Ven. Thubten Jamyang with Nalanda Monastery volunteers who participated in FDCW’s 16 Guidelines.

FDCW (Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom) brings us some wonderful initiatives, available
to those interested in understanding their own mind and emotions and bringing compassion into daily life. In 1983 Lama Yeshe began formulating the idea of Universal Education. “The world needs a new system of education because the old one is too dated for the intelligent people of today and produces a great deal of conflict and dissatisfaction in the present generation. […] We have to get rid of people’s old concepts and give them a new imagination; a new, broad way of looking at themselves and the world. That’s what I mean by “universal.” 

Executive director of FDCW, Victoria Coleman, shares a success story about how Universal Education, via the 16 Guidelines for Life, worked within a particular FPMT community, Nalanda Monastery in France:

Foundation for Developing Compassion & Wisdom is passionate that everyone has the chance to live their best life. We believe the key is cultivating a warm heart and a wise mind. The Foundation was inspired by the late Lama Yeshe who saw the importance of a new kind of education. He named it Universal Education. Its aim is for people to fulfil their incredible potential and live their best lives – for themselves and for others.

The Foundation’s Patron, His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, “Each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own self, family, or nation, but for the benefit of all humankind. Universal responsibility is the real key to human survival.”

The Foundation’s core program is the 16 Guidelines for Life. The Foundation has trained a global network of facilitators spread across 21 countries dedicated to sharing these techniques for happiness. Ven. Thubten Jamyang is a 16 Guidelines facilitator as well as a psychologist and a carer. Here he shares what happened when he introduced the 16 Guidelines to volunteers living at Nalanda Monastery in France:

“I decided to offer 16 Guidelines to volunteers at Nalanda because we needed to offer them something besides Dharma. Not many of them came here for the Dharma. They came with different motivations. Universal education is suitable for all seekers. Those who don’t know why they came, and those who are looking for some answers.

“The course ran on Saturdays for eight weeks with each session lasting just over two hours. It was quite a small group of six participants. I decided not to allow people to ‘drop into’ sessions without completing the whole course. I felt that this was important for maintaining the group stability. 

 “At the very beginning, I stressed the importance of practicing between sessions, and to my delight, they enthusiastically embraced the ‘homework.’ I began by sharing a little of my own story so that participants got to know me a bit. Being open encourages a spirit of openness in the group. This helped to create safety and trust within the group.

“The group was harmonious and not too big for me to handle. They had enough time and space to ask questions and to share their experience all within the time limit for each session. I could see that with bigger groups, I would probably need to shorten some discussions. It helped that the group was already working together as volunteers and was in fact one of the best volunteer groups we have had at Nalanda. 

“Our sessions took place in the afternoon just after lunch and so sometimes we felt a bit sleepy. Halfway through the course I had the idea of asking someone who knows tai chi to offer this to the group during the middle of the session. The 10 minutes of tai chi worked very nicely and was appreciated by the volunteers. Personally, I found that I felt more energetic after that short exercise. I have also noticed participants filling out their learning logs throughout the course. It is another way to integrate their learning and to reflect. 

“After the eight sessions were completed, the group continued meeting each week for discussions on the 16 Guidelines. These weekly discussions and sharing will continue until the time when the volunteers move on from Nalanda. Actually a few of them became Basic Program students at Nalanda.”

One of the volunteers who participated, Omar, shared, “I’ve very much enjoyed the 16 Guidelines course in its ability to present wholesome and relatable content. You don’t need to be a Buddhist to understand the shared values we can adopt that can unite all of us as a human family.” 

To begin your 16 Guidelines journey today, check out the course, app and book all available from the FDCW website.

To learn more about the origins of FDCW, please explore a three part video series of Lama Zopa Rinpoche speaking about Universal Education in 2005. 

Foundation for Developing Compassion and Wisdom (FDCW) provides secular training, programs and resources across many sectors of society – schools, universities, hospices, workplaces, healthcare, youth groups and community centers.