you can seriously study texts by Nagarjuna and Asangha, Dignaga and Dharmakirti, Shantideva, people like that. Where you can really delve into their teachings. This is the context in which the Naropa Institute in Belgium is being created. The focus is on allowing a deepening of what was before only a brief introduction to the Buddhist tradition.
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