Learning as Awakening

I did not begin Giao Long Monastery & Institute with the idea of founding a school.
I began with a feeling — a quiet, persistent awareness that modern students were searching for something deeper than information. They were looking for a way to wake up.

For years, I carried this question with me:
What kind of education helps a person not only to understand the Dharma, but to live it?

In the solitude of long retreats, I turned often to the Kangyur. One line followed me like a whisper:

“When wisdom is practiced, it becomes the path itself.”
ཤེས་རབ་སྦྱོངས་ནས་ལམ་དུ་འགྱུར།

I realized then that a true Buddhist education must be more than lectures, citations, or degrees. It must be a training of the heart — tender, direct, transformative. It must be a place where one can sit in stillness before studying philosophy, and serve others before speaking of compassion.

As I shaped GLM’s vision, a second teaching from the Tengyur guided me:

ཤེས་པ་རྣམས་ལ་སྤྱོད་པ་མེད་ན། མེ་མེད་པའི་སྒྲོན་མེ་ལྟར།

These words clarified everything.
Giao Long must be a place where study and practice breathe together where meditation halls stand beside classrooms, where scholarship supports awakening, and where learning becomes a way of becoming more human.

As the vision took shape, I felt a strange mix of humility and determination. A monastery is not built by one person. It is built by everyone who believes that wisdom and compassion still matter in this world.

If you feel drawn to this dream whether as a student, practitioner, supporter, or simply someone searching for meaning know that Giao Long is being built for you.

Walk with us.
Let learning become your awakening.