Middle Way Education (MWE), a landmark non-profit education initiative inspired by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s vision of a progressive environment for educating children founded on Buddhist values, has announced the launch of Buddhist Education Aspirations, an open-source framework of learning goals that represent a groundbreaking new approach to education for children and young people.
Traditional education systems often lack the tools and the resources to properly address the stresses, mental health challenges, and social pressures that today’s youth face. MWE’s new framework enable educators to build lessons and units to help students navigate life with balance and wisdom. Buddhist Education Aspirations is aimed at enabling institutions and educators—including public and private schools, homeschoolers, families, community programs, and youth organizations—to offer a student-centered, inquiry-based approach to learning that cultivates compassion, resilience, authenticity, and self-awareness.
“Building upon years of providing a community-driven educational resource library and mapping an international network, MWE has developed a comprehensive framework of more than 175 learning goals spanning ages 4–18,” MWE shared with BDG. “Rooted in Buddhist wisdom yet designed for universal accessibility, the framework is organized into five developmental domains.”
Founded in 2017, Middle Way Education is a non-profit global network established with the vision of creating a new system of education based on Buddhist wisdom and compassion, and drawing on schools, resources, and education projects around the world. The project includes an online hub where Buddhist educators can communicate, network, share resources, lesson plans, and teaching materials, and learn from and support one another.
“Buddhist Education Aspirations start with the understanding that every student possesses innate wisdom—a natural capacity for awareness, empathy, and resilience,” MWE explained. “The framework supports educators in guiding students to recognize and trust this inner resource through constructivist, student-centered approaches. Rather than teaching wisdom as a fixed subject, it encourages exploration, reflection, and inquiry in a non-dogmatic way that honors direct experience.”
The Buddhist Education Aspirations were inspired by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s aspiration to make the Buddha’s wisdom accessible to young minds around the world. The framework is drawn from classroom-tested curricula at the Middle Way School (USA) and was brought to life under the leadership of founding director Noa Jones (MSEd, MFA). Buddhist Education Aspirations is carried forward by Framework Director Michelle Macioce and supported by editors Mariana Restrepo and Carlo Carranza.
“In the modern world, incorporating wisdom traditions into education is not just progressive—it’s absolutely essential,” remarked Macioce, who has 25 years of teaching experience and Buddhist practice. “Education that invites children to trust their own wisdom and kindness gives them an indispensable foundation.”
A student of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Macioce has pioneered innovative approaches to integrating Buddhist principles, including mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and ethical reasoning, into secular educational settings. Macioce has served as a Middle Way Education board member since 2020 and curriculum team member since 2023. She leads the development of educational frameworks that make Buddhist wisdom accessible across diverse learning environments.
“When we stop underestimating what children can handle philosophically and start trusting their natural wisdom, they will surprise us with their ability to grasp a profound view that sometimes as adults, we have lost touch with,” Macioce emphasized.
Middle Way Education is a nonsectarian organization, with advisors from Tibetan, Thai Forest, Shambhala, Zen, and other Buddhist traditions. Supported by a grant from Khyentse Foundation, Middle Way Education established its first pilot school in 2018, The Middle Way School in New York’s Hudson Valley,* and is now forming partnerships with educational institutions in other countries.
Khyentse Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in 2001 with the aim of promoting the Buddha’s teaching and supporting all traditions of Buddhist study and practice. The foundation’s activities include major text preservation and translation projects, support for monastic colleges in Asia, a worldwide scholarship and awards program, development of Buddhist studies at major universities, training and development for Buddhist teachers, as well as developing new modes of Dharma-inspired education for children.
“The Buddhist Education Aspirations are designed for all educators, not only those in Buddhist contexts,” MWE noted. “The adaptable learning goals can be implemented in public and private schools, homeschooling or family environments, community education programs, and faith-based or secular institutions.
“Educators may choose to adopt the framework in full, or select specific goals that resonate with their context and community. The framework provides learning standards and outcomes, while educators bring their own content, examples, and creative implementation to bring these goals to life.
“Through these approaches, students are supported in an academic learning environment, as well as in developing as balanced, compassionate individuals prepared to contribute positively in their communities and to the wider world.”
Born in Bhutan in 1961, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche is the son of Thinley Norbu Rinpoche and was a close student of the Nyingma master Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910–91). He is recognized as the third incarnation of the 19th century Tibetan terton Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820–1892), founder of the Khyentse lineage, and the immediate incarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (1893–1959).
In addition to Khyentse Foundation, Rinpoche’s projects include Siddhartha’s Intent, an international collective of Buddhist groups supporting his Buddhadharma activities by organizing teachings and retreats, distributing and archiving recorded teachings, and transcribing, editing, and translating manuscripts and practice texts; 84000, a non-profit global initiative to translate the words of the Buddha and make them available to all; Lotus Outreach, which directs a range of projects to ensure the education, health, and safety of vulnerable women and children in the developing world; and Lhomon Society, which promotes sustainable development in Bhutan through education.
Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche has long championed education reform, viewing education as a fundamental platform for ensuring the survival of the teachings of the Buddha and for creating a better world for all beings, stating: “We are trying to prepare and train some of the next generation of human beings through Buddhist values and Buddha’s teaching of love, compassion, and wisdom. We are also hoping that through training the next generation of Buddhists, the authentic Buddhadharma can continue to flourish and that knowledgeable practitioners of the Dharma will carry on the lineage through their love and support, and study and practice of the teachings. So we are developing a model of education.” (Khyentse Foundation)
* Middle Way School in New York Opens Doors to New Students (BDG) and Khyentse Foundation Announces Two New Buddhist Education Initiatives (BDG)
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Buddhist Education Aspirations
Middle Way Education
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