The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi Rinpoche is a world revered Buddhist monk, renowned for his humanitarian aid and conflict resolution work, his expertise in the fields of leadership, ethics, philosophy and cultural understanding.
Priyadarshi is the Founder and Director of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which designs and disseminates innovative programs on teaching secular ethics and human values. He is also the Founding Director and President of the Prajnopaya Institute and Foundation, a worldwide humanitarian organisation.
At ten years old, he entered a Buddhist monastery in Rajgir near Nalanda University. He studied traditional Indo-Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism and was ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama who is his spiritual mentor. He studied under the guidance of several great teachers. In 2003 he completed his graduate studies in Comparative Philosophy of Religion at Harvard University.
As Founding Director and President of the Prajnopaya Institute and Foundation, Priyadarshi promotes the provision of care for all regardless of ethnicity, religion or gender, by developing innovative health, education and social welfare programmes. His endeavours include developing projects that promote humanitarian aid, conflict resolution and cultural understanding in countries such as India, Nepal, Japan, USA, and Sri Lanka to benefit their disadvantaged populations. He was Project Advisor to a team of architects from MIT, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and Cambridge University, developing Tsunami Safe Houses for families in Sri Lanka. The foundation has also been working to curtail tuberculosis and bring health care to rural areas in India.
He has been actively involved in inter-religious dialogue with religious leaders such as Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Pope Benedict XVI, and HH Gyalwang Karmapa. He promotes contemplative learning beyond religious boundaries.
He serves on the Board of several academic and humanitarian organisations, and lectures internationally on philosophy, science, inspiration, ethics and socio-political thought. He also teaches traditional Buddhist philosophy and practice through the Prajnopaya Institute.
