RYI STUDENT BLOG

The feeling is indescribable;  I have never studied in a Shedra before. The  atmosphere is so welcoming at the Shedra , it feels like home.  This is my first formal education in Buddhism and I cannot think of a  better place than RYI.  The whole Shedra experience has been and is very over whelming.  Personally, I feel that the classes are not just targeted to readings and  writing but on how one must practice the path too. And that totally makes  sense. And I remember, Chokyi Nyima Rimpoche mentions that we  should be both a practitioner and a scholar.  The way of the Bodhisattva text is very profound  and I feel everyone  must learn this text. The lessons in class help those who practice. As we  learn more and more, I am more aware about my intentions and actions.  Not that I was not aware of them before, but now I am more aware on  the importance of the aspirations, dedications , etc....

I have first come to Baudhanath in the autumn of 2001, met Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and stayed for the annual seminar. On its last day I went up to Rinpoche and asked if I should stay on for the winter programme, and he told it's a wonderful idea.  This was my first introduction to Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy in the Tibetan tradition as we studied The Jewel Ornament of Liberation by Gampopa. The next year the BA programme started at RYI for the first time, and I stayed for one year, but felt more inclined to go for retreats. I felt at the time like focusing on meditation practice and was not sure if academic studies were my thing.  After quite a few years of doing this and that, basically roaming around in Samsara, I started to feel again a very deep urge to study the Buddha Dharma in earnest. That was exactly two years ago, while I was living in Bodhgaya and Rinpoche arrived there, as he does almost each October. Approaching him, he immediately saw right...

Champa with a friend Casting a glance backwards, time has elapsed like a launched rocket. Although I came to Nepal half a year ago, I still feel like I just arrived a week ago. I am sure that this feeling indicates how joyful studying at RYI in Nepal is for me. Let me tell you how joyful it is by stating two reasons. First, as human beings we all have a strong desire for happiness and we are trying our utmost to approach it from all different angles. Yet very few can have even a single happy day without any worries or fears. This tells us that our approaches are incorrect. Well then, the right approach is to engage oneself in studies or practices which lead to the realization of the true nature of phenomena. For this realization the Buddhist studies are considered a universally good approach. As a Buddhist follower, after engaging in actual studies of Buddhism for a few months at RYI, I found that Buddhist teachings are really appealing in terms of being content and peacefu...

It is almost frightening how fast my three years of studying at RYI in the BA  program have passed by. Now there are only a few weeks of the final semester left and therefore, I would like to take the opportunity to share my experiences of my third study year with you. I made  two major decisions regarding my study plan which I have not regretted and which I would  like to  recommend to you because they have benefited me a lot.               The first is my decision to start with Sanskrit. If you are thinking about doing so, too,  please ignore  all  ominous voices whispering what  a  horribly  difficult language Sanskrit is. It is  not! In fact,  it  is  just  about singing. Kashinath  and  Paul  in  combination  offer  a  unique  way of  studying  this  beautiful  poetic  language  at  RYI...

Friends celebrating completion of semester In one of my classes, I heard of a mental and emotional ability, which a Bodhisattva needs to develop on the path of preparation in the Mahayana. This path is one out of five paths that describe the training of a Bodhisattva. And this ability that one develops on the path of preparation is the ability to be comfortable with groundlessness. In studying the teachings on emptiness, as in the discussion of the 9 th chapter of the Bodhicaryavatara, the Lopon got asked continuously: “If things are not as substantial as they seem: aren’t I to fall through the floor?” This is one kind of groundlessness that arises when listening and contemplating the teachings on emptiness. A little bit of falling through the floor is actually right now happening to those RYI students who enter summer break. If only for a short month or for three months: there won’t be a schedule and the routine that carried us through the last two semesters is no more...

Last Fall in September 2011, I joined Rangjung Yeshe Institute for BA degree. In Spring, I went up to Pullahari Rigpe Dorje Institute to continue my third year. So, I could not study at RYI last Spring from January to March 2012. But this year from June to August 2012, I attended the summer course in Buddhist Studies.  Presently, I am in the second year of the BA and taking five courses this semester. Every morning from Monday to Friday 8:00am-9:00am I attend philosophy class of Thirty Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva Commentary by Chos Kyi Dragpa. Then alternately 9:15am-10:45am I attend History of Buddhism and Specialized Studies classes. Next 11:00 am -12:30 pm I attend Uttaratantra Sastra class Commentary by Jamgon Kongtrul Yonten Gyatso. Then I have lunch break and self study time for the rest of the day. On Monday and Thursday 4:00pm-5:30pm I attend Translation Project class in translating Uttaratantra Sastra Commentary by Gyu Mipham Rinpoche. As I have to write many academ...

Lopon Tokpa Tulku and Translator during Philosophy class at RYI Once upon a time I was listening to an extraordinary human being, an embodiment of wisdom, the master Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche who gave a lecture to Khenpos, Lopons and venerable monks of his monastic university Dzongsar Shedra, in India. Rinpoche started his talk by sharing that the purpose of undergoing such a training in the Buddhist view was not just to transform oneself  (as that would be to much selfish) but to help others, to share the Dharma and skills we have learned and trained ourselves in, with the world we live in. He said to the monks that even though they are supposed to have renounced the world they couldn’t escape from the “reality” surrounding them. A monastery does not survive without a certain kind of economy; financial means do not come without good relationships and positive exchanges with society (in other words he said the positive and true purpose of politics). Also, not taking ca...

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 orde...