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...

This summer I went to a place called with many names. Some call it Tibet, some China. But  this leaves us geographically uncertain, and with political allegiances. Some refer to it broadly as  the Tibetan cultural zone or as historical Tibet. But this precision makes for quite a mouthful. Whatever you care to call it, this summer I went with nothing more than a backpack, a notebook,  and change of clothes. I traveled with Tibetan poets and discussed modern literature, witnessed  an angry monk tear down posters of Mao Ze Dong in a bookstore, observed scriptures being  block printed in Derge, slept in a tent with nomads, held an audience with Khenpo Sodargay of  Serta, and returned home with a suitcase full of texts as if I were a lotsawa of old. Now, this isn’t because I’m an important somebody or in any way special. Instead, it is  because this land and its people are. What I would like to share here is that, if you consider  yourself a...

During the reading week, at the end of October, we went to Tibet. Our group of four people visited a few monasteries: Tashilhungpo in Shigatse, Kumbum in Gyantse, Drepung and Sera in Lhasa, as well as Jokhang Temple, where one of the oldest Buddha statues is preserved, and Potala, the former residence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. During the journey, the sense of appreciation and respect towards Tibetan people was growing in me. Even today the Tibetans are maintaining their Dharma practice. In Lhasa, every morning and every evening they are doing circumambulations around the Jokhang Temple (Barkor) and around the old part of the city (Lingkor, which takes about 2 or 3 hours). But it is not just the fact that they are doing this that is so remarkable, it is the way they are doing it! How sincere they are, how they appreciate their Dharma legacy and how happy they are in their practice. I really think that we are so lucky here at RYI: we have the access to studying and pract...

Before the start of the summer intensive, I had the great fortune to spend time in Yunnan and Sichuan. These two provinces include much of eastern Kham and bits of Amdo. So I was able to visit Tibetan areas such as Gyalthang, Dechen, Lithang, Dardo, Minyak, among others. However, one of the most special places I visited was Serthar. I had never heard of Serthar (Tib: གསེར་ཐར། Ch: 色达) before but was lucky enough to have a travelling companion who had.  She suggested we go there and so we did. What makes Serthar so remarkable is the Larung Institute for the Five Traditional Sciences and Higher Buddhist Studies (Tib: བླ་རུང་ལྔ་རིག་ནང་བསྟན་སློབ་གླིང་། Ch: 五明佛学院 ) founded by the great Jigme Phuntsok, a renown Nyingmapa Terton. Larung is a massive monastic complex which houses around 40,000 monks, nuns, as well as some lay practitioners - all of whom study, live, and practice together. It is truly enormous!  Immediately upon arrival at Larung, my impression was that th...