RYI STUDENT BLOG

Muara Jambi – The Sources of Atisha’s Lojong                             I was born in Jambi, a town in Central Sumatra. Half hour from Jambi, there is the Muara Jambi Temple Compounds. Most people have heard of the Buddhist temple complexes in Indonesia, such as Borobudur, are located on the island of Java. Apparently, a lot of people do not know that in Sumatera island, precisely in Jambi, there is one of the largest Buddhist temple complexes in South East Asia – Muara Jambi Compounds. Compared to Borobudur, the Muara Jambi temple complex is much smaller and more dispersed. This makes it a bit challenging for visitors to see everything.                 The Muara Jambi Compound was believed by some archeologists to be a center of Buddhist studies and practices in the past. Moreov...

Basking Under the Dharma Sun "Buddhist Studies? Wow, so  interesting . Where?" starts the familiar drill. "In Nepal," I reply. "Oh!!.....where in Nepal?" "In Kathmandu." "Oh okay....is it in the main city of Kathmandu itself?" "Yes, but not in the city center. It's in a neighborhood called Boudha." "Ahh..alright. What did you say it was called?" "Rangjung Yeshe Institute." This is often followed by a head nod, an "Ahh, I see...," or the plain old awkward silence. Sometimes though, I am given an eager look anticipating a response, as if just uttering the name of the college was insufficient without an explanation of the intentions behind my decision. As I finish my semester of classes, this interrogative expression doesn't confound me as much as it did before moving to Kathmandu valley. Having to state the series of causes and conditions that contributed to me quitt...

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...

Come here and bring them over Kathmandu valley is certainly richly packed with holy places, and even the Boudhanath area alone, full of monasteries, lamas and holy objects as it is, would be a good destination for a potential pilgrim. If you’re anything like me, though, your family members (and many of your friends) might not be typical Buddhist pilgrims at all. They might not want to tour the four great places associated with Buddha’s life, or attend the Dalai Lama’s teachings, or even go to your local Buddhist center. However, if you are here, they might want to see how you’re doing—and, of course, tour around a little bit (how often do they go to Asia in general or Nepal in particular?) Don’t miss on that chance to hook them to something virtuous! Many of the objects in the Kathmandu valley have the reputation of “liberation upon seeing”. Tibetan Buddhists believe that seeing a holy stupa—or even a sticker with a mantra, for that matter—leaves a powerful imprint i...

Learning how to unlearn My father once told me that the majority of the people who seek spirituality have had some kind of bad experience or dissatisfaction in their dealings with the materialistic world. He further explained that out of this dissatisfaction, and in the hope of quenching their thirst of frustration, people embark on the search for a peace and happiness in the spiritual world which they could not find in the materialistic world. Unlike monks who start their spiritual path from childhood, it is very rare that an individual engages in spiritual path seriously, without any of such unsatisfying experiences, he added. He might well have been describing the path I’ve taken to date. A sense of dissatisfaction and frustration with the workings of this world made me think long and hard, and prompted my search for a spiritual oasis. I feel truly fortunate to have stumbled upon RYI. The first thing that struck me about RYI is that everybody looked so happy and bright...

Importance of talking it out I am a talkative person, who loves to chat and make new friends. I am someone who’s gifted with the power of creativity; poetry is my way of expressing my feelings, thoughts and so on. I may be short tempered but sadness rarely appears on my face. I am the outgoing member of my family and the social being. However, first slowly but then suddenly I found myself to be someone other than who I really am. I was utterly smashed by my inability to separate my personal and professional life. I would not speak. I could not write any poetry. I could not even wear a mask of superficial happiness. I preferred, sometimes even craved, isolation over socializing. As a non-western student in western academic education system, I started taking all the “knowledge” that I had learnt literally. With the sudden increase of assignments, papers, and tons of readings, the rate of critical analysis arose quickly. My otherwise carefree persona was completely su...

How Visitors make me feel at Home   When I was leaving two years ago for Nepal to study at RYI, many people at home were surprised about my choice. Sure, many heard of Nepal as a place where you can do trekking and have some adventures, but studying? That was not really a classic activity associated with Nepal, and especially since it hasn’t been long after the earthquake, people were quite skeptical. However, some of my friends were also excited to know somebody “out there” that they could eventually come and visit. “Yeah right”, I thought to myself. As if they would actually do that. Of course I was surprised then that just after studying at RYI for 2 months, one of my friends spontaneously decided to come to visit me and use the opportunity to do some trekking. That was the first visit and at the beginning I found it a bit strange to have people from my “old life” join me in my “new life” for a period of time. But since then, I have gotten quite used to having at leas...