He has been a guest speaker, and led transformative journeys for many institutions including Phillips Exeter Academy, Rietberg Museum, the Young Presidents’ Organisation, Bain and Company, Yale-NUS, the United Nations Development Programme executive board, the Confederation of Indian Industries, and many other educational institutions, corporations and museums. He has also led private sessions and tours for individuals such as Drew Barrymore and Sting.
Shantum Seth has spoken on Tedx and taught a weekly programme on Zee TV called Buddham Saranam Gachami (I take Refuge in the Buddha) where he offered teachings on Buddhism and Mindfulness in Everyday Life. He has appeared on other TV and Radio stations including NDTV, BBC and Doordarshan. He and his work have been featured in many magazines and newspapers including, National Geographic, New York Times, Newsweek, Qantas (in flight), Times of India, Outlook, India Today and Hindustan Times.
He was part of the core group of teachers, (accompanying Thich Nhat Hanh), in a retreat for US Congressmen and Senators and was the lead organizer of Thich Nhat Hanh’s visits to India, where retreats and talks were held for parliamentarians, corporate leaders, teachers, the media as also ‘dalits’ and the poor. He is on the Indian executive committee of the inter faith group Temple of Understanding.
He comes from a well-known family, his late mother, Leila was the first Chief Justice of a High Court in India and wrote an autobiography called ‘On Balance’, and his brother, Vikram is a well known writer, best known for his novel, ‘A Suitable Boy’. Shantum studied at The Doon School and St Stephen’s College in India and then graduated in Development Studies with his thesis on Gandhian Economics from the University of East Anglia, while also graduating in Footwear Technology and Management in Leicester, England.
An inveterate traveller with a commitment to cross-cultural understanding and a mission of ‘Peace in Oneself, Peace in the World’ has led him to travel to more than 65 countries and nearly every state of India. Having lived in England, the USA and France (in the Plum Village monastery) for over 14 years, he now lives with his wife, Gitanjali and their two daughters in Dehradun, in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas.
Shantum Seth with his family. Photograph by Graciela Iturbide.
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