RYI STUDENT BLOG

This is the chorus of a song that was composed by two special friends, in honor of my first Buddhist master (Lama Padma Samten, the first lama that received ordination by Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche in Brazil). I can say to you all that I have this good fortune to meet many masters endowed with a great power:  the ability of completely to break our rigidity and fear by their compassionate laughter.  The great ability and wisdom to show us that the liberation of the pain and sorrow will not happen by the hardness in our eyes or cold smile. from left to right: Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo; Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche; Gyalwang Dukpa; Lama Padma Samten and H.H. the Dalai Lama Usually they are masters with great and daring aspirations. They have strong and inspiring presence. They take care us with profound loving-kindness and compassion. And when it is necessary, they also manifest through firm words that put our motivation in the right direction.     Here...

To reiterate what some others have said in their blog posts, Rangjung Yeshe is a special Institution that combines a monastic style approach with “western” academic classes. Through this blog I have read many inspiring testimonials about Rangjung Yeshe and really do think that the Institute deserves the praise it has gotten and more. Yet somehow I have found it difficult to come up with anything new to say about the Institute. Perhaps it is not enough to just commend the Institute itself. It is definitely wonderful and all that but I believe that Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and gang make this a truly special place to be. Beyond the academic platform it is Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche who seems to make the teachings we receive in the classroom come alive. Being the jaded and small-minded person that I am, I often fall into states of lethargy and procrastination. At times I even find myself labeling the materials I study as dry, intellectual philosophy because they seem far removed from...

Picture shows me camping at RYI yard during earthquake It’s now over six weeks that the massive earthquake hit Nepal. The changes that began through it are still in the works and their ends are not to be seen, yet. Houses, monasteries, temples…in fact the main class rooms and offices of RYI needed to move and are on the way to being rebuilt. One might wonder, what is it like to be in a massive earthquake like that? While individual experiences differ, one can summarize this experience as being very un-grounding. All that was familiar and considered stable before the earthquake, now seems unreliable. A massive earthquake that changes ones lives so drastically, does indeed give much insight into impermanence, one’s mortality and the preciousness and fleeting nature of this moment of our life.  Although impermanence is generally considered frightening and a topic most likely avoided, in Buddhist studies this topic is not only discussed, but its contemplation highly enc...

I have known the story of Namo Buddha (in Tibetan stag mo lus byin) since I was a child. When we had finished our nomadic livestock work at the end of the day, all of my family gathered in our tent around the mud-stove in the butter lamplight. While we ate our dinner sometimes our father told us some interesting stories including folk stories and some very basic Buddha dharma. He chanted the prayers he had memorized from when he was a monk before the cultural revolution. Among them stag mo lus byin’s story moved me greatly  even I was a thoughtless child. Since I heard that the Buddha had fed a tigress with his living body because of his unbearable compassion for the little tiger cubs’ lives I generated more Bodhicitta than I had before. However I was never expected that I could get to see the real holy place where the Buddha offered his body for benefit of sentient beings’ lives. Nevertheless I got the great fortune to study in the white monastery (shad dra) in Nepal f...

Looking back at year 2011 I simply have to admit that it has been a year of mistakes. Some bigger than others, and which have taken longer time to resolve, accept, and make friends with within myself. However, no matter how hard it can be at times to accept one’s failures, looking back at them now thinking: If I had a chance to undo these actions, would I do so? From the perspective of bringing harm to others I definitely feel regret and wish I hadn't done certain things, but from the side of bringing about certain understanding and internal and personal growth I can see how these mistakes have been tremendously helpful in that progress. Reflecting on why we do these things in the first place, it seems to me that the answer is pretty down to earth – because we all want to be happy. We all share this fundamental wish but it seems that we continuously engage in what leads to more suffering. However, in making mistakes and acknowledge these actions as mistakes (and by ...

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]:  “T his 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 himsel...