RYI STUDENT BLOG

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...

      In the field of Tibetan Buddhist studies many scholars focus almost exclusively on religion, ignoring aspects of culture beyond what directly bears relevance to the history and development of Buddhism. It is true that, if it were not for Buddhism, most of us would not be nearly as concerned about Tibetan issues. I can also see this partial attitude reflected in my own thinking at times and, considering the looming gap dividing western and Tibetan cultures, I would not be surprised if others can also relate to this. Some local customs often strike us as impractical, illogical, or mere superstition. Does tossing rice around and burning butter really please the three jewels?  Conversely, other scholars are merely interested in the material culture of the Tibetan people. This is equally dissatisfying. Some peers, absorbed by everything Tibetan (merely by the fact of it being Tibetan), appear to be under the spell of western romanticism.  Yet if we adop...