RYI STUDENT BLOG

In Bodhicharyavatara, Śāntideva mentions: Since I and other beings both, In wanting happiness, are equal and alike, ….. In fleeing suffering, are equal and alike, However, not knowing the causes of happiness and of suffering, all the sentient beings are wandering in Samsara since the beginningless time. I am not different either. I am one of them seeking happiness. During this journey towards what I want, I forgot to ask myself if what I want is what I actually need. I engaged in whatever activities craving for what I want. I found happiness in serving others but forgetting that even suffering does exist, I suffered and I did not know why. After all, what I need is the happiness that lasted forever. Not knowing what brings about such happiness, I was lost. What brings about that happiness then? Practicing DHARMA. What is DHARMA then? During an annual retreat for the locals in Pharping, His Holiness Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche gave the much n...

As it is already tradition in Kathmandu, in November of 2015, at Rangjung Yeshe Institute,  happened the 35 th   Annual Seminar, which's subject was “The Path to Enlightenment”.  During 12 days many activities were guided  by Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche and  Phakchok Rinpoche. Several teachings, practices and some empowerments were held. It was a time full of joy and great interest for everyone. The students of RYI were present in all activities and many students of the Rinpoches joined from different parts of the world, as they do every year. Some local Tibetan and Nepali practitioners also were present during the seminar and others came only to pay respect and devotion to their masters.    The institute and the Rinpoches created a real familiar and enjoyable environment. We had not only moments of practices and teachings, but also time to do any questions that could be important to us and even join lunch t...

This is the chorus of a song that was composed by two special friends, in honor of my first Buddhist master (Lama Padma Samten, the first lama that received ordination by Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche in Brazil). I can say to you all that I have this good fortune to meet many masters endowed with a great power:  the ability of completely to break our rigidity and fear by their compassionate laughter.  The great ability and wisdom to show us that the liberation of the pain and sorrow will not happen by the hardness in our eyes or cold smile. from left to right: Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo; Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche; Gyalwang Dukpa; Lama Padma Samten and H.H. the Dalai Lama Usually they are masters with great and daring aspirations. They have strong and inspiring presence. They take care us with profound loving-kindness and compassion. And when it is necessary, they also manifest through firm words that put our motivation in the right direction.     Here...

Namo Buddha, one of the most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sides in Nepal, was blessed by the Buddha out of his limitless compassion and generosity for sentient beings.   Since then the place has become a sanctuary for pilgrims. It is the greatest source of direct blessing from the Buddha, and the 'classroom' where still anyone can learn the prowess of the Buddha in the course of saving countless ignorant beings from suffering.  Just visiting the cave where the Buddha performed the greatest act of human generosity the area, one is enfolded by the compassion of the Buddha. Spending a few days there, one is removed from afflictive state and levitated in the sphere of blithe. Under the great bless and vision of a Tibetan Bodhisattva, the place’s sanctifying potency has been enhanced, the actual words of the Buddha in thousands volumes are studied with the inspiration that had been planted there by the Buddha.  The learning center, with such a magnificent temp...

Sindhupalchowk  ‘’Mero gau maa jaane ho?’’  The only question I have been asked more times than this is  whether my hair is real or not.  ‘’Will you visit my village?’’ everyone asks after a short  conversation and getting to know each other.  Having grown up in Nairobi, the capital city of  my country, I had become accustomed to people having rather condescending views of the  more rural areas. I and a lot of my friends viewed them as boring places where life was  generally harder and, as such, most of my generation born and raised in Nairobi would not  enjoy trips to the villages where our respective tribes are concentrated.  Here in Nepal  though, I have encountered that more often than not, people take pride in their homelands  and villages, regardless of how simple or humble a background they may come from. It’s  quite a refreshing experience to say the least. It makes me wonder how people from the...

The feeling is indescribable;  I have never studied in a Shedra before. The  atmosphere is so welcoming at the Shedra , it feels like home.  This is my first formal education in Buddhism and I cannot think of a  better place than RYI.  The whole Shedra experience has been and is very over whelming.  Personally, I feel that the classes are not just targeted to readings and  writing but on how one must practice the path too. And that totally makes  sense. And I remember, Chokyi Nyima Rimpoche mentions that we  should be both a practitioner and a scholar.  The way of the Bodhisattva text is very profound  and I feel everyone  must learn this text. The lessons in class help those who practice. As we  learn more and more, I am more aware about my intentions and actions.  Not that I was not aware of them before, but now I am more aware on  the importance of the aspirations, dedications , etc....

Chö kyi Nyima Rinpoche urges us to become scholar-practitioners. At the same time, Rinpoche and other lamas, khenpos, lop ö ns and the texts themselves often warn us against becoming merely “dry scholars.” The tri-fold approach to studying philosophy that is urged upon as at RYI—listening, contemplating, and meditating—is precisely a method to bring vitality to study, to make it into lived experience. One of the texts that we study is Ju Mipham Rinpoche’s Gateway to Knowledge . It is easy enough to imagine that this compendium of abhidharma, tightly packed with taxonomies, categories and lists, would be a dry philosophical text. As a phenomenology of all that appears and all that we experience, however, I find the more I study it, the more I think about it, the more it is on my mind, then the more the text comes alive and presents itself in life, as life, as if I can read it there everyday, everywhere. For example, suffering—the first noble truth (which Mipham details acc...