Arts and humanities in universities across the world continue to endure bad faith attacks by agendas that intentionally misrepresent the true value of subjects like theology and the study of religions. It’s therefore encouraging to see, in contrast, how collaborations between like-minded institutions are birthing new initiatives that will advance worthwhile causes of a pastoral nature. The most important recent example is that of the new Tung Lin Kok Yuen, Canada Society Research & Education Centre for Buddhist Spiritual Care and Counselling (hereon referred to as TLKYCS Centre), which opened at Emmanuel College (formally Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto) on 18 September.  

The Centre’s set of objectives aligns with Emmanuel College’s status as a federated theological school. They are: to advance Buddhist spiritual care, counselling, psychospiritual studies, and chaplaincy education through academic scholarship, professional formation, interfaith dialogue, and community engagement. These rubrics form the strategic objective, in the words of Prof. Henry Shiu’s, Shi Wu De Associate Professor in Chinese Buddhist Studies, to understand “how spiritual care is understood, practiced, and lived, particularly when informed by Buddhist teachings and practices.”

Prof. Shiu’s insights, along with discussions between Prof. Jennifer Bright, Wutai Shan Ven. Dayi Assistant Professor in Buddhist Spiritual Care, and Winnie Shiu, advisor for Buddhist Community Engagement at Emmanuel College, were part of a threefold interview conducted by Buddhistdoor Global leading up to the Centre’s opening. Prof. Bright noted that the establishment of the Centre was the result of a matrix of auspicious causes, including, in Prof.  Shiu’s words, the deep understanding of the need for both research and education in Buddhist spiritual care on part of TLKYCS CEO’s Dr. Ernest Ng—who himself is a registered Buddhist chaplain—and the creation of the Wutai Shan Venerable Dayi Professorship in Buddhist Spiritual Care, the first and only position of its kind in Canada and held by Prof. Bright.

These factors, combined with the development of Emmanuel College’s Buddhist programs and the Master of Psychospiritual Studies (MPS) with a Buddhist focus, “created an ideal environment for a research and education center dedicated to Buddhist spiritual care and counselling,” Prof. Bright told BDG.

The strategic breadth of the Centre is impressive. For one, it retains its identity as part of Emmanuel College’s theological heritage. Prof. Bright noted how “Buddhist theologies and religious practices have influenced Western psychotherapies for decades,” but stressed that the Centre will offer students a chance to understand Buddhism on its own terms and from within its own theological traditions. For her, “Buddhism, understood on its own terms and from within Buddhist theological traditions, offers far richer resources and often profoundly different perspectives on what it means to be human, to suffer, to heal, and to live in relationship with one another.”

The Centre also has the scholarly objective to break new ground in the existing pastoral literature, and a commitment to community engagement that will overlap with the theological calling to interfaith work. Prof. Shiu said that the research into Buddhist texts and traditions will help ensure how the Centre’s work stays “firmly rooted in the richness and diversity of Buddhist traditions,” rather than treating spiritual care as a set of techniques that can be uprooted or detached from their broader religious contexts. He also told BDG how its flagship journal publication, International Journal of Buddhist Spiritual Care,  “further strengthens the research dimension of the Centre, providing a platform for scholarship that can contribute to the continuing development of Buddhist spiritual care as both a field of study and an area of practice.”

Winnie Shiu, who advises on community engagement, emphasized how dialogue with various interests—academic disciplines, professional practices, and religious traditions—will be the Centre’s greatest strength. She told BDG that the interreligious Psychospiritual Continuing Education program is an important expression of this vision. “As a lifelong learning initiative, it creates opportunities to explore Buddhist teachings in conversation with contemporary approaches to spiritual and psychospiritual care while engaging both Buddhist and non-Buddhist learners.” This is particularly important as students will never be of just one age range, or from one stage of life and learning. Shiu noted that, “interested parties also include social workers, paramedics, spiritual care counsellors, and other professionals eager to learn how Buddhist teachings and practices can help them better understand and respond to the experiences of those they serve, while also supporting their own personal reflection and growth.”

Prof. Henry Shiu articulated community as one of collaboration with other institutions as well, within Canada itself as well as overseas. The Centre will collaborate with Buddhist Spiritual Care Educators of North America (BSCENA), so that, “we can learn from our colleagues and other spiritual care providers in the United States, while also sharing with them the knowledge and experience emerging from our own work in Canada.” The plan is to further extend the network of collegial communication and collaboration to Asia, such as with Taiwan’s Tzu Chi and the Centre of Buddhist Studies at the University of Hong Kong, which has developed its own approach to Buddhist counselling. “These institutions operate in very different cultural, religious, and professional contexts, and we hope that by bringing these experiences into conversation, we can learn from one another and develop a richer understanding of what Buddhist spiritual care can mean in different parts of the world,” said Prof. Shiu.

The objective of interfaith collaboration and mutual growth was expressed beautifully by Prof. Bright, who outlined how Emmanuel College is uniquely positioned to support the Centre’s interfaith mission:

As a theological college of The United Church of Canada, Emmanuel inherits a long tradition of ecumenical and intercultural engagement. The United Church itself emerged from the union of Methodist, Congregationalist, and Presbyterian traditions and has, over time, become a place of multifaith learning and dialogue. Today, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and students from many other religious and spiritual traditions learn together within an interfaith community committed to decolonization, reconciliation, and relationships rooted in mutual respect, friendship, and right relations with both the human and more-than-human world. . . . More broadly, I hope the Centre contributes to protecting freedom of religion in Canada by helping ensure that Buddhist patients, families, and communities have access to appropriate religious and spiritual care when they need it, while supporting the same commitment for people from other faith traditions.

The Centre’s ambitious strategy also includes “decolonizing” and even “de-secularizing” Buddhism, the latter of which has long been advocated by those in the Buddhist community who feel that certain elements in the mindfulness industry have detached modern Buddhist practice from its original roots and context. Prof. Bright suggests that we must recover “those aspects of Buddhist life that have often been overlooked or devalued in contemporary Western understandings of Buddhism, including faith, devotion, ritual, prayer, and spiritual community.” This can further enrich psychotherapy, chaplaincy, and pastoral care, such as how the Buddhist understanding of what we call “emotions,” including afflictive emotions leading to unwholesome actions (kleshas), differ significantly from many normative Western assumptions, and in Prof. Bright’s words, “these differences invite fruitful reflection for approaches such as Emotion-Focused Therapy and other therapeutic modalities used in spiritual care and clinical practice.”

The work of TLKYCS Centre is significant because, like many others, it acknowledges a fundamentally unique need of human beings: to be “spiritually cared for.” All religious traditions insist on and celebrate the distinctiveness of humanity, but not in the sense of biological or metaphysical superiority—or even having any unique status in the hereafter, according to Buddhism. Rather, our ability to abstractly reflect, contemplate the unseen and meditate, and engage in such emotional depth with each other come together to make enlightenment itself a state that can only be realized as a human being.

TLKYCS Centre and its team represent a significant and powerful affirmation of the great Buddhist tradition of proclaiming human beings as fundamentally spiritual beings, and therefore, fully human.

See more

Opening Ceremony: New Centre for Buddhist Spiritual Care, Counselling

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Related blog posts from Tea House

Prof. Henry Shiu Discusses the New TLKY Centre at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto
Prof. Jennifer Bright on TLKYCS Centre’s Interfaith Priorities, Theological Approaches, and Community Engagement