A contemplative MDiv preparing you for spiritual care in healthcare, hospice, and community settings

Serve with Compassion: An Integrated Pathway to Buddhist Chaplaincy

Maitripa College’s low-residency Master of Divinity degree integrates Tibetan Buddhist scholarship, meditation training, and professional formation to prepare you for clinical chaplaincy and spiritual care roles—so you can offer compassionate service to others in life’s most challenging moments and nurture the spiritual dimensions of human experience.

MDiv at a Glance

 

  • Low-residency, cohort-based
  • Credits: 72
  • Length: 4 years, part time
  • Academic Year: three terms, September – July
  • Learning format: weekly live + asynchronous

  • Residencies: Two a year (October + May), 3 – 5 days each, in Portland, Oregon

  • Fall 2027 application deadline: June 15, 2027

  • Estimated Total Cost: $36,480 (+ CPE costs)—about $760/month over 4 years; travel/lodging separate

What You’ll Learn

Three integrated pillars: Scholarship, Meditation, and Service

  • Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, history, and ethics

  • Theories and praxis of chaplaincy, pastoral care, and spiritually integrated care

  • Graduate-level research and critical, applied thinking

  • Pastoral, public, and scholarly communication

  • Contemplative methods for cultivating wisdom and compassion in oneself and others

  • Reflective practice & embodied insight

  • Compassionate, ethical service grounded in spiritual formation
  • Spiritual care & leadership skills for diverse settings

Curriculum Snapshot

  • The Pastoral Buddha: scriptures on compassionate care

  • Culturally and spiritually responsive care + collaboration

  • Companioning grief and end-of-life care

  • Becoming an Action Research practitioner

  • Meditation classes: Concentration, Compassion, Insight into emptiness

  • Philosophy classes: A path out of suffering; Wisdom and compassion; Nature of mind and reality

  • Developing the Arts and Competencies of Spiritual Care

  • Buddhist Ethics: Equanimity, Equality, and Exchange of Self and Other

  • History: Buddhist Thought and Social Contexts

  • Spiritual Formation Group

Career Paths

  • Healthcare chaplaincy

  • Hospice and end-of-life chaplaincy
  • Community-based spiritual care

  • Chaplaincy/Spiritual Care in complex institutions, interdisciplinary settings, and diverse sectors where social, emotional, and spiritual needs exist to be met

  • Ministry and spiritual leadership in Buddhist, interfaith, or secular organizations

  • Integrating spirituality into therapeutic and allied professional roles

Program Features

Flexible Low-Residency Format
Live/recorded/async + Portland intensives

Cohort-Based & Faculty Mentorship
Spiritual Formation Group, Assigned faculty advisor

Affordable Tuition
Est. $36,480 tuition + fees; payment plans available

Lineage-grounded, Professionally Aligned Training
Tibetan Buddhist foundations + professional spiritual care training

Transformative In-Person Retreats
2 required intensives/year • 4–5 days • Portland, OR

Next Steps