RYI STUDENT BLOG

For my family back in the west, in their minds “living in Nepal and studying Buddhism” is defined as “studying this crazy ancient philosophy, under the guidance of elderly monks (who would never in their life eat meat) and practice kungfu – in Tibet”. A girl at work gently reminded me how Buddhists- especially the monks- do not eat meat . As great as it sounds, in reality as all of us who study at RYI know, this is really just not the case. Somehow for them ‘Ne paul ’ is a country very much off their mental radar. I am frequently asked by distant family members who have heard rumours of ‘someone in their family’ who lives in Nepal. “What’s it like living in Tibet?” they say. And once I finally convince them I actually live in Nepal, they ask where it is. It’s like when we hear names of countries such as Mali or Angola, we know they are in Africa, however many of us do not know exactly where. Once I explain it’s a tiny country, smaller than the UK, tucked nicely between India an...

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...

One of the best decisions I ever made was joining Rangjung Yeshe Institute (RYI).  It is indeed a great institute where one can have experience of both academic and  traditional teachings from the sophisticated masters. Precious teachings from  Lopens and Khenpos help surprisingly to overcome the stresses of our daily lives. When I first came to this institute, I felt very welcomed. Warm greetings from  RYI’s Staff made me feel myself very special! In fact, such warm greetings really  motivates student to study sincerely. From the very first orientation, I started  experiencing the great quality of education and the excitements that inspired me to  make commitment to study further from BA. Moreover, Students are given the  great opportunities to do pilgrimages, retreats and practice rituals which have  equally importance as with the theoretical and philosophical knowledge. One even  becomes blessed already under the guidance and p...

Goethe once wrote:  “Mountains are silent teachers that make taciturn students.”  I really like this sentence, because it's so true. Mountains have something fascinating about them, and I heard so many people say that it is almost impossible to not start thinking when you see those majestic, beautiful things. That mountains seem to be floating on clouds, as if not really real and without any contact to the ground, and also both so far away and very close at the same time. To me it is no wonder that people start believing in gods or the like, just looking at mountains. I guess Nepal with all it's mountains is basically predestined to spirituality, just because of having mountains. Right now it's Friday, I'm in Bandipur, one of my favorite places in Nepal, and enjoying the view (with mountains, of course). The philosophy class was cancelled (the Khenpos are on a short retreat with Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche), but I still feel like I'm getting a little class...

Among the philosophy classes at Rangjung Yeshe, I often like the Khenpo classes the most, and this year I have the opportunity to attend two of them. With these classes one gets to understand well the traditional perspective of the various topics of Buddhist philosophy, which can be not only very meaningful in themselves, but also necessary in order to really know what Buddhism is. There is no ‘a real Buddhism’ separate from its traditions, and whether ancient or not, other than knowing them, there is no study of Buddhism. Yet its topics are far from being easy, which combined with the structure of Sanskrit and Tibetan languages make the oral explanations from the Khenpos even more important, as they avoid both misunderstandings and non-understandings.  One of the texts we are studying, the 'Gateway to Knowledge' from Mipham Rinpoche, is regarded as a foundational text, dealing with Abhidharma material. At first one may think the foundation should be easy, but desp...

Last Fall in September 2011, I joined Rangjung Yeshe Institute for BA degree. In Spring, I went up to Pullahari Rigpe Dorje Institute to continue my third year. So, I could not study at RYI last Spring from January to March 2012. But this year from June to August 2012, I attended the summer course in Buddhist Studies.  Presently, I am in the second year of the BA and taking five courses this semester. Every morning from Monday to Friday 8:00am-9:00am I attend philosophy class of Thirty Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva Commentary by Chos Kyi Dragpa. Then alternately 9:15am-10:45am I attend History of Buddhism and Specialized Studies classes. Next 11:00 am -12:30 pm I attend Uttaratantra Sastra class Commentary by Jamgon Kongtrul Yonten Gyatso. Then I have lunch break and self study time for the rest of the day. On Monday and Thursday 4:00pm-5:30pm I attend Translation Project class in translating Uttaratantra Sastra Commentary by Gyu Mipham Rinpoche. As I have to write many academ...

Lopön Urgyen Tenpel studied for 10 years in the Sangye Yeshe Shedra at Ka Nying Shedrup Ling and is now one of the philosophy teachers at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute. This year he is teaching the Uttaratantra Shastra (Eng. Sublime Continuum) according to the commentary of Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye. The following is a short interview with him: Lopön Urgyen Tenpel  Tell me something about yourself? According to the Tibetan Calender I'm 30 years old, yet according to the western calender I'm not quite sure. I was born in Mugum, in north-west Nepal, which was part of Tibet before. Yet nowadays it's counted as part of Nepal. I have two brothers, one older and one younger as well as two younger sisters. My younger brother became a monk two years ago, also here at Ka Nying Shedrup Ling. When I was 13 years old my parents encouraged me to become a monk and I happily agreed. They then brought me here, where I was ordained at the end of 1995. My parents are students of...

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...

I never understood the value of learning valid cognition until taking John Dunne’s class on the Facets of Mindfulness this fall.  By observing the process through which our mind makes coherent the vast array of sensory information it receives, the negative emotions which form based upon our feelings about these sensory experiences lose their foothold.   By seeing through analysis that no two experiences can ever be the same, all the expectations of attachment and fears towards aversive experiences —which are based on comparison to “similar” experiences that caused such reactions in the past—no longer have a basis for arising.  All negative emotions necessarily rely on memory of the past and expectation for the future, thus learning to look at the present moment with more and more subtle levels of awareness yields mindstates that are more free and open to see our experience with less and less mental and emotional baggage attached. One example that John used in...

While studying Nāgārjuna one comes to the realization that the prasaṅga reasoning he used was  not only to refute the philosophical views that existed at his time, but to provide his readers with the tool to deconstruct any belief system or dogma they tend to grasp at spontaneously(the cause of suffering- second Noble truth ). Just after my final exam this semester, I had another great opportunity to face one aspect of the first Noble truth , the suffering of being sick, health issues that localize you with the walls of your room. It deconstructed immediately my grasping with the idea that since I am young I would not be sick, or I would not die. But when I delved deeper into this denial of the idea of being sick, or dying, I felt that there actually is a constant fear of being sick, dying, losing one’s existence, any moment, every moment. Because of that we conjure up this denial as a defense mechanism. When I got sick I asked Nāgārjuna for help. To my surprise he didn’t ...