Welcome to Dharmalaya Institute

Dharmalaya Institute for Compassionate Living is devoted to education and empowerment through contemplative service-learning, with a practical focus on sustainable development.



NOTICE: Temporary closure due to COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak

As a cautionary measure to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Dharmalaya Institute is temporarily closed and all programmes are suspended until further notice. We are monitoring the situation closely and complying with all government directives.

If you have registered for a course in 2020, rest assured that either the course will be rescheduled at a suitable time or your deposit will be refunded in full.

Meanwhile, see our new ONLINE COURSES below.

Dharmalaya Institute’s mission is to unite the best of traditional wisdom with creative innovation to produce compelling possibilities for compassionate living and sustainable development. › Learn about Dharmalaya Institute





Dharmalaya’s programmes for the local and international communities help us empower ourselves to improve our world. Vocational education, volunteer opportunities, meditation, yoga, and more. › Explore our programmes





Check our programme schedule below.

Join Dharmalaya on our membership page.

Leap into the action our volunteer page.

Donate on our support page.





Visiting Dharmalaya Institute

Dharmalaya Institute is closed to visitors until further notice due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. As soon as we have clarity about when we will be able to reopen safely, we will post that information here. Meanwhile, unfortunately it is not possible to visit the Dharmalaya campus for any reason.



Overview of Dharmalaya Institute’s Upcoming Events

You’ll see brief summaries of our upcoming events below. You can click the ‘details and application’ link to know more about each programme, including description of activities, costs, and application instructions.



NOW THROUGH AUGUST 2020

Dharmalaya Institute is responding to requests for online programming during the COVID-19 pandemic with a new series of online courses.

Compassionate Creativity: Transforming Ourselves, Our Work and Our World

An online course series to empower the contemplative creative, combining meditation with explorations of compassionate action, the creative process, and the patterns of nature

We are pleased to announce a new, holistic and interactive online course exploring principles of ‘compassionate creativity’ — that is, how we can tap the great wellspring of human creativity to learn and grow, to focus our lives with virtuous purpose, and to make fruitful contributions to a more harmonious and sustainably flourishing world.



Spontaneous Creativity: Meditation for Manifestation [COURSE FULL, REGISTRATION CLOSED]: A six-week online course exploring contemplative practices that support us to connect to the source of creativity within us, designed around renowned Tibetan meditation master Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche’s book, Spontaneous Creativity. We will work with ourselves in order to activate our creative potential. Through both conversation and meditation practice, this course will lead us on a journey from the source of creativity to full expression of our potential in our lives. This course can be taken on its own, or as a part of our ‘Compassionate Creativity’ series.

When: 19th July through 23rd August 2020

› Details and application



Contemplative Geometry for Artists & Designers [COURSE FULL, REGISTRATION CLOSED]: In this online course, we will explore aspects of pattern, proportion and symmetry, and our relation with them. This is an applied course and will consist of conversations, drawing and introspection. The course will be conducted on a single weekend in two sessions (one Saturday, one Sunday) for a total of four hours. It will include a small amount of homework. This course can be taken on its own, or as a part of our ‘Compassionate Creativity’ series. For architects and designers, this course also serves as an introductory preparation for our long-term Sacred Architecture course.

When: 29th & 30th August 2020

› Details and application





SEPTEMBER 2020 ONWARD (PROGRAMMES & DATES TENTATIVE, SUBJECT TO CHANGE)



Opening the Heart — Joy of Living 2 Retreat [POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19]: A one-week meditation retreat designed by world-renowned meditation master Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, with special added features unique to the retreats at Dharmalaya. In this second level of the Joy of Living series, we explore how meditating on love, compassion, joy and equanimity can open our hearts to the world around us and decrease the self-fixation that lies at the root of suffering. We will practice cultivating positive mental states through meditation, and learn how ordinary experiences (and even ‘negative’ factors like difficult emotions and physical pain) can be transformed into sources of empathy and compassion through meditation. As a unique feature of this retreat, we will also incorporate yoga asana practice in a style specially designed to integrate with Mingyur Rinpoche’s Joy of Living teachings.

When: POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK. NEW DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED WHEN THE SITUATION BECOMES CLEARER.

› Details



Natural Harmony: Mind, Body, Space and Form — An Experiential Workshop-Retreat [POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19]: A very special three-week programme providing an in-depth introduction to fundamental principles of natural harmony, as explored holistically through yoga, meditation, ecology, music, design, the creative process, and sacred architecture. We will explore these topics through both theory and practice, with a blend of hands-on activities and philosophical contemplations, supported by a rhythm of daily yoga and meditation. Applications for this programme are open to anyone interested in these principles of natural harmony and cultivating them in our lives and work. For architects and designers, it also serves as the first module of our long-term Sacred Architecture course.

When: POSTPONED DUE TO COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK. New dates to be confirmed when the situation becomes clearer.

› Details





Further details to be announced when the COVID-19 situation becomes clearer.







› See the complete list of our events (past, present, and future)