Format and stages

For two to three months, the project director makes a scouting trip to a candidate country. Aim: find a partner venue, obtain two or three letters of interest and draw up a budget based on quotes.

Before the first festival, a test gathering brings together the team, the speakers and a few guests, about 30 to 40 people, for 4 days, at a venue that already exists. Its purpose is to check everything in real conditions: organisation, safety, demonstrations, hospitality.

After a successful Test gathering comes the first festival open to the public. Artists, researchers and life-science enthusiasts from the region have an important place in it. A first edition on a remote site could welcome 300 to 1,000 visitors; this figure will be reviewed after the Test gathering. For comparison, in France three festivals out of four welcome fewer than 5,000 spectators (Baromètre des festivals 2025, French Ministry of Culture).

A permanent place, in a country that wants it, where people live and work all year round: research, artistic creation and welcoming visitors.

The Village could also take in members of Buddhist communities in difficulty, who would live and work there as residents, craftspeople, cooks or practitioners. This would be done with recognised associations, within existing reception programmes and according to the law of the country.

A long-term idea: a small town, built from the Village. At this stage it is neither costed nor planned.

Rule of progression: each stage begins once the previous one is funded, successful and entrusted to a team able to run it.

Each edition is organised with local partners, volunteers and invited speakers. Organisation on site is to be covered by the venue, the partners and local grants, which are still to be found. Roles sought from partners: production and stage management, safety and first aid, science communication, relations with the traditions. For production, the festival plans to work with an experienced event producer who will accompany each edition.

No country has been chosen. The venue of each edition is selected according to the criteria below, checked before any commitment.

Essential criteria

• Low or moderate natural risk, checked on the World Bank’s ThinkHazard tool.
• A safe and calm region.
• A preserved environment around the site, away from intensive pesticide farming and hunting areas.
• A venue that already welcomes the public, with quick access to emergency care.

Favourable criteria

• A historical, artistic or living link with the Medicine Buddha.
• Clear rules for gatherings and associations.
• A simple visa for foreign speakers.
• An interested local science or art community.
• A moderate cost of living.

• M0: preparation mission funded.
• M3: partner venue chosen, letters of interest gathered, budget based on quotes.
• M6: Test gathering.
• M12 to M18: first Festival.

• Number of participants and visitors.
• Share of free places given out.
• Number of traditions represented.
• Number of local speakers.
• Participant satisfaction, and follow-up of the projects presented six months later.

When an edition is confirmed, the festival is announced, first to the traditions and to life-science enthusiasts, through these means:

• A multilingual press kit, built on this dossier, already available in 10 languages.
• Lapis, the guide to the Medicine Buddha created by the founder.
• The Buddhist and cultural media of each tradition.
• Festival networks and the host country’s tourism boards.
• The partner traditions’ own channels.
• Local networks of artists and life-science enthusiasts.
• Some talks streamed live online.

The site is public and open to indexing by search engines.