Starter Kit. Idea 193 of 500. Cluster 9
Structured courses in Buddhist philosophy and Pali for serious students, the way people travel to Kyoto or Dharamshala
The mechanism, from the book
What cannot be copied. Every competitor can build a beach hotel. No competitor can offer a Buddhist tradition more than 2,000 years old, still practised at the places where it first took root on the island.
The first step
Start with the lay committee of a temple where a monk teaches Pali, and ask whether he would take 4 foreign students for a short evening course if you handled enrolment, rooms and an English reading list. Post the course, with dates and the fee he sets, in 3 online groups where students of Buddhist philosophy gather. The proof is a class list with names and fees paid.
- Who pays first
- A university student or serious lay practitioner abroad who has read the texts in translation and wants to study them with a teacher in the tradition.
- What leaves today
- Students who want Pali and Buddhist philosophy travel to Kyoto or Dharamshala, carrying their fees and months of rent away from the island that kept the texts.
Ask first
- Department of Cultural Affairs. Ask whether they know of temples or institutes already teaching Pali to lay students.
- Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission. Ask whether a short course for visiting students can be accredited, and how.
Check before you spend
Whether foreign students need a study visa for a short course, and whether the teaching monk agrees to the hours and the fee arrangement.
Find out these three numbers
- How many serious students abroad have asked about learning Pali here?
- What do similar courses abroad charge for a term?
- How many evenings a week can the teaching monk give?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.