RYI STUDENT BLOG

Pemba Prayag Sherpa Pemba Prayag Sherpa In one point of our life, we all will face death as death is inevitable. I’m sure we were all annoyed, disappointed and worried when someone explained us about death for the first time in our childhood. I always wondered why there is such phenomena called death! My earlier understanding of the death that it separates us from oneself (one’s body), parents, beloved ones and our belongings made me so sad and helpless, helpless in the sense that no one can bring the deceased back to life, and I acknowledged that. The tragedies of death of our beloved ones have caused us the great amount of grief and suffering. All of us have gone through this. Moreover, the news about the death tolls from accident, wars and so forth make us even more concerned and trigger us to imagine about the enormous suffering that deceased victims experiences in such incidents. Such experiences, undoubtedly bring us the fear about the death that one will have  to...

Truckin’ The last 100 days in Boudha, as I approach the end of my first semester of study at Rangjung Yeshe and first time in Nepal, remind me of that line from the Grateful Dead song Truckin’:   Sometimes the lights all shinin’ on me, other times I can barely see. But lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it’s been. Such an odd choice of adjectives and perhaps song lyrics isn’t to convey a lack of enjoyment or signal discontentment, don’t get me wrong. The learning has been tremendous. Just that lessons have coalesced, spontaneously and unexpectedly across my windshield. I hope I don’t miss my turning. I decided three years ago I wanted to study Buddhism and I still think my understanding of the subtle and profound Dharma is basic and contrived. But the last three months have felt like I’m heading somewhere. I can’t explain why, but it’s a feeling I have. A friend here at RYI, who’s wiser than I will ever be, ove...