RYI STUDENT BLOG

Every year, starting on the 8 th day of the 12 th lunar month in the Tibetan calendar—which usually falls in late January or early February—a nine-day ‘drubchen’ is performed at Nagi Gompa according to the Ngakso (Ocean of Amrita) sadhana belonging to the Chökling Tersar collection. These are the new terma texts discovered by the tertön, or "treasure revealer", Terchen Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa, a great Nyingma master of the 19th century. Some blog-readers may wonder: “What is Nagi Gompa? What is a drubchen?” Nagi Gompa is a beautiful nunnery located high above Kathmandu, lying in the midst of the jungles of the Shivapuri National Park.   Nagi is an hour’s drive by taxi or about three hours by foot from Boudhanath. To reach the nunnery, one can climb the pleasant path of the natural reserve or, if you prefer, taxi up on the bumpy unpaved road. If one decides to take a taxi up to the nunnery, one must officially enter the park by way of the big front gate, sign in ...

Last year, I was looking for a Guru Rinpoche statue to present to my lama and that's how I discovered about the complicated work of statue making. There is a long tradition of handicraft in Kathmandu valley. The Newar people are the holder of this tradition, even though nowadays, it tends to be villagers from other ethnical groups who come to Kathmandu, and do these kinds of demanding works. Good statues are completely handmade and no detail should be neglected, if we wish the statue to be a good support for practice.  There are four stages during the making-process. First, the statue is designed in wax and casted into copper. The next step is to clean, smoothen and carve it. At this important stage, all the details of the design and facial expression are finalized. This is maybe the most creative part. After polishing, the statue is gold or silver-plated, with or without oxidizing touch, depending on the desired style. The last crucial stage is to paint the face with gold powd...

On Wednesday evenings we meet up to meditate together for an hour and a half. The Tergar Boudha Meditation group is given on donation basis and open for all. As we put up posters for the group, quite a lot of people passing through Boudha see them and drop in. Some are coming to try meditation for the very first time! Others are more experienced meditation practitioners and might come regularly to the group and a few are Shedra students wanting a community to practice with.       I am now beginning my last semester in the BA program at RYI and looking back, it has been very valuable to have this weekly meditation group, connecting with other meditation practitioners and as a compliment to the studies at the Shedra. Being a Shedra-student can be a bit tiring and stressful at times, especially since it often feels like an endless stream of things to learn and analyse, with the profound philosophies such as Madhyamaka and Yogacara to get into, practicing tr...

Lopon Tokpa Tulku and Translator during Philosophy class at RYI Once upon a time I was listening to an extraordinary human being, an embodiment of wisdom, the master Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche who gave a lecture to Khenpos, Lopons and venerable monks of his monastic university Dzongsar Shedra, in India. Rinpoche started his talk by sharing that the purpose of undergoing such a training in the Buddhist view was not just to transform oneself  (as that would be to much selfish) but to help others, to share the Dharma and skills we have learned and trained ourselves in, with the world we live in. He said to the monks that even though they are supposed to have renounced the world they couldn’t escape from the “reality” surrounding them. A monastery does not survive without a certain kind of economy; financial means do not come without good relationships and positive exchanges with society (in other words he said the positive and true purpose of politics). Also, not taking ca...

Spending years in the school, I was roughly introduced about my own culture and religion by my teachers and elders. But still there were a lot of things that I didn’t know about Buddhism. Hence, after the completion of class 12, I took the opportunity to follow my interest and under the recommendation from one of my relatives, I came here to study at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute. Being part of the Shedra community for the last one year was truly enriching and experiencing moment. And I really have the feeling that learning in the Buddhist environment is the most innovative way for a Buddhist beginner to study. There is a natural flow of curiosity when the environment itself helps us to generate more seeds of encouragement to work harder. I have met different kinds of people in this course of time. They all are so nice and supportive. Every day in the Shedra was great joy learning and discussing with friends and teachers. Exploring thoughts and sharing suggestions with frie...

The Great Stupa of Boudhanath The first time I arrived at the Great Stupa of Boudhanath, I had heard of a legend… the legend of the poultry woman and her sons building a stupa and the pure aspiration to bring the Dharma to the barbarous lands of Tibet.  These three sons were later reborn as the King Trisong Deutson, Santarkshita, and Guru Padmasambhava.  It was due to their pure aspiration and great kindness that the Dharma flourished in Tibet and is still available for us to study today.  It was also due to the kindness of translators, risking their lives to travel from Tibet to India to study Sanskrit for many years in an unfamiliar land and return to translate the Dharma into their own language, Tibetan.  It is thanks to teachers, such as Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Rangjung Yeshe Institute, which provides a place for Westerners to do such a study of Buddhism and the Tibetan language.  We are given an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the...

The first time I came to Kathmandu one year ago, I was on my way back from China. At that time, my plan was to stay for a month in order to learn some Tibetan.  Here’s a lesson I learned quickly.  Plans change. My first impression of Boudhanath was that I could eat a variety of food for very low prices. After my time in China, I thought I could once more taste any European food I wanted. I settled down to eat at the Double Dorje ‘Restaurant’. After eating, I no longer knew why people called it restaurant. I later discovered that any place where you can have food is called restaurant in Kathmandu even if the food bears an uncommon resemblance to cardboard. Even so, my fatal error was choosing a mysterious drink called ‘lassi’. The consequences were frequent bathroom visits for a few days.  The silver lining was making the acquaintance of a Tibetan doctor named Dr. Sherab.  I soon felt better. After a few days of exploring the Boudhanath neighborhood, I disco...