RYI STUDENT BLOG

Studying at RYI has been the most precious time of my life. Philosophy classes at RYI taught by learned Khenpos (holders of the high monastic degree) enriched my view of Mahayana Buddhism. Other classes on Buddhist Ethics, History and Culture, Buddhism and Modernity, the Fundamentalism of Buddhism, Methodology of Buddhist Studies, and so forth, instructed by Western professors taught me about the formation of my own Buddhist cultural identity as well as the power of dharma.  Historically, the teaching of the Buddha traveled almost the entire Southeast Asian region and contextually it reached Tibet at a late stage. In my knowledge, after the advent of Buddhism, Tibet politically and economically became ravaged yet literaturally and spiritually prosperous. Thousand monasteries were built and almost the entire population became pious Buddhist. Tibet was led by religious leaders for many centuries and it established itself a knowledgeable dharma preceptor both to Tibetan themselves a

If you live with a family with grandparents, your grandparents may spend quite a lot of the time telling old stories. It will not be different in Nepali families. There are countless stories in Nepal. Some stories are true and some are not. No matter those stories are true or not, those stories are trying to teach people something. In here, I would like to share one of a Nepali story with you. Long time ago, there was a couple demons living in Nepal. Their names were Unmantak Bhairav and Harati. They had 500 children in their family. Because of many children, Harati had to catch many human children from the village and feed their own children. After a while, the villagers suffered very much from losing their children. The people went to their king with their suffering and asked protection from the king.  However, because Harati was very powerful, the king could not do anything to protect the children from Hatati’s attract. At the end, the king went to the Buddha and requested t