Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program



Program Components

  • Eleven monthly day-long classes, held on Fridays
  • Monthly support groups
  • Individual mentoring meetings with faculty (every other month)
  • One hundred hours of volunteer chaplaincy
  • Assigned reading and written assignments
  • Bi-monthly peer support sessions
  • Visits to various Buddhist and other religious centers (including attending unfamiliar religious services or gatherings)
  • Field trips to hospitals, psychiatric wards, morgues, homeless shelters, juvenile halls or other service centers
  • Optional related classes

It is now possible to receive graduate credits for the chaplaincy training program through the Institute for Buddhist Studies in Berkeley.

Areas of Training

  • History of Spiritual Care: applications and settings for spiritual care, engaged Buddhism
  • Spiritual Care Skills I: purpose and functioning of a chaplain, establishing spiritual care relationships, listening, spiritual counseling, verbal and non-verbal communication
  • Spiritual Care Skills II: spiritual assessment, ritual, collaboration with other professionals and disciplines
  • Buddhist practices related to spiritual care
  • Cultural competency in a multicultural world
  • Verbal and non-verbal communication
  • Use of Self: when to disclose and when not to, boundaries and ethics of conduct, personal safety, sexual feelings in spiritual care relationships
  • Interfaith and multi-faith ministry, religious directives
  • Conflict resolution
  • Creating and Leading Buddhist Rituals: funerals, memorials, weddings, rites of passage, practice rituals
  • Ministry to death and dying, grief and loss
  • Critical Incidents: trauma, addiction, suicide, homicide, domestic violence

Elective Study

To complement the training program the Sati Center plans to offer several optional daylong classes on Saturdays on particular subjects relevant to chaplaincy work. In the past these have included classes on the History and Teaching of Engaged Buddhism, Buddhist views on death and dying, contemplative psychology, and Buddhist/Christian dialogue.