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CIHTS Sarnath is now CUTS

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Shantaraksita Library, Central University of Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, UP, India.File photo/CUTS/India

The Central Institute of Tibetan Higher Studies (CIHTS), Sarnath, has now become the Central University of Tibetan Studies (CUTS). The Dalai Lama dedicated the new name of the institution on 15 January, reports the Times of India.

The Dalai Lama was addressing the inaugural function of a three-day international conference on Buddhism and Science at the university. “If we want to live in peace we have to follow the rule of co-existence,” he said.

“We are here to discuss Buddhism and Science. I wish that the conference should not merely be an affair of paper presentation but meaningful deliberations how to stop and eliminate the man-made unnecessary problems.”

The institute was established in 1967 with the efforts of the Dalai Lama and India’s first Prim Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

The university provides education in the field of Tibetology, Buddhology and Himalayan Studies. The main objectives of the university are to preserve the Tibetan culture and tradition, and preserve ancient Indian sciences and literature preserved in the Tibetan language, but lost in the original.

The university also caters as an alternate educational facility to students of Indian border areas who formerly availed the opportunity of receiving higher education in Tibet.

Geshe Ngawang Samten is the current Director of the university. He was preceded by Samdhong Rinpoche, the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile. The institute in Sarnath is about 10 km (6 miles) from the city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh in nothern India.

Buddha Shakyamuni first taught at Sarnath after achieving enlightenment.

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