RYI STUDENT BLOG

One of the best decisions I ever made was joining Rangjung Yeshe Institute (RYI).  It is indeed a great institute where one can have experience of both academic and  traditional teachings from the sophisticated masters. Precious teachings from  Lopens and Khenpos help surprisingly to overcome the stresses of our daily lives. When I first came to this institute, I felt very welcomed. Warm greetings from  RYI’s Staff made me feel myself very special! In fact, such warm greetings really  motivates student to study sincerely. From the very first orientation, I started  experiencing the great quality of education and the excitements that inspired me to  make commitment to study further from BA. Moreover, Students are given the  great opportunities to do pilgrimages, retreats and practice rituals which have  equally importance as with the theoretical and philosophical knowledge. One even  becomes blessed already under the guidance and p...

“School life is a golden life,” I often used to cherish this quote and feel it is so true until I joined the RYI. The beautiful environment here, students came from almost every corner of the world, Modern students  learning from the traditional teacher and exposure to the daily life of Monks in RYI made me rich as a  person. Moreover, studying in RYI proved my presupposed notion of college life as boring life infused  with boring lecture to be wrong rather it induced me to think out of the box and have broader approach to  life. First and foremost I feel blessed to be at RYI is that I got precious opportunity to study Buddhism under  the constant vigilance of Rinpoches and their priceless guidance which I find very rare and I could never  trade it for anything else in life. I feel embraced by Rinpoches’ compassion all the time at RYI. As a student, I got to learn several things in various topics here such as Himalayan Languages, Buddhist  Ph...

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....

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...

My new path started at the end of he monsoon season of 2012, when I first entered the class in the monastery, grabbed myself a cushion, and tried to understand how I am supposed to cross my legs, and to make them stay crossed, for the next hour and a half. When the Lopon (a term which I had no idea at that time what it meant) entered the class, I stood up like everyone - but unlike everyone else, I stayed frozen in my place, amazed by what's going on around me. Amazed by this new world into which I stepped. When I first landed here my Tibetan vocabulary (or what I thought was Tibetan) was limited to two words: "dalai" and "lama", and honestly, even the meaning of those two I didn't quite understand (it turns out they are Mongolian loan-words), and the only connection I had to the dharma was a picture of me next to a stupa from a trip I once made to India. But still there was something that drew me to come here, to Nepal, to study Tibetan and to try ...

It is semester break for the students of the study programs at Rangjung Yeshe Institute. Being a BA student myself, I enjoy the open schedule after an intense period of study while completing the fall semester. Now, the many practice opportunities here in Boudha easily fill my schedule yet again! However, I find delight in the fruits of study: in conversations, interactions and while listening to teachings, I keep encountering the material studied during the previous semesters and it seems to continue to connect the dots of knowledge further and further. Especially the teachings on dependent origination that many of us contemplated through the presentation of Mipham Rinpoches “Gateway to Knowledge”, keeps being a wonderful framework for any daily encounter. - How did my meal come about? How come, I heard of some event at a particular time? How is it that I meet the people I meet? All these events seem almost magic, considering the reflection of not being in control myse...

                                                               Dilemma: Life, the living mischievous paradox, one way always imposes upon us the tiring and tear bringing shocks of despondency experienced after departure of futile lifeless excitement, and pain preceded by the unfulfilled strong – misleading desires. While on the other, it rouses a hope, cautious indulgence in which could bestow upon us the mastery over suffering, and lead us to the pinnacle of everlasting bliss, which in turn ends all our sufferings and wanderings. Life, when this paradox is understood, the journey ends, and the search completes. But how to understand it? How to untangle it? Whom to ask? And where to go? It seems to be an unsurmountable mystery, endless search and unanswerable question, and for me and many others, RYI is the junction wh...

Hello to everyone on the Rangjung Yeshe Institute Student Blog. I am Raju Gurung and I am from Mustang which is the North Central Part of Nepal. Currently I am doing my BA at RYI. In the year 2011 I got to know about RYI and its Buddhist Studies Programme through one of my local friends from Boudhanath. I was really very interested to join RYI as I was also looking for some Colleges that offered Buddhist Studies.   Likewise, in the last year 2012, I had finished one of the Buddhist philosophy courses that had been offered by RYI. It was ' The Way of the Bodhisattva' by Śā ntideva and I really couldn't believe how amazing and how pleasant it was to study this amazing text. In fact, by reading this text, this amazing text, Śā ntideva has really become a guide for me in my personal life. Similarly, it is only because of this amazing text, 'The Way of the Bodhisattva' , that I have come to realize and truly know the meaning of what love and compassion is. ...

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...

As a result of my short but fruitful experience in the first year of the BA program, I thought it could be worthwhile to give some unpretentious advice that might be of benefit for any student of the Shedra; even though they are destined especially to the new comer students. If you are one of these fortunate people, welcome to RYI. I hope these lines are helpful to you. First of all, don’t lose your heart. Probably you have already heard about the great amount of energy that studying in a reputed place like RYI demands: memorizing scores of words a week, writing multitude of papers, studying complex topics of philosophy, and so on. In first place, you must be confident that such goal is completely attainable for anyone. However, since probably you will need to strive and this endeavour might not be a piece of cake, be ready to push yourself. If you try to do things well, perhaps you will reach the point where you will feel at least slightly overwhelmed by the work y...

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...

Lopön Urgyen Tenpel studied for 10 years in the Sangye Yeshe Shedra at Ka Nying Shedrup Ling and is now one of the philosophy teachers at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute. This year he is teaching the Uttaratantra Shastra (Eng. Sublime Continuum) according to the commentary of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye. The following is a short interview with him: Lopön Urgyen Tenpel  Tell me something about yourself? According to the Tibetan Calender I'm 30 years old, yet according to the western calender I'm not quite sure. I was born in Mugum, in north-west Nepal, which was part of Tibet before. Yet nowadays it's counted as part of Nepal. I have two brothers, one older and one younger as well as two younger sisters. My younger brother became a monk two years ago, also here at Ka Nying Shedrup Ling. When I was 13 years old my parents encouraged me to become a monk and I happily agreed. They then brought me here, where I was ordained at the end of 1995. My parents are students of...