RYI STUDENT BLOG

Rangjung Yeshe 2007-2008 Students

Hallo there, my name is Sonam and I'm from Germany. I started my shedra studies in the fall semester of 2006, mainly with the intention to learn Tibetan.  Now, one and a half years later, the spring semester of 2008 has just begun. Shedra courses in Buddhist Philosophy as well as in Classical and Colloquial Tibetan enabled me to read original Tibetan texts and to communicate about their contents with the Khenpo (monastic professor). The efficient approaches of the language and philosophy classes that are both, modern and traditional, not only provide thorough preparation for the midterm and final exams, but are also of immediate use for the life in Nepal. Hearing the technical grammatical constructions of the Colloquial class spoken by little monks in the monastery yard or by other Tibetan speaking people here in Kathmandu/Boudha defenitely helps for progressing faster in language skills.  Throughout the period of my stay here in Boudha this place has always been quiet...

My first visit to Nepal was for a pilgrimage to the Great Stupa of Boudhanath. I like to travel, and spending leisure time exploring all the facets of Nepal was a great experience. This time however, it is different. This time I have met a challenge. I have begun studying at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute. It happened somewhat spontaneously to me. I was interested in learning Tibetan language, but I didn’t know where and how. I didn’t know much about the shedra my fist time in Kathmandu, but had heard about it in Russia. When I first arrived I didn’t know what to expect about the education system in Nepal. But after studying just one month of classical Tibetan we were translating Tibetan texts. I was very surprised! The method of teaching here is very fast and it takes a lot of studying and effort, but the results have been amazing. Besides language classes we take philosophy classes taught by khenpos in the traditional Tibetan style. In the text we are reading, The Way of the Bod...