RYI STUDENT BLOG

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...

At the middle of the semester, it is always good to take a little bit of rest from all the study, which  is why we have reading week. But for some reason, this week is not called “relaxing week”.  For  sure, we all like to relax a little bit, but if they call it “relaxing week”, we may just relax too much!  So I’m in favor of the present name, “reading week”. Moreover, at least for me, this time is how it  looks like. Some like to use this week to travel and visit some places in Nepal or even India, others to practice,  others to advance in writing essays or doing homework, and maybe in many cases to do a little bit  of everything. This time for me, as part of my subjects’ work this semester, I’m doing quite a bit of reading,  particularly on the Lotus Sutra and related articles, as well as memorizing verses for the philosophy  class. As part of the Translation Project class, I’m also translating a couple of public teachings from...