RYI STUDENT BLOG

             After three years of intense study at Rangjung Yeshe’ s BA program , I leaped into the Translation Training Program (TTP) – a twelve -month intensive course that trains for the capacity to orally interpret basic Buddhist teachings from Tibetan to English. The TTP adventure begins with the Summer Program – a highly concentrated curriculum that condenses a one-year syllabus into eight weeks. As such, I somehow did not choose to do the summer program; I just had to do it as the beginning of the TTP. Among the many courses available (Classical Tibetan, Sanskrit, Pali, and others) I enrolled in Advanced Colloquial Tibetan. Now, retrospectively, I feel very grateful for having had an incentive to step into the summer program experience; it was undoubtedly a great source of learning and it significantly improved my capacity to both understand and speak Tibetan. The intensity of the program is definitely challenging but if you can flow with...

Congratulations to  Cyntia Font Zorrilla,  who successfully  defended her MA thesis.  The dissertation is entitled:  A Treasure Revealer’s Inner Life A Study and Translation of Lochen Dharmaśrī’s “Inner” Biography of Chögyal Rigdzin Terdak Lingpa The thesis supervisor was Dr. Philippe Turenne and the External Reader was Dr. Abraham Zablocki, Agnes Scott College, USA.  Before coming to study in RYI's Translator Training Program, Cynthia completed a  B.A in Archaeology and a M.A. in Archaeology and Art History Specialized in Art History from the  Université Paris IV Sorbonne, where she wrote her master’s thesis on the iconography of the Dakinis. Cynthia who has her roots in Mexico, lived in many different countries and speaks more than six languages fluently. Now she has added another one: Tibetan.  Finishing the Translator Training Program, Cynthia started teaching colloqui...

Congratulations to Anna Zilman! Anna successfully defended her thesis:   'Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and the Nonsectarian Movement: A Critical Look at  Representations of 19th Century Tibetan Buddhism'. The thesis supervisor was Dr. Philippe Turenne and the External Reader was Prof. Dr. Dorji Wangchuk from the University of Hamburg, Germany.  Anna, from Russia came in 2007 to the Rangjung Yeshe Institute to study Tibetan Language. After completing one year in the Bachelor's program, Anna joined the intensive one-year-long Translator Training program which was launched at that time. Successfully completing that, she continued with the B.A. and later Master of Arts program. Anna has managed the Translator Training program since 2010 and translates at various occasions at  the Rangjung Yeshe Institute.   We congratulate this bright and energetic lady and hope she will keep inspiring us.  ...

Congratulations to Adam Kane, who successfully defended his MA thesis.     The dissertation is entitled:  'THE WAY INSIGHT ACTUALLY ARISES: PEMA KARPO’S EXPLANATION OF THE FOUR YOGAS OF MAHĀMUDRĀ'. The thesis supervisor was Dr. Philippe Turenne and the External Reader was Dr. Lara Braitstein, Associate Professor at  McGill University. Adam graduated from  Duke University and had been working for the Pundarika Foundation before joining RYI's Translator Training Program in 2009. After completing the 12 month long intensive course, Adam enrolled in the Master of Arts in Buddhist Studies program at RYI. Adam is a gifted translator and instructor and has joined RYI's faculty as translator in 2011. Since then he is translating for the philosophy classes and the Buddhist Studies Summer course. He  is  also teaching in the Translator Training Program.  We wish him all the best for the futur...

Looking back at my almost five years at the Shedra, my overall impression is that it has been quite enjoyable: there is a warm atmosphere, deep emergence in Tibetan culture and language, interesting people from all over the world and so forth. This time I want to write about our Tibetan monastic teachers, simply referred to as Lopons. When I was studying in the Translator Training program, I had different Lopons instructors every month, so there was not really enough time to see their unique and special qualities. It took a few years of taking classes with one after another for me to come to how I feel now: an overwhelming sense of gratitude, appreciation and respect.  Lopon Shedrub Gyatso, Lopon Tsundru Sangpo, Lopon Karma Gyurmey, Lopon Lodro Rabsel, Lopon Urgyen Thenpel and Lopon Zopa Sangpo (left to right)     All of the Lopons have their own particular way of presenting the Dharma. Lodro Rabsel and Tsondru Sangpo have a more traditional styl...

A Few months have passed since Melanie Slomka, from Paris, completed the Translator Training Program at Rangjung Yeshe Institute.  When classes finished in May, she went straight back to Paris to meet her root guru, Sogyal Rinpoche and to spend some time with family and friends before going back to north India to start teaching westerners at a Monastery there. Melanie and her boyfriend then spent about 10 days learning how to make didgeridoos, one of Melanie’s interests. She says,  “I knew that the next 5 months I would be in a monastery, so I tried to enjoy my holidays as much as possible!”  Now, she has taken the step from student to teacher and is guiding a group of Westerners in colloquial Tibetan and translating philosophy teachings from a Khenpo into English. The program is located in Namdroling Monastery in south India and is run by Rigpa. She says that she thinks the Translator Training Program at Rangjung Yeshe Institute has given her the confidence, ...