RYI STUDENT BLOG

For my family back in the west, in their minds “living in Nepal and studying Buddhism” is defined as “studying this crazy ancient philosophy, under the guidance of elderly monks (who would never in their life eat meat) and practice kungfu – in Tibet”. A girl at work gently reminded me how Buddhists- especially the monks- do not eat meat . As great as it sounds, in reality as all of us who study at RYI know, this is really just not the case. Somehow for them ‘Ne paul ’ is a country very much off their mental radar. I am frequently asked by distant family members who have heard rumours of ‘someone in their family’ who lives in Nepal. “What’s it like living in Tibet?” they say. And once I finally convince them I actually live in Nepal, they ask where it is. It’s like when we hear names of countries such as Mali or Angola, we know they are in Africa, however many of us do not know exactly where. Once I explain it’s a tiny country, smaller than the UK, tucked nicely between India an...

We all have particular aims and goals in our lives. Our childhood begins learning from our surroundings, mostly from our parents or whoever raises us. We grow up in competitive environment, learning to acquire things of our need.  So how we are nurtured determines our behavior and nature. Whatever in us, is nothing but ascribed and prescribed by other than us. There is nothing to which we can refer, ‘Its purely/only mine’, or any thing to what we can say, ‘It’s purely me’. The very beginning phase of our body itself is formed by the combination of seeds of our parents. Buddhist negates existence of self, which can be examined by analyzing the emptiness nature of all phenomena. Even sociologically, as we just discussed before, everything in us is resulted from external factors. We are nothing but a product of our society. Most of us agree that happiness is the prime concern of our life. We tend to seek and understand happiness in the attainment of our goals.  Howev...

             When I decided to study Buddhism at RYI, I had three main reasons to do so: first, I wanted to make the Dharma a bigger part of my life, and as the lazy person that I am, forcing myself to spend every day reading and learning about it for about 4 years seems like the right ting to do. Second, I was convinced that Buddhism was the only thing that I would not lose interest in after studying it for a couple of years. And finally, I have just always really been in love with Nepal after my first visit in 2007, so living here seemed like a pretty natural thing to do. Now, after more than a year of studying here, I think it is time to check my reasons again and see in how far they still matter. Prayerflags reflect in a little pond – seen on a hike to Nagi Gompa 1. Has the Dharma become a bigger part of my life? Definitely. Being surrounded by it 24/7 I would really have to make an effort to not be influenced by i...

It’s been few years studying in Rangjung Yeshe Institute as a B.A. Student. When I first joined the institute I did not have much knowledge about Buddhism even though I came from a family with Buddhist background. After joining RYI, for the first time in my life, I felt like I am studying something that might truly benefit me. I realized that here, I am not studying about external, material things but rather something deeper about our own being, the very nature of our own mind. And the reason I think it is beneficial is because studying Buddhism has helped me to deal with emotions which otherwise leads us to suffering. Nevertheless, I also feel very blessed joining RYI since I get an opportunity to study Buddhism more deeply through which my perception towards myself has become clearer and my faith towards triple gems become much stronger than before. Besides studying, I also love food at the RYI restaurant. The staffs at RYI restaurant serves delicious and variety of vegetarian fo...