Tushita’s Annual Report 2023
December 2023
It has been 50 years since Tushita became a home for people of all nationalities and backgrounds to learn about and put into practice the teachings of the Buddha. Tushita’s 50th anniversary year—2023—was no exception! The season once again showed how far we have come and how fortunate we have been.
With great joy, we hosted 15 Introduction to Buddhism Courses, 14 in English and 1 in Hindi, 6 Intermediate/Advanced Courses, and 4 Courses with Special Teachers. We also hosted our 3-month Vajrasattva Retreat, attended by 11 participants from India and around the world, along with our Pre-ordination Course, with 6 participants. We are excited to share that in 2023, we welcomed a total of 1925 students in our Residential Courses.
A particularly special and highly successful event was our first Introduction to Buddhism Course in Hindi, led by Kabir Saxena, from June 7 – 15. The course attracted 119 students, including 7 monks, from 12 different Indian states, plus one Swiss Hindi speaker, making it the first-ever Hindi course at Tushita.
Students from Intermediate, Advance, Special Courses & Group Retreats in 2023
The highlights included our special courses with Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche, Geshe Tenzin Zopa, Geshe Lhakdor, and Geshe Dorji Damdul.
As shown in Graph 2, the most popular course was “Transforming Problems into Happiness” by Geshe Tenzin Zopa, which drew 174 participants. Additionally, the “Bodhicitta Retreat” with Geshe Dorji Damdul was very successful, with 119 attendees.
Where do Tushita’s students come from in 2023?
Tushita’s students come from all around the world!
In total, 1925 students participated, with India and Israel representing the largest groups—23% and 22%, respectively (see Graphic 3 below).
Students Attending Short Courses in 2023
Our Residential Courses were complemented by 11 Short and Special Courses (lasting 2-3 days), which were non-residential and attended by 913 participants!
As illustrated in Graphic 3, we offered two hybrid courses (both online and offline): “Transforming Problems into Happiness” with 174 participants and “Chandrakirti – Entering into the Middle Way” with 78 participants.
Both Residential & Non-Residential Courses in 2023
In total, 2023 saw 36 courses, including all residential and non-residential options, as summarized in Graphic 5.
9 Non-Residential Short Courses, 15 Residential Introduction to Buddhism Courses, 2 Non-Residential Special Courses, 2 Residential Special Courses, 5 Residential Intermediate Courses, 1 Residential Advanced Course, 1 Residential Pre-ordination Course, and 1 Residential Group Retreat.
Historically, the most popular courses each year are the Introduction to Buddhism Courses. The Non-Residential Short Course, “How to Meditate”, was also very popular and was held four times this year.
Gender Distribution
Regarding gender distribution (see Graphic 5), more females from France, Germany, Israel, and Russia participated than males, while more males than females from India, the U.S., and the UK.
Tushita’s Historic Data
Now, let’s look back and see how far we’ve come!
Since 2009, the number of students in our residential courses has been steadily increasing, as shown in Graphic 7. This growth was halted only by the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
These years are omitted from the graphic because Tushita was closed during that time. However, we didn’t let that stop our mission to bring the Dharma to students. Under the motto “If you cannot come to us, we come to you,” we launched free online programs in March 2020, which were featured in the Times of India and BBC. We saw great success with these courses, inspiring thousands of students from India and around the world.
Since then, we have been recovering and are now reaching our maximum course capacity, limited only by physical space.
We started 2022 with online programs, offering 30 courses, followed by 9 Residential Introduction to Buddhism Courses, 3 Residential Intermediate Courses, 9 Non-residential Short Courses, and 1 Residential Group Retreat.
In 2023, we made a strong comeback with 1925 participants after the pandemic years. Online attendance also grew alongside our resumed residential courses.
Students in Tushita per Country
Next, let’s examine where Tushita’s students are coming from.
As shown in Graphic 7, since 2017, students from all around the world have participated, with India leading at 7852 students, followed by Israel with 2447, and the U.S. with 1680.
Graphic 8 displays student distribution over the past seven years by country; 2023 sets a new record with 88 students from Russia.
Historical Map of Students per Country from 2017 to 2023
Our Global Map (Graphic 9) highlights the flow of thousands of students mainly from India, Israel, and the U.S., with countries marked in yellow that haven’t visited Tushita yet.
Introduction to Buddhism (10-Day Residential) Courses
Our Introduction to Buddhism Courses remain very popular. Although numbers declined after COVID and Tushita being closed to residential courses, we maintained strength. In 2022, we continued recovering. In 2023, the number of participants in our Introduction to Buddhism Courses more than doubled compared to 2022 (see Graphic 10).
Intermediate / Advanced (9 to 14 Day Residential) Courses
As shown in Graphic 11, 186 students participated in 6 Intermediate/Advanced Courses in 2023, slightly higher than in 2017.
Group Retreats & Special Courses (9 to 99 Day Residential)
The year 2023 was especially successful for our Group Retreats and Special Courses. We had 174 participants in the “Transforming Problems into Happiness” course with Geshe Tenzin Zopa.
Additionally, the Geshe Dorji Damdul Bodhichitta Retreat was very successful with 119 participants, as shown in Graphic 13.
We had 11 participants in our 3-month Vajrasattva Retreat and 6 aspirants for ordination in our Pre-Ordination Course!
As shown in Graph 13, we had 457 participants! A record! 2018 being the closest match with 361 students!
Drop-In Activities (Daily Guided Meditations)
We started recording our Daily Guided Meditations offline and online, as shown in Graphic 14.
Our highest offline attendance was 2386 in September, and we had 240 participants in online sessions in November.
Who are our Indian Students?
The number of Indian students coming to Tushita has been steadily growing since 2009, and even after the COVID pandemic closure, we received 401 participants from all over India (as shown in Graphic 15).
An interesting point that is also worth mentioning, as shown in Graphic 16, is the participation of around 50% of students who are between the ages of 26 and 35 years old.
Where do our Indian Students come from in 2023?
All over India! As we can appreciate in the map (Graphic 17), Tushita has reached the hearts of Indian students all around India, from Trivandrum in the South to Srinagar in the North, reaching as far as Tinsukia to the East and Bhuj to the West.
We can also see the different places our Indian students came from, with the majority coming from Bhusawai, Maharashtra – 22%- and Sankisa, Uttar Pradesh – 13% (as shown in Graphic 18). We were once again delighted by the diversity of our students’ backgrounds!
The Indian participants came from very diverse backgrounds, as shown in Graphic 19: 35% were students, and 18% were housewives. Our participants included teachers, doctors, businessmen, self-employed individuals, social workers, and farmers!
We are so happy to reach such a widely dispersed population. Let’s rejoice!
Also, the mode of transportation is an interesting point to observe. Most of our Indian students arrive by bus or plane, but many also come by taxi or private vehicle (see Graphic 20).
Scholarships granted
Tushita is pleased to announce that in 2023, we granted 50% scholarships to 14 Indian and 3 Tibetan students (as shown in Graphic 21), aged 18 to 23, who could not afford the suggested course donation.
We can also appreciate the information on Graphic 22, which shows the number of scholarships by course and gender. As you can see, eight male and nine female students received scholarships. So let’s rejoice!
We extend our heartfelt thanks to all our students and visitors who have become part of our lives and whose interest and enthusiasm we find truly inspiring. We sincerely hope and pray that their experiences here will continue to enrich their lives- and, as a result, the lives of all beings!