You’ve heard good things about Bodhi College but not sure if it’s for you? Are you thinking there’s a high price tag or maybe you are not the ‘right’ sort of person for a Bodhi College course?
Here we attempted to debunk some of the misconceptions you may have had about us. If you have any misconceptions or queries that are not referred to, please do get in touch and we will be happy to respond.
Are Bodhi College courses are only for academics?
No.
While some of our courses involve a larger study component, this is always balanced
by meditational practice, where we contemplate and try to put into practice what we are learning. Where you find a larger study element present, far from being
‘academic,’ you will always find that the teaching is oriented towards how we live our
daily lives.
Other courses, especially our retreats, place more emphasis on meditation.
What is true, however, of all our courses is that you are being invited to explore the teachings in the context of your own life and see how they emerge in your own experience.
Read what our teachers say about their own daily life practice HERE
Are Bodhi College courses expensive?
It depends.
As well as our in-person retreats, we have many very reasonably priced options for courses and seminars – especially online and our self-study options.
For our in-person retreats and courses, the overhead costs of hiring the venue, food, accommodation etc., do all add up, as venue costs inevitably do, but we do believe we offer a high-quality experience. For most of our courses we have two teachers leading, as we believe in the value of offering different viewpoints, experiences and voices, and not just delivering one ‘truth.’ This is what makes our courses unique. In our courses you can see two different teachers interpreting a teaching in their own way. Of course, in doing this this it means that we double travel, expenses and teacher’s fees to cover.
For people who feel they are unable to pay full course costs, we have a bursary fund that is that is open for applications.
Must you live in a certain country or place to go on Bodhi College courses?
No.
Our courses have taken place in various European countries, including the UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Holland.
We also have numerous courses online, and self-study courses which can be accessed from anywhere in the world with an internet connection.
Do I need to be a ‘Buddhist’ to go on a Bodhi College retreat or course?
No.
We pride ourselves on being inclusive in offering courses that will enrich the lives of anyone, be they a practicing Buddhist, someone from another religion, or a person that ascribes themselves no doctrine or faith. As a college, we do not align ourselves with any specific ‘Buddhist’ lineage or tradition. Rather, our courses explore important themes from the Buddha’s earliest teachings, before they were codified into the ‘religion’ we now know as the many faces of ‘Buddhism.’
Amongst our teachers you will find people holding differing interpretations of the early teachings from a Buddhist perspective as well as those who are attempting to bring them into the contemporary world without their ‘religious’ ‘modernist’ or ‘secular’ trappings. One of the strengths of the Bodhi College approach is that on any retreat or course, participants are exposed to teachers who have very differing viewpoints, readings and interpretations of specific texts and teaching. Participants get to hear them explore, debate and discuss with each other these differences. Our courses aren’t there to deliver one, distinct ‘truth’, but are designed rather to encourage you to explore and think through important themes in early Buddhist teaching in the context of your own life.