RYI STUDENT BLOG

Yummy, 'Khabsey' - the Famous Tibetan Losar Food! Let me give you an idea of what it means to celebrate Tibetan New Year - 'Losar' . First of all if you live with a Tibetan family you should know that the first day of the Losar celebrations, you are not allowed to go outside to meet friends at their homes. For this you will have to wait for the second day of Losar. But then it gets interesting. The second Losar day you must go and meet your friends. The visit usually begins by being served boiled 'chang' (local alcohol) in which they put something!!! Together with the 'chang' you will enjoy sweet rice with dry fruits. Then follows lunch: Here in Nepal this may well be local or Indian food according to where your hosts grew up. About the lunch is nothing very particular, except the quantity. You eat and eat and eat. When you feel full they will ask you to open your mouth and if they see some empty space they will serve you again more f...

With the recently ended fall semester in the back and the new semester in front, I feel a fresh wind of motivation blowing through my entire body and mind. It seems that this opportunity of study, leads me and my fellow students along a journey of unpredictable and spontaneously unfolding landscapes. Outwardly, in my meetings with fellow student we seem to maintain the ritual of reassuring, we are following a university program, through inquiries about the ‘landmarks’ of our path: “what course are you in?”, “Did you read X?”, etc. In the meanwhile, inwardly, paradigm of values, beliefs and visions shift like the stars do every night, almost unseen, above our heads. Or like the lava of a volcano might pour out of the earth, creating new landscapes and new layers of potential. I felt throughout my time studying at RYI, how the flow of information showered over me and steadily transformed my mind and body.    How much I treasure this opportunity to let myself be...

During the eleventh century, the great Indian master Atisha introduced the water bowl offering to Tibet. Thereafter this tradition spread widely in the Buddhist families.   The most important thing while offering anything is the motivation of the doer. Your motivation shouldn’t be selfish. Instead you should do it joyfully regarding all beings. A person should have seven bowls to do this offering. It is considered that these seven bowls signify the ‘seven limbed practice’, for purifying negative tendencies and accumulating merit.  Begin your offering early in the morning by freshening up yourself. It is necessary to offer to the Buddha’s before offering to yourself. As you are making offering for the Buddha’s hence it is good if you wear a mask to cover your mouth and nose in that way our defiled breath won’t make the offering impure. Then fill the first bowl with water and use water to fill the rest of the bowls by placing them to form a straigh...