Tushita’s Annual Report 2017

December 2017

Without exaggeration we can say that our 2017 season, running from February to November, was the most busy (and hopefully most beneficial) Tushita has ever seen! (See Figure 1.)

Our 2017 season started with countless blessings by our precious guru Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, giving inspiring teachings, lungs and advice during Rinpoche’s 17-day stay before the Tibetan New Year.

After such an auspicious start we hosted with much energy and enthusiasm 18 Introduction to Buddhism courses, 4 intermediate/ advanced courses and 6 group retreats. Highlights were the advanced courses with Geshe Tenzin Namdak and Geshe Kelsang Wangmo and courses & retreats with our new Resident Teacher Venerable Drolma.

In addition, we were extremely fortunate to have Dagri Rinpoche teaching a 5-day course on Shantideva’s “A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life”, with Rinpoche promising a continuation in the coming years. Another special 6-day course was led by Geshe Lhakdor la on Atisha’s “Lamp of the Path to Enlightenment”.

All these residential courses and retreats were attended by nearly 2,100 students – a new Tushita record!!
This was boosted by our surprisingly high attendance in our February course, which has historically been very low as the season is just getting started, and there are typically very few Indians coming then due to the cold winter weather.
As per usual, most of our courses had long waiting lists and once again as in recent years our most numerous student nationality was India (see Nationality below).

We averaged a phenomenal 95 students per Introductory course in 2017!
You can see the growth progression of these popular courses over the past six years in Figure 2 below.

On top of all this we hosted our very popular daily meditation sessions and other drop-in activities. These attracted thousands of visitors again this season (more than 24, 306 in total!)  – often squeezed tightly into our meditation halls and overflowing to the outside.

Our highest average monthly attendance occurred in April with 87 students per morning meditation. It is typical for attendance to drop during Monsoon in July/August, though Figure 3 shows a particularly sharp drop in July. This is due to the fact that we hosted 3 simultaneous courses/retreats which filled all of our meditation halls and prevented us from offering morning meditations during that time.

In addition to these regular offerings, we had the tremendous fortune to host His Eminence Ling Rinpoche’s two visits to give His first official teaching at Tushita on “The Eight Verses of Mind Training” and to convey His first initiation at Tushita of Long Life Amitayus. Both events were extremely popular, and we pray that many more will follow.

Further highlights were teachings and initiation by Yangten Rinpoche, Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche, Khadro Rinpoche, Jetzunma Tenzin Palmo, and Gen Gyatso la.
But who are these people who come on Tushita courses?

Who are our Indian Students?

Now that we have so many Indian students coming to Tushita, we have become curious to learn more about our local friends.

Age

Traditionally in India the later stages of life (after one’s children are grown) are when one prioritizes spiritual practices and development. Thus it is fascinating to see in the figure above that 73% of our Indian students are between the ages of 21 and 35. This shift of interest to younger generations is remarkable given the traditional context, and one which we celebrate. The sooner we begin to understand the nature of our mind and reality, the sooner we can bring greater peace and happiness into our lives and those around us!

Gender

Two thirds of our Indian students this year were male. We are curious to see if this ratio changes in the coming years or if it will stay as consistent as the gender balance of our overall population of students.

The above figure shows that among the top ten nationalities of our courses in 2017, India is the only one with a majority male representation. Netherlands has an even greater disparity in the opposite direction.

How old are the students on Tushita’s courses (2017)?

In 2017 we had our greatest age range of students in a single year since we began collecting such data in 2009. We had our oldest student yet at 83 years. With our youngest student this year at 18 this is a span of 65 years!

As you can see from this graph below, there’s a predominance of students in their 20’s on our Introduction to Buddhism courses. However it also shows good representation across age groups. The ring chart below shows that 59% of students are aged 18 – 30, 27% aged 31 – 40, and 14% are over 40. What is remarkable is that these percentages remain almost the exact same year to year – typically with a single percentage variation.

While the majority of students in Introductory courses are under 30, in our Intermediate courses there is a much more balanced mix of ages. We don’t have the same predominance of students in their twenties in our Intermediate courses that we do in our Introductory courses. This is evidenced in the graph below showing the age range of Intermediate course students (green) against that of the Introductory course students (red).

How many Men & Women take part in our courses (2017)?

Over the 9 years we’ve been studying our records, the gender balance of students has remained very stable, with always 5-10% more women than men taking part. Over the years the percentage of men has increased from 42 to 47%.

The graph below depicts the breakdown of gender by course types in 2017. While there are typically more females than males in all of our courses, this year we actually had slightly more males than females in our Intermediate courses.

Where are Tushita’s Students from (2017)?

Since we began collecting data in 2009, we’ve had students in our residential courses from 96 different countries! In 2017 we were thrilled to welcome students from Tunisia and Albania for the first time.

In Table A you can see a list of the top ten nationalities represented in our residential courses in 2017. (Figure 4 below shows these countries highlighted on a world map.)

If you would like to see the full list of 96 countries, please click here. See if your country is represented. If not: come, we need you!

Spain has held a place in our Top 10 since we began keeping records in 2009. This year, however, they dropped out of the Top 10 for the first time and have been replaced with Brazil who broke through last year replacing the Netherlands. Not one to be outdone for long, the Netherlands came back with boosted numbers this year and together with Brazil they overtook Spain in numbers.

Figure 2 (below) gives historical perspective by showing national trends. One of the most significant changes we’ve noticed over the past 9 years is the shift in national patterns of participation, primarily – The Rise of India!!!

In 2011 Israel took over the top position from the USA and held that position until 2015 when we saw a surge in Indian participation.

Participation among Indian citizens has increased 770% in 9 years – from 60 students in 2009 to 462 students in 2017!

We rejoice – returning Buddha Dharma to the Motherland!

As the above figure reveals, the same proportion of Indians who participated in our Introductory courses go on to participate in our Intermediate and Advanced courses. Conversely, our Israeli population – which is so consistently high in our Introductory courses – drops dramatically from 23% to just 4% in our further courses.

Full list of countries in 2017

#	Native Country of Residential Students	2017	% 2017
1	India	462	22.34
2	Israel	404	19.54
3	USA	199	9.62
4	UK	126	6.09
5	Germany	91	4.40
6	Canada	80	3.87
7	France	71	3.43
8	Australia	69	3.34
9	Netherlands	50	2.42
10	Brazil	40	1.93
11	Spain	36	1.74
12	Italy	35	1.69
13	Sweden	29	1.40
14	Austria	29	1.40
15	Argentina	23	1.11
16	Mexico	21	1.02
17	Switzerland	21	1.02
18	Chile	21	1.02
19	Russia	20	0.97
20	Ireland	19	0.92
21	New Zealand	19	0.92
22	Belgium	16	0.77
23	Poland	15	0.73
24	Denmark	14	0.68
25	Turkey	14	0.68
26	Colombia	13	0.63
27	Portugal	13	0.63
28	Finland	10	0.48
29	South Africa	9	0.44
30	Romania	9	0.44
31	Vietnam	8	0.39
32	Czech Republic	7	0.34
33	South Korea	6	0.29
34	Japan	6	0.29
35	Singapore	6	0.29
36	Norway	5	0.24
37	China	4	0.19
38	Bulgaria	4	0.19
39	Mauritius	4	0.19
40	Peru	4	0.19
41	Tibet	3	0.15
42	Serbia	3	0.15
43	Ukraine	2	0.10
44	Hungary	2	0.10
45	Lithuania	2	0.10
46	Latvia	2	0.10
47	Croatia	2	0.10
48	Uruguay	2	0.10
49	Guatemala	2	0.10
50	Taiwan	1	0.05
51	Estonia	1	0.05
52	Slovakia	1	0.05
53	Thailand	1	0.05
54	Indonesia	1	0.05
55	Iran	1	0.05
56	Malta	1	0.05
57	Venezuela	1	0.05
58	Costa Rica	1	0.05
59	Philippines	1	0.05
60	Nepal	1	0.05
61	Morocco	1	0.05
62	Oman	1	0.05
63	Moldova	1	0.05
64	Tunisia	1	0.05
65	Albania	1	0.05
	Total	2068	100.00

All 96 countries that have participated in Residential Courses 2009-17

#	Native Country of Residential Students	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2009-2017	% From 2009-2017
1	Israel	166	151	233	230	260	245	251	387	404	2327	17.16
2	India	60	94	106	142	202	228	325	439	462	2058	15.18
3	USA	178	201	200	165	175	142	180	177	199	1617	11.92
4	UK	129	103	145	103	100	81	103	116	126	1006	7.42
5	Germany	82	79	73	85	79	71	100	109	91	769	5.67
6	Canada	59	95	67	73	69	54	69	67	80	633	4.67
7	Australia	81	74	81	77	49	44	57	75	69	607	4.48
8	France	25	44	68	63	67	76	48	74	71	536	3.95
9	Spain	25	35	33	35	38	27	35	38	36	302	2.23
10	Netherlands	40	24	32	42	22	23	36	30	50	299	2.20
11	Sweden	13	25	26	35	34	18	16	29	29	225	1.66
12	Brazil	10	18	15	25	15	26	24	33	40	206	1.52
13	Austria	12	18	27	31	16	10	25	19	29	187	1.38
14	Italy	14	16	14	17	22	13	23	32	35	186	1.37
15	Mexico	17	21	19	24	14	10	9	23	21	158	1.17
16	Switzerland	15	26	14	28	15	15	8	13	21	155	1.14
17	Russia	8	2	7	9	26	26	26	27	20	151	1.11
18	Ireland	19	16	22	16	14	15	10	20	19	151	1.11
19	Argentina	7	8	14	17	14	19	20	25	23	147	1.08
20	New Zealand	18	20	12	6	11	8	11	16	19	121	0.89
21	Belgium	11	9	9	17	9	16	18	13	16	118	0.87
22	Poland	6	9	9	9	10	19	11	18	15	106	0.78
23	Chile	1	10	12	3	12	8	13	21	21	101	0.74
24	Denmark	15	10	16	13	10	8	7	6	14	99	0.73
25	Finland	14	6	18	9	11	6	9	14	10	97	0.72
26	South Korea	9	7	12	20	12	6	3	9	6	84	0.62
27	Colombia	2	8	7	7	7	13	13	13	13	83	0.61
28	South Africa	9	4	5	7	12	9	14	14	9	83	0.61
29	Portugal	6	1	15	9	15	3	6	11	13	79	0.58
30	Japan	11	6	11	8	11	4	5	4	6	66	0.49
31	Turkey	3	6	5	5	2	6	5	6	14	52	0.38
32	Czech Republic	4	2	7	6	5	7	3	3	7	44	0.32
33	Singapore	2	10	7	7	1	1	7	1	6	42	0.31
34	Taiwan	4	16	1	3	7	3	6	0	1	41	0.30
35	Slovenia	5	1	2	8	4	9	9	3	0	41	0.30
36	Romania	1	3	2	2	5	6	5	5	9	38	0.28
37	Norway	2	5	2	8	6	2	3	5	5	38	0.28
38	Ukraine	2	5	3	3	6	7	2	6	2	36	0.27
39	Hungary	2	6	2	3	4	6	3	3	2	31	0.23
40	China	1	2	3	4	5	4	4	1	4	28	0.21
41	Vietnam	6	0	1	3	3	3	0	3	8	27	0.20
42	Estonia	5	1	10	2	1	1	2	4	1	27	0.20
43	Slovakia	3	7	5	0	0	5	3	3	1	27	0.20
44	Tibet	3	5	4	0	6	1	2	1	3	25	0.18
45	Greece	5	4	1	3	1	5	3	2	0	24	0.18
46	Malaysia	1	8	1	4	0	1	3	3	0	21	0.15
47	Bulgaria	0	0	2	0	3	2	3	5	4	19	0.14
48	Lithuania	1	0	2	5	0	2	4	3	2	19	0.14
49	Thailand	0	1	5	0	2	2	6	1	1	18	0.13
50	Indonesia	0	5	10	0	0	1	1	0	1	18	0.13
51	Mauritius	0	2	1	1	1	3	1	2	4	15	0.11
52	Latvia	1	1	5	2	1	1	0	2	2	15	0.11
53	Iran	0	1	3	0	0	0	2	3	1	10	0.07
54	Peru	0	2	0	1	0	1	1	0	4	9	0.07
55	Malta	1	0	2	1	1	2	1	0	1	9	0.07
56	Croatia	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	2	8	0.06
57	Venezuela	1	1	1	1	0	3	0	0	1	8	0.06
58	Uruguay	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	2	2	7	0.05
59	Belarus	0	0	1	1	2	1	2	0	0	7	0.05
60	Luxembourg	4	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	7	0.05
61	Costa Rica	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	1	6	0.04
62	Philippines	0	0	1	0	0	1	2	1	1	6	0.04
63	Nepal	1	1	0	2	1	0	0	0	1	6	0.04
64	Serbia	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	5	0.04
65	Iceland	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	5	0.04
66	Ecuador	0	0	1	3	0	0	1	0	0	5	0.04
67	Guatemala	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2	4	0.03
68	Morocco	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	4	0.03
69	Kazakhstan	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	4	0.03
70	Lebanon	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0	4	0.03
71	Cyprus	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	4	0.03
72	Egypt	0	0	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	4	0.03
73	Oman	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	3	0.02
74	Jordan	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	3	0.02
75	Kyrgyzstan	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	3	0.02
76	Moldova	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	0.01
77	Sri Lanka	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0.01
78	Botswana	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	2	0.01
79	Georgia	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.01
80	Jamaica	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0.01
81	Mongolia	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	0.01
82	Bolivia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0.01
83	Tunisia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0.01
84	Albania	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0.01
85	Algeria	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0.01
86	Bhutan	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
87	Cambodia	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0.01
88	Myanmar	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
89	Nicaragua	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
90	Palestine	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
91	Panama	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
92	Saudi Arabia	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
93	Syria	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
94	Uganda	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0.01
95	Zimbabwe	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0.01
96	Yemen	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0.01
	Total	1122	1243	1423	1411	1424	1340	1568	1963	2068	13562	100.00