Ease of Scholarship at RYI
Speaking from my personal perspective, the academic routine of a third-year student of 'Buddhist Studies with Himalayan Language' here in Kathmandu is greatly influenced by the papers that have to be written for the various courses that one is taking. As every subject is related to a classical Buddhist text, the research that has to be undertaken in order to exhaust the profound meanings of the texts, can completely be done on the basis of original Tibetan sources, like explanatory commentaries.
The Institute was recently kindly gifted a digital collection of several thousand classical Tibetan texts by the renowned scholar Gene Smith. Since the texts were scanned and saved on a hard drive, students are now able to conveniently access an overwhelming digital library through an internal network. Time-taking research in several monasteries' libraries can thus be avoided since the new medium includes collections of various Buddhist sects and lineages, all systematically ordered. Two years of training in classical Tibetan at the Institute already allow for decent comprehension of the texts, but the fact that the Khenpos, our monastic professors who are thoroughly acquainted with the contents, are giving us the possibility to interview them with respect to the textual material, makes the Shedra an exceptional place for Buddhist Studies. Many helpful essays have already come forth from this, in my opinion, extremely fruitful connection of traditional monastic and academic scholastics.
Hoping to see you soon,
~Sonam from Germany
The Institute was recently kindly gifted a digital collection of several thousand classical Tibetan texts by the renowned scholar Gene Smith. Since the texts were scanned and saved on a hard drive, students are now able to conveniently access an overwhelming digital library through an internal network. Time-taking research in several monasteries' libraries can thus be avoided since the new medium includes collections of various Buddhist sects and lineages, all systematically ordered. Two years of training in classical Tibetan at the Institute already allow for decent comprehension of the texts, but the fact that the Khenpos, our monastic professors who are thoroughly acquainted with the contents, are giving us the possibility to interview them with respect to the textual material, makes the Shedra an exceptional place for Buddhist Studies. Many helpful essays have already come forth from this, in my opinion, extremely fruitful connection of traditional monastic and academic scholastics.
Hoping to see you soon,
~Sonam from Germany
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