Our Mission

To unite the best of traditional wisdom with creative innovation to produce compelling possibilities for sustainable and compassionate living in the Himalayas and beyond, and to empower sensitive and skilful changemakers to lead the way.

 Our Vision

We envision local and global communities that use humanity’s gifts of intelligence, caring and creativity to achieve a harmonious collective flourishing we call sustainable thriving, particularly as manifest in ecological responsibility, applied compassion, and shared prosperity.

 Our Approach

Dharmalaya Institute’s approach is:

• holistic & specialized

• nurturing & challenging

• philosophical & practical

• contemplative & embodied

• community-centred & personalized

Our approach emphasizes maturation and transformation with long-term immersion to allow ample time for the development of the sensitivities and skills needed to make fruitful and lasting change in ourselves and in the world.

› More about Dharmalaya's approach to learning

Our Work: What We Do

Dharmalaya Institute conducts an array of complementary educational and charitable programmes spanning the fields of environmental stewardship, experiential education and service learning, green vocational training, economic self-sufficiency, community service, holistic health, and holistic personal development. All these diverse activities serve a common prime objective: to develop and promote integrated approaches to sustainable development, meaningful real-world education, and altruistic service.

Our Name: What Does ‘Dharmalaya’ Mean?

The name Dharmalaya could be translated in several ways, due to the richness of meaning of the two Sanskrit words from which it is formed: dharma + alaya.

Dharma is a word with many levels of meaning. Its Sanskrit root, dhr, means ‘to uphold, to support, to sustain, to nourish, to integrate’. In the philosophical sense, dharma can be translated as the integral wholeness that nourishes and sustains — in other words, the very essence of true ‘sustainability’.  Himalayan wisdom traditions observe that this harmonious wholeness is the original nature of all beings — and of nature itself — so to be true to dharma is to be true to our highest nature.

The word dharma also means virtue and responsibility, which are understood to be contextual, so to act in accord with dharma is to act with sensitivity to the dynamics at play in a particular time and place, considering the whole and responding harmoniously to nourish what needs nourishing. Thus, a modern definition of ‘practicing dharma’ could be ‘cultivating awareness and living responsibly’, as in the Dalai Lama’s concepts of ‘universal responsibility’ and ‘secular ethics’.

The Sanskrit word alaya also has different layers of meaning. The literal meaning is ‘abode’ or ‘dwelling’ or ‘repository’ (as seen in the word Himalaya, which means ‘abode of snow’). The deeper meaning could be described as a reservoir of energy, knowledge, experience, memory or potential.

Taking all these meanings together, we define Dharmalaya as ‘a place to live together responsibly and harmoniously, to learn deeply, to nourish virtues, and to work with joyful diligence to activate our great natural potential to support the sustainable flourishing of ourselves, our world and all the beings who share it’.