• Health, Care and Well Being

    The Buddhist concept of precious human life recognizes the rarity of each existence and the importance of care for well being. Thus, we believe that people, and not institutions, should have the leading role in their own health.

  • Communication to Transform the World

    In times of political and institutional crisis, it is essential to remember that other worlds are possible – they are in fact being created in different places. We propose not only to help build them, but also to make them visible.

  • Working with Traditional Communities

    Among the positive relationships we aim to foster, we highlight those with traditional communities in Brazil: indigenous, quilombola, riverside communities, among others.

  • Agroecology and Regenerative Practices

    We understand that caring for the environment is not separate from caring for ourselves, that human sustainability practices should not be dissociated from environmental regeneration practices.

  • Education for Happiness

    Education is perhaps the main vocation of Instituto Caminho do Meio – in fact, it is possible to state that all of the Institute's actions are educational.

    Instituto Caminho do Meio (ICM) seeks to awaken and highlight the positive qualities naturally present in every human being, so that everyone can establish better relationships with themselves, with others, with society and with the biosphere.

    Instituto Caminho do Meio (ICM) seeks to awaken and highlight the positive qualities naturally present in every human being, so that everyone can establish better relationships with themselves, with others, with society and with the biosphere.
    The Instituto Caminho do Meio

    Who we are

    Instituto Caminho do Meio (ICM) was founded in 2008, consolidating the social transformation actions of the Buddhist master Lama Padma Samten and his students, practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism linked to the Center for Bodhisattva Buddhist Studies (CEBB ).

    Our story

    Instituto Caminho do Meio was legally constituted in 2008, but its activities began much earlier, due to the vision and action of Lama Padma Samten

    Institutional Relations

    Instituto Caminho do Meio seeks to act in a network, developing positive relationships with all social actors and promoting the protagonism of the communities with which we are involved.

    UN

    On July 21 of 2022, ICM was approved with Consultative Status for its participation in the United NationsICM, as a consultant, has access to all UN mechanisms and procedural bodies, events and programmes.

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    ICM in action

    Middle Way School

    The ICM maintains a non-profit educational institution, which translates the Buddhist tradition in a non-religious way to teach children and adolescents

    College

    Experience carried out by Instituto Caminho do Meio (ICM) which is part of a non-school education movement for young people aged 16 to 30

    108 Hours of Peace

    Em sua 23ª edição, o 108 Horas de Paz promove diálogos, palestras, rodas de sonho e atividades culturais em prol de uma Cultura de Paz

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    School Gardens

    School Gardens is a project of the Federal Institute of Education/RS that, through the EcoViamão program, covers 28 state schools, 1 municipal and 1 private.

    ICM in action

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    No ritmo de “Terruá Pará”

    “Autênticos, múltiplos, fortes, coloridos, alegres e tristes também” – KEILA Começou nesta Quarta-Feira (18) na Casa de Cultura Mário Quintana o Festival Internacional do Documentário

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    Portas Abertas

    Esperamos você no dia 18/11, sábado das 9 às 19h Essa iniciativa tem como motivação ampliar as relações do Centro Budista Caminho do Meio com

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    Regenerative Cultures

    108 Hours for Peace 2022 - Regenerative Cultures: Utopias or possibilities? A discussion with our guests: Lama Padma Samten, Flávia Vivacqua, Ousmane Pame, Juliano Sá

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    Partners

    Instituto Caminho do Meio seeks to act in a network, developing positive relationships with all social actors and promoting the protagonism of the communities with which we are involved.

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    Our story

    Instituto Caminho do Meio was legally constituted in 2008, but its activities began much earlier, due to the vision and action of Lama Padma Samten

    Instituto Caminho do Meio (ICM) emerged as a result of the environmental and social activities carried out, since the 1970s, by the Lama Padma Samten, at the time Alfredo Aveline. Physics professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Aveline was an active voice in debates on nuclear energy in the country, in addition to being one of the founders of the Associação Gaúcha de Proteção ao Ambiente Natural (AGAPAN). Years later, he became a student of His Eminence Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, by whom he was ordained a Lama in 1996. Since then, he has combined and expanded his world transformation activities from the broad vision brought by the Buddhist tradition, giving rise to the Institute.
    • 1986

    • 1990

      The first edition of the Bodhisattva Magazine, a periodical devoted to the dissemination of Buddhist and world transformation texts.

    • 1996

      Alfredo Aveline is ordained Lama by S.E. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche and takes the name Padma Samten.

    • 1999

      At the turn of the year, CEBB joins other organizations to promote the first 72 Horas for Peace, an event for dialogue and promotion of a culture of peace that, since then, has been held annually.

    • 2007

      In Viamão, the first stage of the headquarters of the Assistance, Social and Educational Center Caminho do Meio (NASCEM), in the community of Jardim do Castelo.

      In Recife, Lama Padma Samten and his students approach the Educational Nucleus of the Minor Brothers of Francis of Assisi (NEIMFA), in the Coque community.

      In its ninth edition, the 72 Hours of Peace is extended, renamed 108 Hours of Peace.

    • 2008

      The Middle Way Institute, located in Viamão (RS), is legally constituted. In the same year, the opening of Middle Way School, based on a pedagogical vision structured around the Five Buddhist Wisdoms.
    • 2009

      ICM hosts, for the first time, the course Gaia Education, in partnership with the Fundação Findhorn, a UFRGS e a Amigos da Terra Brasil.
    • 2010

      NGO is founded Ação Darmata, in Recife (PE) as another expression of social action by the CEBB Buddhist Sangha.
    • 2012

      Beginning of activities Child Development Center (CEDIN).
    • 2013

      comes the Instituto Caminho do Meio Alto Paraíso (Alto Paraíso, GO) aiming to expand the action in the region. A Vila Verde School, formerly a private initiative, is now maintained and directed by ICM.
    • 2017

      is created the Instituto Caminho do Meio Canelinha (Canelinha, SC). The first edition of the Terra Pure Program: Training in Self-Organization, in which the various actors of the CEBB Villages met to share experiences on building communities. ICM offers itself as a supporter at the beginning of Retomada Mbya Guarani in Maquiné (RS), in the lands of the extinct FEPAGRO. A Bodhisattva Magazine is revitalized, with the launch of a new website and new editorial proposal.
    • 2018

      is founded the Sukhavati Middle Way Institute (Quatro Barras, PR).

      On the initiative of students of Ernst Götsch, the Syntropic Agriculture Research Center (CEPEAS), in Aldeia CEBB Alto Paraíso (GO).

      CEBB and ICM get together with other religious and social action institutions and articulate the Compassionate Network.

    Institutional Relations

    Instituto Caminho do Meio seeks to act in a network, developing positive relationships with all social actors and promoting the protagonism of the communities with which we are involved.

     
    In particular, we consider it important to act in the participatory instances of public bodies, with a view to improving public policies, in their various spheres. ICM is currently present in the following instances:
     
    In Viamão/RS
    • Viamonense Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (COVIDICA)
    • Viamonense Council for Food and Nutritional Security (CONVISAN)
     
    In Alto Paraíso/GO
    • Municipal Council for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (CMDCA)
    • Municipal Health Council (CMS)
    • Municipal Board of Education (CME)
    • Community Council, which aims to assist the local Judiciary in the rehabilitation activities of the prison population of the Municipality.
    • Board of Programs and Projects of the UnB Cerrado, developing projects such as the Environment Week and encouraging academic research to bring development to the region.
    • Advisory Board of the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park (CONPARQUE), in which ICM participates as a Research Institute, due to developments in the area of syntropic agriculture.