RYI STUDENT BLOG

Congratulations go out to Benjamin Collet-Cassart, who successfully defended his Master of Arts Thesis! The Generic Commentaries on Development Stage in the 18th and 19th Centuries A.D. A Study and Translation of Kunkhyen Tenpe Nyima's "Compendium of Key Instructions". Benjamin's dissertation supervisor was Dr. Andreas Doctor (Ph.D., University of Calgary) and the external examiner was Dr. Cameron Warner from Aarhus University, Denmark. Benjamin is a faculty member at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute and will be teaching Classical Tibetan and Translation Project class in the 2011/12 term.

While studying Nāgārjuna one comes to the realization that the prasaṅga reasoning he used was  not only to refute the philosophical views that existed at his time, but to provide his readers with the tool to deconstruct any belief system or dogma they tend to grasp at spontaneously(the cause of suffering- second Noble truth ). Just after my final exam this semester, I had another great opportunity to face one aspect of the first Noble truth , the suffering of being sick, health issues that localize you with the walls of your room. It deconstructed immediately my grasping with the idea that since I am young I would not be sick, or I would not die. But when I delved deeper into this denial of the idea of being sick, or dying, I felt that there actually is a constant fear of being sick, dying, losing one’s existence, any moment, every moment. Because of that we conjure up this denial as a defense mechanism. When I got sick I asked Nāgārjuna for help. To my surprise he didn’t ...

We'd like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to Franziska Oertle from Switzerland, who successfully defended her MA Thesis:  Sum Cu Pa and rTags Kyi 'Jug Pa, A Drop From the Ocean;  Introduction to Indigenous Tibetan Grammar through an Insider's Perspective , on 30th May 2011. Franziska's supervisor was Dr. David V. Fiordalis PhD (University of Michigan), who is a visiting lecturer at RYI this year, while her external examiner was IBA's Dr. Khenpo Ngawang Jorden PhD (Harvard's Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies). Well done Franzisksa and all best wishes for the future!