What the Buddha Never Taught is a musical celebration of the western encounter with Buddhism. Based on the book by Tim Ward, our story is set in a fictional international monastery populated by an assortment of western practitioners. The play takes audiences on a high-spirited musical ride through uncharted philosophical and spiritual waters. Eastern and western horizons fuse and open into silence.

A suspicious suicide greets an idealistic Canadian philosophy student upon arrival at an international Buddhist monastery, upsetting his plans for a life of quiet meditation. Intimations of murder, romance, and religious fascism wreak havoc in the young seeker’s mind as illusions are shattered and enlightenment achieved.