RYI Student Blog

Learning in the Buddhist environment

2012-01-24T15:45:00.000+05:30

Spending years in the school, I was roughly introduced about my own culture and religion by my teachers and elders. But still there were a lot of things that I didn’t know about Buddhism. Hence, after the completion of class 12, I took the opportunity to follow my interest and under the recommendation from one of my relatives, I came here to study at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute.

Being part of the Shedra community for the last one year was truly enriching and experiencing moment. And I really have the feeling that learning in the Buddhist environment is the most innovative way for a Buddhist beginner to study. There is a natural flow of curiosity when the environment itself helps us to generate more seeds of encouragement to work harder. I have met different kinds of people in this course of time. They all are so nice and supportive. Every day in the Shedra was great joy learning and discussing with friends and teachers. Exploring thoughts and sharing suggestions with friends broadened my horizon of understanding the Tibetan Buddhism.

Buddhism teaches us a lot about how to tame one’s mind and how to generate equal compassion towards all sentient beings. It is helpful for us to understand the true existence of our mind and to think about others being same as yourself. At the same time it also assist us in eliminating the afflictive emotions which are the root cause for our suffering. Most of our actions lead us to suffering, until the very last minute of our life.

Therefore, I share the view that our mind has to be free from all those negative afflictions.

~Tenzin Choezom (Ex T.C.V School)

Boudhanath Aspirations

2012-01-13T15:54:00.000+05:30

The Great Stupa of Boudhanath

The first time I arrived at the Great Stupa of Boudhanath, I had heard of a legend… the legend of the poultry woman and her sons building a stupa and the pure aspiration to bring the Dharma to the barbarous lands of Tibet. These three sons were later reborn as the King Trisong Deutson, Santarkshita, and Guru Padmasambhava. It was due to their pure aspiration and great kindness that the Dharma flourished in Tibet and is still available for us to study today. It was also due to the kindness of translators, risking their lives to travel from Tibet to India to study Sanskrit for many years in an unfamiliar land and return to translate the Dharma into their own language, Tibetan.

It is thanks to teachers, such as Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Rangjung Yeshe Institute, which provides a place for Westerners to do such a study of Buddhism and the Tibetan language. We are given an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the Dharma and to integrate the teachings in our lives through contemplation and meditation. And it provides us with the stepping stones to help others in the future to do the same. I have seen former students become teachers and translators, helping others in developing their understanding of Tibetan and Buddhist Philosophy, and making available the teachings which our otherwise not available for non-native Tibetan speakers. It is my hope that Rangjung Yeshe Institute, and other places of learning such as this one, provide an environment for the study of Dharma to continually thrive, and the students become sources of inspirations for others to do the same.

~ Julie from Canada

Dilemma of a Life Time

2011-12-31T05:10:00.000+05:30

The first time I came to Kathmandu one year ago, I was on my way back from China. At that time, my plan was to stay for a month in order to learn some Tibetan. Here’s a lesson I learned quickly. Plans change.

My first impression of Boudhanath was that I could eat a variety of food for very low prices. After my time in China, I thought I could once more taste any European food I wanted. I settled down to eat at the Double Dorje ‘Restaurant’. After eating, I no longer knew why people called it restaurant. I later discovered that any place where you can have food is called restaurant in Kathmandu even if the food bears an uncommon resemblance to cardboard. Even so, my fatal error was choosing a mysterious drink called ‘lassi’. The consequences were frequent bathroom visits for a few days. The silver lining was making the acquaintance of a Tibetan doctor named Dr. Sherab. I soon felt better.

After a few days of exploring the Boudhanath neighborhood, I discovered the White Monastery. It houses the Rangjung Yeshe Institute, which most people simply call 'the Shedra'. It was the last days of August, the fall semester was about to begin. In the office of the Institute, I was invited to attend one week for free. Naturally, I agreed.

My enjoyment of this week of studies plunged me into the dilemma of a life time. I had just graduated after six years of intensive study in Bauman University in Moscow, and I was planning to settle down in Belgium with a computer-job. But... suddenly I possessed a great opportunity to study the Dharma and the Tibetan language. I thought that if I went back to Europe, I would never have the determination to come back. I stayed! I still can’t believe it! Here I am in Kathmandu, one year later studying the Dharma... and I am even used to the food!

~Yura from Russia

Pharping - My favorite Place in Nepal

2011-12-24T04:25:00.000+05:30

Monastery in Pharping in the midst of mustard field

I’ve been a student at the Shedra for two years now. In that time, I have been surprised by how quickly we can integrate what we learned into our lives. The Tibetan language comes naturally here. When class ends, I go out with my Tibetan friends, and we head to the tea shop.

There’s nothing like sweet tea, spicy potatoes, and great company!!!

Things like this happen every day. After only a few months here, I was part of the Bodhanath village where everyone knows everyone. My constant contact with local Tibetans has done wonders for my ability to learn Tibetan. The Shedra exists in a perfect place to support its students’ learning.

That said, sometimes I want to escape the small town of Boudha.

That’s when I head for my favorite place in Nepal, Pharping or Yanglesho as the Tibetans call it. It is an hour and a half by bus from the Shedra. Pharping is the sacred place where Guru Rinpoche stayed in retreat. Following in his footsteps, most of the realized masters also came there. When I go to Pharping, I feel like I have journeyed two hundred years into the past and am surrounded by holiness. I always go to pay homage to Guru Rinpoche in the Asura cave where Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche has his retreat center with a beautiful view of the Kathmandu valley. I love to practice in a place where I am surrounded by fellow practitioners and the atmosphere of realization.

Most of the weekends and holidays, I will go to Pharping. If you join the Shedra, don’t forget to go to Pharping and feel the presence of Guru Rinpoche.

~ Gregory from Mauritius

Annual Fall seminar with Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche

2011-12-17T05:58:00.000+05:30

The seminar held at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery was an amazing experience for me. The teachings given by Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche touched the core of my heart. I really felt a flow of blessing for all of the people who participated in the program. There were two sections to the program: one included a period of guided meditation, the other included teachings given by Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche.

Through Rinpoche’s teaching, I realized that everything in this world is mind. If we really know the nature of mind, then and only then can we be free from the suffering of samara. Listening to his words, I understood that I could die at any moment, so this human life is very precious. If everyone, including myself, practices Shamatha and Vipassana, then we can be free from negative thoughts .I also learned that listening to a Dharma teaching is not enough; practice and reflection in life are very important.

In the afternoon, Phakchok Rinpoche’s teaching was also great. He shared many of his life stories, in which he conveyed a message that the happiness we are seeking in samara is temporary. Phakchok Rinpoche's teachings helped me realized that reading books and gaining knowledge is not enough; practicing and understanding are more important. If we only read, then a day might come when we will die, but that intellectual understanding will not be able to help us then. This part of the teaching was very interesting; I learned that we must accumulate virtue and dedicate in such a way that it will help us to have realization in our own practice and to gain enlightenment. I left with the feeling that enlightenment is very important, and we all can achieve it because we all have Buddha nature.

Phakchok Rinpoche also shared with us that his spiritual teacher was very important for him. It is so for us as well. Without the words of a true spiritual teacher, no one can progress along the path.

On the last day of the seminar, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche said that as we go for refuge, we make a commitment. That commitment is to have love and compassion for all sentient beings. After we go for refuge, we become a Buddhist, so we must not harm any creature of this world. We must dedicate our life to helping all sentient.

Attending this fall’s seminar with Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche and Phakchok Rinpoche was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. I found myself very lucky to be a part of it. The love and compassion Rinpoche has for all of his students, practioners and non-practitioners alike inspired me to have love for all sentient beings.

~Puja from Nepal

Puja in front of the Monastery during Tea break

John Dunne’s class on the Facets of Mindfulness and Croissants

2011-12-08T10:36:00.002+05:30

I never understood the value of learning valid cognition until taking John Dunne’s class on the Facets of Mindfulness this fall. By observing the process through which our mind makes coherent the vast array of sensory information it receives, the negative emotions which form based upon our feelings about these sensory experiences lose their foothold. By seeing through analysis that no two experiences can ever be the same, all the expectations of attachment and fears towards aversive experiences —which are based on comparison to “similar” experiences that caused such reactions in the past—no longer have a basis for arising. All negative emotions necessarily rely on memory of the past and expectation for the future, thus learning to look at the present moment with more and more subtle levels of awareness yields mindstates that are more free and open to see our experience with less and less mental and emotional baggage attached.

One example that John used in class to demonstrate how concepts are formed through exclusion (i.e. how X is labeled based on comparison to what is Not-X) worked particularly well for me because of how much I like this particular food. When I think “croissant” I am automatically comparing it to all the croissants I have had or seen in the past and conflating them into a category of “croissant-ness.” But this croissant I have in my hand at the moment actually shares nothing in common with the croissant I had in Paris as a teenager. Sure, compared to the small squares of cardboard and sawdust baked and sold as “bread” here in Kathmandu, the croissant from a local bakery might be thought to share “crescent-shaped-ness” and “baked-with-butter-to form-layers-in-the-dough-ness.” But is this crescent shape the same as the shape of even the one next to it? Let alone the shape of the croissant in my memory of childhood! Look closely, I can find lots of differences between the two shapes. The same follows for its layered texture. The type of flour and butter used in France is rather different from that found here, likewise the texture which characterizes this croissant is actually not the same as the one in my memory at all. Even comparing one bite to the next from the same croissant reveals so many differences between the two experiences! The shape and size of each bite is different, texture also varies, as well as the taste.

But usually I don’t notice these things. Instead I am just looking with big hungry eyes at all the prospective candidates for breakfast sitting on the shelf and fusing them with all the other “croissants” I have eaten in my life until now which conditioned me to like them so much. But what if the one today gives me food poising? Probably then I am not going to like them so much anymore. Where is the likability in the croissant? Its simply not there. It never was there. It never will be there. Yet my mind grasps to that “deliciousness” so strongly! Funny, isn’t it? The habit of projecting qualities onto objects is really deeply ingrained. But by dissecting simple everyday life experiences, like breakfast, we can start to see how suffering arises and also how it is possible to be free from that suffering. That was the point of all of the Buddha’s teachings, and why it can be so helpful to study dharma—if I actually remember to apply the teachings to my experience, otherwise breakfast is just breakfast and not especially helpful toward liberation!

~Ani Sangye from USA

Ani Sangye with Ani Gyan Tara from Nagi Gompa

Pilgrimage to Bodhgaya

2011-12-02T15:27:00.000+05:30

The Buddha himself mentioned in a sutra that a pilgrim who comes and pays respect to the four sublime places will not be reborn in the lower realms. During this year’s fall reading week, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche lead a pilgrimage to Bodhgaya as he has for the last twenty-seven years. This time, he also decided to visit the Buddha's other three holy places as well. Many people, including me, decided to join him for this important journey. People went with different motivations. Some hoped spending a few days in Bodhgaya, practicing under the sacred Bodhi tree and receiving instructions from teachers would help them to reconnect with what is meaningful in their lives.

Others sought to reduce physical or mental suffering. Before going to Bodhgaya, I made aspirations to be able to clear away obstacles for practice, to meet teachers I can aspire to follow, and to receive teachings that would help to transform my mind.

Going on pilgrimage is important. Our busy, stressful day-to-day lives are filled with activities and responsibilities. Often we don't find that precious peaceful mindset that helps us to turn everything we meet into spiritual practice. Although Buddhist masters teach that we can practice wherever we are, we often need to draw our inspiration from the power of place. At least that is how it is for me. Places like Bodghaya have a special energy. Blessings have merged with the place thanks to the practice of great masters. Such places are said to be able to diminish physical pain and mental neurosis, and indeed we all felt blessed on our pilgrimage. It is said that all good wishes in Bodhgaya come true. We were all blessed to spend time with great teachers, to receive their instructions and to try to apply them while sitting at the place where the lord Buddha himself attained full and complete enlightenment.

In closing, I would love to share the pithy instruction of our Indian guide. He said, “The Lord Buddha, after spending six years enduring hardships, had a dream in which three young ladies were playing a musical instrument. One instrument's strings were too loose, another's were too tight, and the third one's were just perfect. And then, the Buddha realized the middle way. Which is, if you eat too much you won't attain enlightenment; if you eat too little you won't attain enlightenment; if you eat the right amount of food, only then you will attain enlightenment!” Coming closer to the Middle Way was the great blessing of our pilgrimage. Let us all follow the Middle Way wherever we are, and whatever we are doing!

~ Anya from Russia

Reflection

2011-11-29T09:48:00.000+05:30

After arriving in Kathmandu late summer 2009 to begin my studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute up until this day quite a lot of events have taken place – externally as well as internally. Just the fact that one is now living in a country among people with a completely different culture, different habits and so forth from what one might be used to, might trigger one or two weak spots in a westerner and can be quite challenging. But, as much as it can be challenging it is definitely equally fascinating to observe what is going on around one-self and not to mention within one-self.

By looking back at my time here in Boudha and at RYI, I’m really grateful to all the teachers that have helped me (and sometimes pushed me) in my understanding of the sometimes complex ideas regarding the Buddhist philosophy. My teachers that have very generously offered their time in helping me progress in the Tibetan language which definitely requires time and effort. But most of all, I’m immensely grateful towards all the students, staff, teachers, and friends which whom I have had the opportunity to spend time with over these three years. Theoretical studies are beneficial, but without incorporating these theories into our daily life they merely stay theoretical. So I feel that it is in the moments we spend with one-another - sharing ideas, experiences, difficulties etc. that really can help us progress in our understanding of what takes place around and within us. Being in an environment like Boudha and RYI has really opened up a platform for having the opportunity to listen, share and connect with other persons on a heart to heart level.

~ Dhonyö from Sweden

Congratulations to Joyadip (Dhammadipa)!

2011-10-20T14:55:00.000+05:30

Congratulations go out to Joyadip (Dhammadipa), who successfully defended his MA Thesis!

"A Study of the Vijñaptimātra Doctrine of Vasubandhu and Dharmapāla in the Context of Critiques Found in Candrakīrti's Madhyamakāvatāra".

The thesis supervisor was Thomas H. Doctor and the External Reader was Dr. Douglas S.Duckworth from East Tennessee State University, USA.

Joyadip (Dhammadipa), a Bangladeshi Buddhist monk, studied at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, before joining the Master of Arts program at the Centre for Buddhist Studies at RYI.

After his MA graduation Joyadip started working for an E-learning program at a Buddhist University in Thailand.

Our best wishes for you and we hope to see you again in Boudhanath!

Globalized experience

2011-10-18T15:54:00.000+05:30

We had been studying over a semester at RYI when we received an unexpected proposition: to acquire a Salsa dance voucher, an opportunity to take regular lessons for one month in a Latin American dance studio, here in Kathmandu. We agreed and very soon, we were in possession of a creased piece of paper, which had obviously gone through many hesitant hands before coming to ours. Perhaps Buddhist students were not up to such kind of distraction? Along with that, our benefactor gave us thorough instructions about how to reach the studio by public transport. The white bus to Krishna cinema, cross the bridge, then the yellow bus, pass the American, Russian and Chinese embassy, step off at the European Bakery, buy delicious cream roll, walk 10 minutes and here you are.

I was a bit anxious: how would the rather small Nepali react to this six feet tall giant Swiss girl? Wouldn't it be embarrassing if my dance partner had to face my cleavage or break his neck to look into my eyes? Soon enough, our Nepali instructor explained how he had been taught New York Salsa by a German dancer, how this studio was a unique place in Kathmandu and that if I really felt embarrassed, I could stick to my Russian partner - closer to my physical constitution. However, everything went smooth and I found out that Nepali were not only taller than expected, but also tolerant and polite in the other case. One month wasn't enough to really assimilate Salsa - a new kind of grammar of the body in addition to our Nepali and Tibetan language courses - but we had the feeling that our weekends became slightly longer and that our two cerebral hemispheres were stimulated in a more balanced way.

Chloé from Switzerland

Congratulations to Ryan Conlon

2011-10-05T16:10:00.000+05:30

Congratulations to Ryan Conlon (Lungtok Rabsel) for passing his Master of Arts (MA) thesis defense! The title of his thesis is:

'Waves on the Ocean:

Tracing the fault-lines of ontological commitments in the Madhyamaka conventional truth.'

The thesis supervisor was Thomas H. Doctor and the External Reader was Dr. Douglas Duckworth.

Ryan Conlon from Canada is a monk at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling monastery. He now completed his studies at the Centre for Buddhist Studies but continues to study in the monastic shedra together with the monks.

Every Friday Loving Eyes…

2011-10-03T15:38:00.000+05:30

Three years ago two first semester Rangjung Yeshe BA students (Dawa and myself) decided to set up a weekly Chenresig group practice. We chose the practice of the iron bridge building master Thangtong Gyalpo (“All Pervading Benefit of Beings”) which he had received in a vision directly from Chenresig.

Although we personally had not much hope to have a vision of the Yidam soon, we already had a vision to foster a group of dedicated Chenresig practitioners among us students. This group consisted at the beginning of only two regular participants, but quickly increased. Last semester we had an average number of nearly 10 people per practice (admittedly still somewhat short of the auspicious number 108).

We do the practice every Friday at the end of a usually tough school week. After the dedication of merit to all sentient beings we feel refreshed and reward ourselves with a mouth-watering dinner in one of the less expensive Boudhaean restaurants.

Due to excessive work load no staff-members of the Rangjung Yeshe Institute were so far able to accept our repeated invitations to join the practice. Nonetheless, I personally think, as the practice is picking up more and more momentum, it is only a question of time till also high ranking teachers and administrative people will look into ways to reprioritize their work schedule and will find a way to spend the Friday evening with us (and the compassionate Lord Chenresig).

~ Gerd from Austria

Melanie Slomka, a Translator Training Program Graduate

2011-09-28T08:36:00.000+05:30

A Few months have passed since Melanie Slomka, from Paris, completed the Translator Training Program at Rangjung Yeshe Institute. When classes finished in May, she went straight back to Paris to meet her root guru, Sogyal Rinpoche and to spend some time with family and friends before going back to north India to start teaching westerners at a Monastery there. Melanie and her boyfriend then spent about 10 days learning how to make didgeridoos, one of Melanie’s interests. She says, “I knew that the next 5 months I would be in a monastery, so I tried to enjoy my holidays as much as possible!”

Now, she has taken the step from student to teacher and is guiding a group of Westerners in colloquial Tibetan and translating philosophy teachings from a Khenpo into English. The program is located in Namdroling Monastery in south India and is run by Rigpa. She says that she thinks the Translator Training Program at Rangjung Yeshe Institute has given her the confidence, fluency and skills in spoken Tibetan that she was lacking before and the ability to translate simple teachings to an audience. At Rangjung Yeshe Institute we had different teachers for each class she says, “but here I'm the only one supervising the whole thing, which is a bit challenging sometimes. I'm correcting the students in the morning when they translate, I teach the colloquial grammar class, I do the listening comprehension session, I give tests, and I make sure the tutors are doing their job.”

Apart from running the program for western students, Melanie is also attending classes with the nuns. Melanie feels that it has been very special to have class with some of the nuns who are teaching at Namdroling Nunnery. In international study programs within Tibetan Buddhism, it is much more common that the teacher is male, a Khenpo or a Lopon, but Melanie hopes that this will change in the future. As she explains, “I really hope that western Shedras all over the world will now invite more and more nuns to teach, as it really feels unbalanced the way it is. More female teachers would also attract more female students, as they will feel more comfortable and inspired. I am sure that when these nuns begin to teach Tibetan lay people and Westerners, everybody, men and women, will feel as inspired as I am now.”

~ Moa Brattwall from Sweden

Well done Leo!

2011-08-16T10:51:00.000+05:30

Congratulations to Leonard Brouwer, who successfully defended his MA thesis on Friday, July 22.

Leo's Dissertation Titel is: 'The Bodhicaryāvatāra-Ṭippaṇī
A Study and Edition of a Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra'.

The Dissertation Supervisor was Dr. David V. Fiordalis and the external Examiner was Dr. Harunaga Isaacson.

What are your plans now Leo?

Congratulation Benjamin!

2011-07-21T11:00:00.000+05:30

Congratulations go out to Benjamin Collet-Cassart, who successfully defended his MA 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.

Nāgārjuna and the Suffering of Being Sick

2011-07-20T11:58:00.000+05:30

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 give me any medication, or alchemical potion (we all know that he was a great alchemist, don’t we?). He also didn’t suggest me to contemplate on four noble truths or to give up my denial of the fact that I could be sick. He simply told me to use his consequential reasoning (prasaṅga) and to see if the idea of being sick or sickness really exists or not. So here is what I came up with when I used his famous tool.

Sickness or disease can be of various types, ranging from purely physical to purely mental. Whatever the sickness might be there would essentially be a sick person and a sickness that afflicts him.

One may assert that sickness is real because there are so many sick people we come across every day and we ourselves fall sick occasionally.

But,

Verse 1

"Before the existence of the sickness,

There could not be any sick person whomsoever.

If it would have been the case,

A sick person without sickness would exist forever."

"Sickness" is the defining characteristic of the sick person. No any entity exists prior to its defining characteristic. Because for an entity to be an entity it is absolutely necessary that it must possess its defining characteristic. Therefore, a sick person cannot exist prior to its sickness. But if it would have been the case a person would be called a sick without sickness which is quite absurd. But even, in spite of that if he were to be deemed a sick he would for ever be sick, which is even more untenable.

Then one may assert that in the past they have experienced lots of people "falling sick", at present also lots of people are getting sick, and in future a person healthy at present might get sick as well.

Verse 2

To think of someone "falling sick" in the past,

What an absurdity!

A person's "falling sick" at present, and in future,

How could it ever be?

In past there could not be the act of "falling sick" because it is already past and no traces of past moment remain. In the future time, which has yet to come, to conceive of someone "falling sick" is completely untenable. Apart from someone "falling sick" in the past and the future, how could it be conceived of someone "falling sick" at present, because there is not a moment which could be pin pointed as the present. Without someone's falling sick in any of the three times who would be called a sick?

Verse 3

"Sick without a sickness,

Does not exist any where,

If there exist no sick to apply it to,

To apply it to somebody else, would it be fair?

It is obvious that sick and sickness have dependent relation with each other but if there would be no sick person in any of the three time, then how could we conceive of sickness without a sick person because for the sickness to be existent there needs a sick person in any of the three times. But since that's not the case would it be tenable to conceive of this sickness applicable to somebody else than the sick. No it's completely untenable.

Verse 4

Since that is a case untenable

Without its basis" the sick", " the sickness" is not applicable

Without sickness to be held culpable.

To whom would the designation "the sick" be conceivable?

It is proved in the previous verse that it's untenable for the sickness to be applicable to somebody who is not sick, because "the sick" is the basis of "the sickness" in which it manifests itself. But if there is no sick person upon which the sickness is based on, there could not be any sickness existing to afflict any person. And since there is no sickness to be blamed for a person's becoming sick, who then could be called "the sick"?

But if one may further insist that "No, no a sick person really exists because we see him."

then we may investigate into his mode of existence.

Verse 5

Neither is the sick the same as sickness,

Nor different, or supported by the other,

Nor is it the support by itself,

Nor is it endowed with the other.

So, if there is the existence of the sick person then we have to investigate into his mode of existence in relation to the existence of the sickness. If he can exist he must exist either in one of the five ways viz. as being the same as the sickness, or different from the sickness, or being the support for, or supported by the sickness, or being endowed by sickness; otherwise, it can't exist at all.

The sickness and the sick can never be the same because, if it would be the case we would have two problems, Firstly, we would have the flaw of the sick being multiple as the sicknesses could be multiple. Secondly, if we claim that they are same the sick and the sickness would be identical and would have the flaw of agent and the object being the same as the classic example of woodcutter and wood being the same.

If it is claimed that the sick and the sickness are different then they could be found existing separately from each other but since they are mutually dependent, their separate existence is not tenable. If two things are established based on the dependence on one another then they are in fact not established at all.

If it is asserted that the sick is the support for the sickness, then we have to assume that the sick is already established. But for a "sick person" to be "sick" we need an already established sickness first of all.

Similarly, if it is asserted then that the sick person is supported by the sickness, the same anomaly would arise, because to establish a relation of dependency two things must be existent at first. Otherwise if we try to prove the dependency of one on the other, then the question that: "which one of the two is established first?" would arise. Moreover, to establish a relation of dependency between the two things, first of all they must be established as separate entities. Yet, since they are not separate entities, to call one is the support of the other would also be untenable.

If it is posited that the sick may be endowed with the sickness, then this endowment might be possible only in one of the two case like: Devadatta being endowed by his life force and Devadatta being endowed by wealth? In this case the sick must either be essentially the same as sickness in which case he will always be sick, or he must be different from the sickness in which case a sick could exist without the sickness, in which case he is not a sick anyway. So, to say that a sick is endowed with the sickness is also logically untenable.

But one may say that the person after being inflicted by the sickness gets sick.

Then,

Verse 6

A sickness could not afflict a non-sick,

Neither could it afflict an already sick one,

Except for the sick and the non-sick,

Could it in anyway afflict anyone?

Now we may investigate into another possibility that if sickness really afflict some person, would it afflict a person who already is a sick or a person who is not yet sick?

A person who is not a sick can never be made a sick by any sickness whatsoever. A person who is already sick cannot be made sick second time because there is no need to make a sick again a sick as the classic example of a child who already being born need not be born again and again from its parents. Except for these two options who else could it afflict anyway?

Verse 7

If sickness is not present,

A person can't be called a sick,

If there is no sick person,

The existence of sickness itself is at risk.

Since it is explicitly established that a sickness can't afflict any person in anyway, it would clearly implied that there is no sickness at all, because for a sickness to be "sickness" it requires the quality of being able to afflict someone. But since there is no sickness at all, no one could be called "a sick" and in the absence of a sick person the existence of the sickness itself is unestablished.

But one may again say that since you have successfully proved that sickness is not established, then its opposite "health" must be truly existent.

In that case,

Verse 8

If sickness is not established,

Neither is health established intrinsically.

They are like light and darkness,

One exists opposite to other diametrically.

It's the tendency of deluded mind that if something is proved to be not truly existent, its opposite, the non-existence is established at once. But on the contrary, since one is diametrically opposite to the other if one is unestablished, its counterpart is also unestablished automatically. Similarly, if "sickness" is not established the intrinsic nature of "the health" is also unestablished as well, as the two being diametrically opposite, like the light and the darkness.

Verse 9

Although their existence could not be proved,

Neither could their non-existence be addressed.

It's like sweetness for a dumb,

It can never be expressed.

Since the existence of both "the sickness" and "the health" is unestablished their non-existence as well is unestablished using the same reason of their being diametrically opposite, as in the previous verse. Thus we can say that the phenomena like sickness, health and so forth can neither be claimed to be existent nor non-existent, and obviously a phenomena can neither be both existent and non-existent at the same time, nor neither of the two. So in other words, any apparent or experiential phenomenon is like a taste of sweetness in the tongue of a dumb person. It cannot be expressed in words whatsoever, and howsoever one tries.

Conclusion

The sick and sickness (and health) are both unestablished.

"Unestablished" let them be.(the path-fourth Noble truth)

Knowing thus their abiding nature,

That's how one gets free.(the state: third Noble truth)

- Ishwor from Nepal

Congratulations Franziska!

2011-07-05T21:42:00.003+05:30

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!

The Dharma Changes Us

2011-04-01T12:14:00.000+05:30

Ani Sangye Chodron

Dharma is something that has to change us when we study it—which makes it not such an easy subject, since its job is to touch our most tender and protected places and uproot all the habits we cling to so dearly. It’s rather scary to sit down with a strong emotion or sensation and just look without reacting, thus its easy to come up with all sorts of ways to avoid doing so. The obvious trap of procrastination is our daily activities, but it seems that we have to know how to study, and if we don’t then the study itself becomes a more subtle way of procrastinating—that it is easy to get lost in the endless sea of topics to be known. The amount of study we can do for classes is endless, so learning how to apply study, reflection and mediation in an appropriate proportion is an invaluable skill. RYI has been very helpful in that regard this year. The first method of procrastinating, is remedied quite well by reflecting on the four thoughts that turn the mind, which is what we have covered this year by studying The Words of My Perfect Teacher. The second, procrastinating by not reflecting and meditating effectively, Tokpa Tulku has covered extensively in our philosophy class.

Habits take time to change, so this process of being changed by the dharma is also quite useful for cultivating patience and kindness, from which compassion also naturally arises. It is extremely humbling to realize how difficult it is to change even simple habits of my own. This fact is like a door to understand that we all must go through this process. If I look at why I am not able to do so, it always comes down to confusion, which is what sentient beings all have in common. We think happiness will be found by changing external circumstances. From that ignorance arises all possible negative emotions and the ensuing harmful acts of body, speech and mind. On the one hand it is very sad, this state of sentient beings. But on the other hand, the very fact that we are all looking for this happiness is a sign that it doesn’t have to be like this. Actually we don’t have to suffer, and at a fundamental level somehow we each know that. That fact is the truth of cessation, the source of genuine renunciation, and also our inspiration for study, reflection and practice, the truth of the path.

When we study dharma something seems to change inside us. We start to understand how futile it is to chase the carrots of life’s innumerable situations, and to genuinely see how much we all suffer from doing so. Then we can look to all the masters who have become free from this endless cycle and observe the qualities of kindness, contentment and wisdom that emerge in those who follow the path authentically. From that arises diligence that is a genuine type of love, a taking delight in applying the dharma to our lives. Then it actually does start to wear away the layers of ego clinging, but in a gentle way…so that even ego is not so sad about letting go. There is a very simple sort of peace in those moments…a small taste of what the truth of cessation might be like someday.

Sangye Chodron from the USA

Books, Books, and More Books

2011-03-31T12:06:00.001+05:30

My roommate looked at me begrudgingly. “Where are we going to put all of these?” he asked as another new box of Tibetan books or pechas arrived at our doorstep. This was the last thing on my mind as I tore through the box’s tape to peer at the shiny new covers, breathe in the smell of the fresh pages, and rifle through the table of contents.

I’ll admit it. I’ve become addicted to books. And not just buying them. This semester is the culmination of my studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute. I am currently summarizing into an MA thesis the most important things I have learned about Buddhism’s Middle Way Philosophy over the past five years. These days I am constantly surrounded by at least three stacks of open books, my mind swimming in the perplexities and nuances of their contents.

The subject matter of my thesis is a debate. This particular debate has been waxing and waning for nearly two-thousand years. Throughout this vast amount of time, there have been fierce moments of blood curdling battle cries, as well as sobering moments of reconciliation. Nevertheless, it would appear that a final resolution has yet to occur.

It must be admitted that the Middle Way, the philosophy of “non-elaboration” and “noble silence,” has an ironically scholastic bent, especially in the argumentative literature currently stacked up around my desk. Are these controversies nothing more than the musing of monastics with an abundance of free time and, evidently, an inability to meditate on the ineffable? I’d like to think there is more to it.

Indeed, many Buddhist scholars have expressed praise for debates for sharpening wisdom, establishing doctrine without even the slightest contradiction, and, perhaps most importantly, developing the qualities of faith and certainty.

This last point may strike one as strange for a “philosophical” religion such as Buddhism. Indeed, the Buddha famously stated, “Do not accept my words out of mere respect, but test them like gold!” Yet despite what decades of debate would suggest, he likely did not intend endless and indecisive bickering. To the contrary, if the words are gold, they are not just worthy of but necessitate unshakable faith and certainty. (Of course they may also not be genuine gold, in which case the whole matter may dismissed).

Doubt, as a matter of fact, appears again and again in Buddhist texts as a powerful affliction that is especially harmful to meditation. Yet its opposite, certainty, is praised for its necessity in engendering the correct view. As for Buddhism’s Middle Way philosophy that I am studying, certainty is required regarding the ultimate truth, emptiness. One Tibetan philosopher, Mipham Rinpoche, explains that this certainty should be cultivated to same extent that one is certain that fire is hot – a conviction unable to be led astray by anything. In Buddhism, this is also called faith. Here faith is not necessarily the blind acceptance of doctrine, rather reasoning and debate are very much for the purpose of faith.

Although debates are left seemingly unresolved for millennia, their individual participants have been striving for just the opposite – unshakable faith. In my plumbing the depths of Tibetan philosophical treasures, I too am very much in search of the same thing. In light of this, I think I can reassure my roommate that I also hope for an end to my book buying. Indeed, it will signify my own personal resolution.

-Ryan from Canada

Trees Are Trees

2011-03-10T10:11:00.000+05:30

A famous Zen master once said, “while practicing in the path, initially the trees are trees, the mountains are mountains, and the oceans are oceans, but at some point the trees are no more trees, the mountains are no more mountains and the oceans are no more oceans... and finally at the end of the path, trees are once again trees, mountains are once again mountains and the oceans are once again oceans.”

Studying Buddhism in RYI is a venture which will usher you to somewhat the same kind of experiences. In the initial days of Shedra when one goes through the preliminary teachings of the Bodhicharyavatara, The Thirty-Seven Bodhisattva Practices or Words of My Perfect Teacher and so forth, one starts gazing closely into the eyes of what we call life, one starts to enjoy life more, starts to be more mindful of phenomena around oneself. Colors start becoming brighter, foods start becoming tastier. Thus trees look more like trees and mountains look more like mountains. But as one proceeds further into the profound teachings of the philosophical schools, things once perceived as concrete entities dissolve into partless atoms, atoms dissolve into mind, and mind dissolves into ineffable emptiness. One becomes many, many becomes the illusory display (of mind), which takes birth as the beautiful son of a barren woman, whom one has met in one’s dream. At that moment trees are no more trees, mountains are no more mountains…

The enlightened ones say the journey doesn’t end at this point. To proceed further, our teacher Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche suggests, that the intellectual understanding that we have attained inside the walls of our classroom should be tested, experimented and integrated outside those walls in our day to day experiences, which he deems the most crucial practice one has to engage in. So the sages advise that if one perseveres to do so, a day will come when trees are once again trees, mountains are once again mountains and the oceans are once again oceans…”

I welcome all of you friends (blog readers) to come and test the validity of this statement; of this adventurous journey. Just to remind you, “the Starting point is RYI.”

by Ishwor from Nepal

Awareness

2011-03-02T11:51:00.000+05:30

I am very grateful to the Rangjung Yeshe Institute who has given me the opportunity to study the Buddha-Dharma and inspire me to put it into practice in daily life. My purpose of coming here to Nepal to study was to infuse my mind and life with the Buddha-Dharma as much as possible, to really try to open myself and let it help me with all my daily problems. The very core of practicing Buddhism is to change one’s view of reality and one’s motivation. All sentient beings want happiness, but what kind of happiness are we able to aim for? Honestly speaking, I think wishes and aims for more than temporary happiness are very rare - so how would we ever attain it? To really put the Dharma into practice it is necessary to change the fuel that drives our every action, the view and motivation that makes us do what we do. As it is now, honestly, I think most of us are too self-centred and too dependent on outer objects for ensuring our happiness to really thoroughly practice the Dharma.

Personally, I would like to share a bit of a very simple practice that I find very helpful, and which anyone can do at any time and occasion – awareness and mindfulness practice (Tib: dran shes). I think it is something we have heard about so many times that we might have become quite immune to it; but actually awareness constitutes the very first and basic step on the path to freedom. Honestly, I do not think that we really know why we are here in this world, what we are doing and why we keep on creating problems for ourselves. But with increasing awareness of our actions and the motivation behind them, we can slowly get to know ourselves better. Before we can change any habits, we first have to gain some insight into their nature. The key to lasting happiness is to stop reacting to our experiences out of our usual habits, but instead just watch them calmly with awareness, get to know them. There is nothing that cannot be a support for awareness meditation. I find that when sailing on the troubled ocean of existence it is very comforting to have an inner anchor in a calm awareness and mindfulness. It is worth contemplating and trying! ;-)

Solvej from Denmark

Near Jarung Khashor

2011-03-02T11:16:00.000+05:30

Tenpel and a young friend near Jarung Khashor.

Once back home in Brazil, I heard that in the middle of an immense valley in the Himalayas there was a great white stupa, where the awakened masters of the past and present would come from days and months of walking to pay homage. It is said that there was an old woman whose power of aspirations and devotion to the Buddha, and with the help of her four sons, accomplished the extraordinary task of creating the illusory symbol of the body, speech and mind of the enlightened ones, meaning the Great Stupa Jarung Khashor, in the valley nowadays called Kathmandu. As if in an auspicious dream, those including myself who are searching for answers and spiritual comprehension come to this sacred place surrounded by spiritual practitioners and extraordinary realized masters that are able to fulfill our most deep spiritual wishes. One of those masters, understanding our motivation and searching but also our difficulties in comprehending the language and complexity of the teachings and the spiritual texts, had an enlightened aspiration and vision – a place where we foreigners could learn the original language of those sacred texts and masters, as well as be trained not just in the art of translating the teachings but also in the understanding and cultivation of such a spiritual path. That place is Rangjung Yeshe Institute, the outer display of the profound inner view of Kyabje Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, a Center for Buddhist Studies and Himalayan Languages, just beside the Great Stupa where I have the great fortune to be studying and living these days.

By Tenpel from Brazil

Tenpel with Sadhus in Pashupati.

Renting on Your Own in Kathmandu

2011-02-25T14:11:00.000+05:30

You have probably noticed that living in Nepal is somewhat different from living somewhere in the civilized world. Aside from the usual things you need to take care of – such as finding dwelling of suitable size and cost, in Nepal you need to solve many other issues. For example, over half of the year, electricity comes and goes, though it mostly goes. Therefore, you have no light, no internet, and no electric devices for up to 16 hours a day. Studying with a candle light is inconvenient and unhealthy for one’s eyes. Second, it is not easy to find rent of the quality and size that suits a family of 2 people.

For our first year in Boudha we found an amazing acclimatization solution. The Rokpa Guesthouse had just opened in Boudha, offering very attractive introduction rates for studio apartments. There was electricity backup, internet and they took care of evacuation of the garbage and of ordering gas and water. It was so convenient to have someone taking care of all these issues for the first year when we were totally new to Nepal. This year the management of the guesthouse, which became very popular, raised their prices, but we already felt confident enough in Kathmandu to set on a solo flight, and therefore we began to look for an apartment for rent.

Looking for rent we tried everything we would normally do in Europe – posted ads on the Nepali internet boards, posted ads in coffee shops in Boudha and waited. Though some proposals came from the ads, the solution that we found to be most effective was to walk around, knock on the doors and ask people. That’s when my newly acquired Tibetan skills showed to be so useful! We found many apartments offered for rent in this manner. But… most of them were more suitable for a family of 10 people rather then for a couple. It took really long time to find something small.

Small local house with goats on the roof!

You see, all around Kathmandu there is lot of construction. People are building 4-5 story houses, of which the upper floor usually hosts a puja room, the floor bellow it is intended for the owner’s family and the rest of the house is often offered for rent. The apartments are usually very big, each apartment taking the whole floor. Many apartments we saw had 4-5 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, 3 toilets, dining room and a kitchen big enough to play football in. Some also had 3-4 balconies; just to make sure you have enough space. It was all way too big for us.

Another issue was the really weird space management in some apartments. It was not uncommon to find a huge hallway with a window, followed by a wall, and an entirely dark windowless bedroom behind it. How can you live in a room without a window? Or in many apartments there was a barred gate instead of a wall and a door at the staircase to apartment. Consequently you could hear all that your neighbors do, smell all they cook, and in return, your neighbors would know all that is going on in your place. Very noisy and no privacy whatsoever.

And finally, it was not always easy to get the owners to give us, westerners, realistic price for their property. So you just have to bargain :)

As to electricity issue, we solved it buying an inverter battery and a UPS. These devices don’t require installation, all you need is to plug them to the socket in wall, let the battery charge for a few hours, and it’s ready for use. Our battery provides enough power to maintain two laptops, one table lamp and a router for the whole day. It is obviously strong enough to power another bulb or two. Since it keeps the router on, it doesn’t only solve the power issue for computers, but also allows us to have 24-hour internet.

Having moved to our new apartment, we found a solution to ordering ourselves gas and bottled drinking water. Since we live a bit out of the touristy zone of Boudha, where most people speak at least some English, the shop owners in our area speak only Nepali. When we went for water the first time, we went with our landlady. She introduced us to the water and gas shop’s owner, so now when he receives a phone call in a mixture of Nepali and English, he knows exactly where to deliver.

To conclude – it is not very easy to live in Kathmandu on your own. But it is an interesting experience, and there are solutions to most of the issues you will encounter. We were greatly assisted by advice from students and Shedra staff who have lived here many years already. They helped us easily solve many problems which we really didn’t know how to approach. I would recommend beginning your search for a place to rent well in advance and most importantly - whatever happens – take it easy. It’s Nepal!

By Ales, a student from the Czech Republic

Buddhist Altruism

2011-02-10T14:29:00.002+05:30

Buddhaghosa

Buddhaghosa defines compassion as – “When there is suffering (in others), it causes good people to be moved (anukampā), thus it is Karuṇā (Visuddhimagga, tr. Ñanamoli, p. 345).” The Buddha admonishes: “Let one first establish oneself in what is proper and then instruct others (Dhammapada, verse 158).” One cannot help others unless one knows how to help oneself through what is proper. It is hard to expect man who is deluded with speculation (prapañca) to lead another towards proper understanding (sammā-diṭṭhi). This idea is nicely elaborated in Sallekha Sutta [of Majjhima Nikāya, I.40-46]: “This situation does not occur, Cunda: when one sunk into mud will by himself pull out another who is sunk into mud. But this situation occurs, Cunda: when one not sunk into mud will by himself pull out another who is sunk into mud. But this situation occurs, Cunda: when one who is tamed, trained, utterly quenched, will by himself tame, train, makes another utterly quenched.” In this sense one cannot guide another morally and spiritually very much, unless one knows himself the method that directs one to achieve Nibbāna. One, therefore, has to develop confidence in himself first in order to be able to benefit others. Dhammapada [verse 160] says: “Atta hi attano nātho ko hi nātho parosiya – One is one’s own protector, what other protector can there be?” Self realization can be achieved only through one one’s own striving. Therefore one should first try to improve oneself before working for the general good. Does that mean one must do nothing at all before one has perfected oneself?

However, in a close look towards early Buddhist practice, one in fact never fails to cultivate altruistic virtues, because promoting one’s own welfare is not possible without cultivating altruistic attitude towards others. In early Buddhism, therefore, moral goodness is identical with altruism. And that’s why six perfections in early Buddhist doctrine play important roles as tools for attaining arhat-ship. The Buddha, in the Chavalata sutta [of Aṅguttara Nikāya, II, 95], out of four types of people praises the person who works for the benefit of both oneself and others (attahitāya ca patipanno parahitāya ca). From the Buddhist perspective of altruism, a man is not a separate but part of a society, and he is dependent on the rest of the universe. Therefore, he has to respect and have concern for others by morally being good through self-restraint. Elsewhere, the Buddha states: “by warding oneself, monks, one wards others. By warding another, one wards himself – attānāṃ bhikkhave rakkhanto paraṃ rakkhati, paraṃ rakkhanto attānāṃ rakkhati.” According to the Anumāna Sutta [of Majjhima Nikāya, I, 97], altruistic action is based on one’s volitional state of mind that functions in two ways: 1) thinking of oneself in term of others, and 2) thinking of others in terms of oneself. The sutta states, “The person who is of evil desires and who is in the thrall of evil desires, the person is displeasing and disagreeable to me; and similarly, if I were of evil desires and in the thrall of evil desires, I would be displeasing and disagreeable to others.” Buddhism always admonishes to see or to do something based on self criterion (attūpama). It is just like a mother who looks after her one and only son as her own life. In the same way, Buddhism emphasizes cultivation of universal love and compassion for the whole universe and beyond just as one would do for oneself. In this sutta the Buddha further goes on saying, “Now am I of evil desire in the thrall of evil desire? If so, that monk should strive to get rid of those evil, unskilled states. In this way, he controls his action, and that not only benefits himself but also has effects on others.”

Dhammapada palm leaf manuscript in Sinhalese

Finally, from what I have learned from RYI, Compassion in Mahāyāna is not self negating, but rather for oneself and others. As the Dhammapada [verse 166] states: “for the sake of others’ welfare however great, let not one neglect one’s own welfare.”

an Anonymous Student

Strategies Against Cold Rooms

2011-02-10T14:03:00.005+05:30

As most people know the temperature in Kathmandu can be a bit chilly during the months of December and January. Although it is mostly warm and sunny during the day, the temperature during the night can approach the freezing point. The houses have no insulation and most of the windows are well suited for the rapid exchange of air between inside and outside.

I can say that I have been enjoying a rather cool climate in my room over the last weeks, which benefited me in many ways. Although I don’t have a fridge I was able to keep cheese and other types of perishable food without any problems at all. I furthermore found out that the mind is very clear at lower temperatures and my studies processed unusually well. Many Tibetan words that I have not managed to memorize for quite some time all of a sudden stayed in my mind as if it were too cold for them to remain outside.

Needless to say, a cold room can sometimes also be annoying. I would therefore like to share some strategies to deal with cold hours with you.

a) I always wear long thermos underwear (for which I am most grateful to my mother). It not only keeps me really warm but also dries at amazing speed after having been washed.

b) I sleep in my army sleeping bag instead of under blankets.

c) Before going to sleep I wrap a well filled rubber hot-water bottle into a pullover and put it inside the sleeping back. The bottle stays warm for 24 hours. It also keeps me warm and, as a bonus, with the bottle on my side I don’t feel lonely at all!

d) In the morning getting out of the pleasant sleeping bag is kind of a challenge, but I always put the long underwear that I am going to wear inside my sleeping bag the night before, so it is really warm when I put it on.

e) I have scheduled my first language partner class from 6-7 a.m. At that time I am still so tired that I hardly feel any cold. After that I warm myself up with a cup of ginger tea and enjoy the tender rays of the morning sun.

If you have any further useful ideas please let me know. Although it is getting rapidly warmer now, the next winter will again bring some cold weeks for sure …

The New Sleeping Bag Suit by Lippi Selk

by Gerd from Austria

Tibetan Summer Course

2011-02-10T12:15:00.006+05:30

Hello out there, I would like to share my experience of this year’s summer course. As you may or may not know the Rangjung Yeshe Institute offers several summer courses on Sanskrit, colloquial Tibetan, and Buddhist Philosophy. The year before I did the “Intermediate Tibetan” and this summer I went for the “Advanced Tibetan”. We were about ten students in the course and I have to say that the level of Tibetan-skills in the group was pretty high (I personally, being really bad with languages, was clearly on the lower end of the class). The course-program was split into two: One part was thought by Phuntsok, the main Tibetan teacher in the Shedra. It covered a traditional perspective on Tibetan grammar plus several readings, mainly from his Holiness the Dalai Lama’s autobiography (in English: “My Land and my People”). Phuntsok has a very light way of teaching and many times we had a good laugh in class. Nonetheless we covered in the 8 weeks of the course a vast amount of material and the weekly quizzes were sometimes a bit of a challenge. Franziska the teacher from Switzerland functioned in class as a teacher assistant and while Phuntsok was talking in Tibetan she wrote the more uncommon words he was using on the blackboard, impressing us all with her superior spelling skills. Every day we also had language partner classes in which each student speaks face to face with a Tibetan language partner and that was a great opportunity to put newly learned words and grammar into action.

The other part of the course was a traditional Tibetan Dharma teaching taught by one of the Lopöns of the monastery (of course in Tibetan and without translator). I have to admit that I was pretty lost for the first classes but then my comprehension slowly improved and at the end I was able to follow pretty well what the Lopön was talking about, which made me really happy. Also we had a specific set of Dharma-language partner classes in which we could prepare for class with monks and other Tibetans skilled in Dharma related topics.

All in all I can highly recommend this course to anybody who wants to improve his/her Tibetan. Of course the 8 weeks were a bit intense but we students still found time to follow the football World Cup in one of the restaurants in Boudha that provided a large screen for this purpose.

Gerd from Austria

Living, Researching, and Writing at Nagi Gompa

2011-02-10T12:02:00.000+05:30

Upper Temple Hall, Nagi Gompa

I first encountered Nagi Gompa, a nunnery in the Shivapuri National Park at the outskirts of the Kathmandu Valley, three years ago, during Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s seminar. It was love at first sight, and since then, an unending affair. This is so for many reasons: the kindness and holiness of the nuns; the spectacular views of the valley; the clean air, and the great trekking trails to the top of Shivapuri and down to Boudha. In the long run, this place is one of the most important reasons for me to stay in Nepal.

Nagi Gompa was the seat of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, a renowned Dzogchen master who passed away in 1996. He was the father of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. Many of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche’s foreign students continually came to visit him and stay for some time. This why now there are rooms available for the steady flow of foreigners coming here. Other of his students built their own retreat places.

I have been living there for more than a year now, doing a combination of research, writing, and meditation. I go down to Boudha, in Kathmandu, on Fridays, and come up on Sundays. During weekends, I go to teachings, buy books, and keep in touch with people in the US who are assisting me with my research and writing, and with family and friends.

The nuns here are living examples of Tibetan Buddhist values. Ani Sonam is a personification of compassion, the always-caring mother of the monastery’s dogs, cows and foreigners living or staying at Nagi Gompa. She is a regular character in the always unfolding animal stories. Kochen, a dog, is usually prickly with anyone other than Ani Sonam. One time, scared by a particularly loud thunderstorm, he ended up huddling with people he would usually bark at, looking for company and protection in his time of fright. The family cows includes a cow, bull, and a young bull, their offspring. Sunauri, the cow, readily comes when Ani Sonam calls her. Bulls are naturally aggressive and indocile. Not this one; he is as placid as the cow, I guess as a result of Ani Sonam’s loving and compassionate hand. Provoked by the young bull, he would always playfully lock horns with him. One time, during one of such encounters, the young bull ended up in a hole. The workers had to figure out how to get him out, which they did successfully, not withstanding my skepticism about their method.

Ani Gentara (center) and other Nagi Gompa nuns

Ani Gentara is an embodiment of joy, always with a big and happy smile. Some time ago, she organized a seven-month Nyungne, a day-in, day-out Chenrezig fasting and silence practice. On late afternoons, on their non-fasting/talking days, some nuns, Tibetans, local people, Westerners, and I would sometimes join the four nuns participating for the last part of their practice. The highlight of this last part was “Calling the Guru From Afar.” Amber, the filmmaker whom almost everybody around the Shedra knows, filmed the nuns singing it, and will have this available online shortly.

Then there are the little Anis, Lundok Drolma and Yeshe Lhamo. They are both about eleven. With contrasting characters, one bubbly, the other more introverted, they are progressing with their Tibetan lessons in stride. Twice we went with them for a day walk and picnic up Shivapuri peak, the first time with Patricia and Laura from the US, and Arnica from Holland. This year, when Arnica came back, we decided to do it again, this time all the way up to the top. The little nuns loved it.

One day, arriving to Nagi Gompa from my weekend stay down in Boudha, I saw Ani Sonam talking with a mysterious, robed, long-haired woman. I thought perhaps she was a visiting yogini, and later asked Ani Sonam who her visiting friend was, but she could not quite identify any such visiting friend. I was able to decipher the mystery only when visiting each of the nuns coming out of three-year retreat together with Ani Sonam, right before they moved out of the retreat place. All of them still wore their hair long and uncut. A few months later, at an auspicious date, a new group of ten nuns moved in to this place and started their three-year retreat.

Many things coalesce to bring about the very special atmosphere here: the pujas and personal practices of the nuns, the ten nuns in three-year retreat, a Tibetan in life retreat, a few Westerners in various length long retreats, and the continuous flow of foreigners for shorter retreats. For Lena, a Ukrainian now staying for some weeks in the retreat cave, some twenty minutes from the main compound, this is her favorite place in the world, and I join her in this thought. This is her second time here.

Nagi Gompa Nuns Preforming Chod Dance

The constant flow of foreigners adds to the flavor of the place: people from all around the world, some trying to figure what to do with their lives; others, looking for the solace of a place of retreat; some just going for a trek. One recent such visitor was Florian from Germany, who stayed in the cave for several weeks. He is student of an unusual teacher from China, holder of a Tibetan lineage who tells his students “Don’t follow me, because I will break you.” He speaks fluent Spanish, and happened to live in Peru for a year as a volunteer at a rehabilitation clinic. Erica, from Canada; Wendy, from Denmark; Ida, from Brazil; Heather from the US; all were my temporary neighbors in their retreats. Alex from Russia, here for the second time, wanted to stay in the cave already taken by Florian. I have made some good friends here.

The arrival of the little Yangsi, Tulku Urgyen’s Rinpoche recognized reincarnation, to live here will probably slowly become momentous for the nunnery. From being a backwater nunnery for years, its dynamic is already changing. Right now, the Yangsi’s tutors are also staying. Main among them is Tulku Pasang Tsering, whom I met once before in Pharping.

Nagi Gompa has proved to be a great place to write. I cannot think of any other place nearly as good. No internet, no phone, no TV, no distractions. It has been and continues to be, a very fruitful writing experience. I don’t know of any Tibetan equivalent to the muses . In any case, I have received their constant visits and inspiration.

Staying in a place like this, combining writing and meditation, is my own modest personal version the ideal of the scholar-practitioner which Chokyi Nyigma Rinpoche brings up so often in his teachings. He personified this ideal in Mipham, the 19^th-early-20^th-century scholar and meditation master, deeply involved in meditation practice, and writing in-between meditation sessions.

The first product of my stay is a seventy-page paper entitled “Signa Mortifera: The Prognostication of Death in Late Medieval Tibet and Europe.” Starting from the Tibetan sciences of the signs for knowing the signs if death is coming, I explored the cultural equivalent in medieval Europe, saints’ prophetic foreknowledge of their own and others’ deaths. In my next entry, I will write about this. For now, I got an A from my professor Matthew Kapstein, for which I am extremely happy. The next step is trying to publish it. This is something I have never done before. They say it takes about a year.

In the meantime, I do not know how much longer I will be here. Perhaps in the next few months my academic work will take me somewhere else in Asia, or maybe I can stay for one more year. And then, probably back to school. Wherever life takes me, I will remember this as a happy and fruitful time.

Raul from Peru

Doubts

2011-02-10T11:11:00.000+05:30

I last wrote on the Student Blog three years ago. I wonder what has changed in that time.

I have finished my BA and started the MA program this year. Looking back, I can say, to continue was not the easiest decision for me at all. Studying at the Shedra for last 3 years has given me quite a lot. Among many benefits, I can name a deeper and more correct understanding of the Buddha's teachings, the ability to listen to and understand teachings directly in Tibetan, and the opportunity to improve my writing skills in English, and so on.

Anya and fellow student Jade

However, along with that, I gained something which I didn't expect at all: more doubts. When I mentioned this to Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, the abbot of the monastery we study at, he said it was a natural part of the process and that many monks and nuns complain about it as well. I think it comes from the gap that I experience between my examination of the teachings, which the Buddha himself encouraged, and my natural faith, meaning an innate sense of trust in the authenticity of the Dharma.

Critical thinking, skeptical-rational methods and ways of reading and analyzing texts are taught in our specialized studies classes by visiting Western professors, some of whom are not Buddhists themselves. It can be very helpful to zoom out and observe the tradition we are following from a totally different perspective. Nevertheless, it gets more difficult to combine that vision with the approach that is taught in the philosophy classes by our learned lopöns and khenpos. In the Tibetan tradition, there is not such a significant differentiation between the ordinary and the extraordinary. We are taught stories and examples of flying yogis, special signs and accomplishments as an absolutely normal part of the path of the luminaries who populate the tradition. To my western critical or even skeptical mind, it is sometimes difficult to believe.

So, I was faced with the hardship of dealing with two quite different worlds. The advice given by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche helped me a lot. He instructed me and others to continue studying and not to drop our inquiry, otherwise we will be left full of doubt and confusion. It is important, he said, to carry on this challenging task and to arrive eventually at the point where have genuine faith born of our own experience of the teachings, which results in being more wise and gentle, more calm and kind. Rinpoche said, it is not only naïve to have blind faith, but it is likewise naïve to be one of those scholars who know a great deal about the teachings but never take it to heart. Rinpoche encourages students to study well and to apply the teachings, so they can see for themselves the truth that is articulated there. For me, this seems to be the only way to go, if someone wants to become a scholar- practitioner and help oneself and others as best as one can.

Anya from Russia

Scholarships for Ordained Sangha!

2010-11-10T11:09:00.000+05:30

The Rangjung Yeshe Institute is pleased to announce that the Khyentse Foundation has agreed to double the amount given to our Khyentse Foundation-Rangjung Yeshe Institute scholarship fund, specifically in order to allow us to offer more scholarships to monks and nuns. Students must be enrolled in the BA program, have studied at RYI for two semesters, and be fulltime students to be eligible for the scholarships. More information about RYI financial aid can be found HERE. Already we have several new ordained applicants! Thank you, Khyenste Foundation.