Summer school is in session for researchers at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, and although there are text books and a final exam, very little else about the biology course taught by Dr. Philip Morgan and his fellow scientist and wife, Dr. Margaret Sedensky, is business as usual. That’s because their students are Tibetan monks and their classroom is at a monastic university in southern India…

“The Dalai Lama feels that for Buddhism to grow that their understanding of the world must include all truths,” Morgan said. “He saw the need for his most serious students to learn western science, which he considers a truth, so that their religion remains relevant.”

In addition to biology, the monks receive crash courses in physics, neuroscience and philosophy. The goal of the program is for the monks to begin teaching their fellow monks and nuns once they complete the six-year curriculum.

Read the complete article at the Seattle Children’s Hospital website.