Maitripa Tara School was founded to bring a unique frame to modern education, to invite children and families to become part of a learning community, and to support them in preparation for life. Our main campus is in the Maitripa College building in Southeast Portland, and we are rapidly developing our program offerings to include curricula in our neighborhood, and at Tara Farms, a local farm campus in Corbett. Tara School is unique because it offers Research-based curricula in an intimate, family-centered learning environment. Inspired by the Tibetan Buddhist tradition as embodied by the Dalai Lama, an education at Maitripa Tara School focuses on the development of a good heart at its core.

The Matripa Tara School Mission is to support and develop the good heart and the potential of all beings, while sharing in a community of care, love, and respect. Founded on the three pillars of wisdom, compassion, and ethics, the school curriculum combines a Tibetan Buddhist worldview, Dr. Maria Montessori’s pedagogical method, and a permaculture approach to care for and connect to the natural world and to oneself and one another, relying on diversity, stability, and resilience.

Maitripa Tara School is staffed by dedicated, accomplished, and experienced educational professionals, and works closely with the administration of Maitripa College, a Buddhist graduate school in Portland.  Here is our team:

Main Point of Contact  (>Contact us here)

• Vanessa Laws, Director of Family Relations >more

In the Classroom:

• Maria A. Garcia, MA, Director of Education and Lead Guide >more

Good Heart Education:

• Yangsi Rinpoche, Geshe Lharampa, Good Heart Education >more
• Venerable Lozang Yönten, Good Heart Education >more
• Tiffany Blumenthal Patrella, MA, Director, Good Heart Education >more

Research and Consulting:

• Namdrol Miranda Adams, EdD, Consultant >more

Maitripa Tara School is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our community and in our education, and actively encourage the awareness of such in our educational environment. Maitripa Tara School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, physical or mental ability, or any other status protected under local, state or federal laws in the admission of otherwise qualified students or in the administration of its educational policies or programs, hiring or employment practices.