RYI STUDENT BLOG

Saturday morning, at Buddhanilkantha next to the 5m-long Sleeping Vishnu statue in a pond, under a colorful tent, a traditional Nepali wedding took place between my English friend from the summer course and his Nepali sweetheart. We were so excited that we would be invited to witness a traditional wedding ceremony, and I personally was joyful I was finally wearing my sari, which until then had been waiting two and a half years in my closet to be worn (Putting on a sari is hard work!). The mother of the bride welcomed us and we were seated in front of a smoky fire pit along with much burning of incense. The pit was totally encircled by orange flower garlands, and loads of trays with both small and large items that were part of the rituals…plenty of green leafed bowls, filled with different kinds of substances, colored powders, rice, oils, yogurt, flower petals, etc. were completing the altar scene. In contrast with the weddings in the West, the bride wore a red sari, and was ast...

Speaking from my personal perspective, the academic routine of a third-year student of 'Buddhist Studies with Himalayan Language' here in Kathmandu is greatly influenced by the papers that have to be written for the various courses that one is taking. As every subject is related to a classical Buddhist text, the research that has to be undertaken in order to exhaust the profound meanings of the texts, can completely be done on the basis of original Tibetan sources, like explanatory commentaries. The Institute was recently kindly gifted a digital collection of several thousand classical Tibetan texts by the renowned scholar Gene Smith. Since the texts were scanned and saved on a hard drive, students are now able to conveniently access an overwhelming digital library through an internal network. Time-taking research in several monasteries' libraries can thus be avoided since the new medium includes collections of various Buddhist sects and lineages, all systematically orde...

Devadatta was tapping his report on the computer, when Mahakashyapa leaned over his cubicle. A half-eaten jam doughnut in one hand, and sugar crumbs all over a grey cardigan. Devadatta shook his head and mumbled, “So where’s mine, Malley?” “Aaaw. Aahh. It couldn’t wait to be eaten.” Before Devadatta could reply, his phone rang. “Dave, it’s Nagy. I need you to check out a newbie on the Intertown Express tonight.” Mahakashyapa was still enjoying his jam doughnut as Devadatta rushed past. ------ He was looking blankly at the other passengers as the train sped past each stop. Or rather, his eyes were looking but his mind was elsewhere. To his young daughter waiting at home. And to his wife watching the 6:00 news on their kitchen TV. He wondered what’s for dinner tonight. He wondered what he’ll say to them. And he wondered what he’ll do tomorrow – now that the “9-to-5” routine doesn’t apply to him anymore. They have enough savings to live off for the moment, but they’ll have to be ...

Congratulations to Krishna Gopal Singh for successfully defending his MA thesis on November 5, 2008! Krishna's thesis was entitled:  "The Mind of Awakening - The Foundation of Mahāyāna Buddhism: An Annotated  Translation of the Cittotpāda Chapter of the Bodhisattvabhūmi".

A few weeks ago our first year class took a field trip to Kathmandu University and to Namo Buddha, a holy Buddhist pilgrimage site. They are both about two hours from Boudha. It was my first time to really see Nepal outside of Kathmandu. It is quite ugly and at the same time quite beautiful.  There is so much poverty but there is also so much beautiful landscape. We passed through so many different environments: small country towns, crowded markets, breathtaking countryside.  Kathmandu University is interesting because it is so small and modest but at the same time so ambitious, it really took a lot of struggle and work to get it to the modest capacity it is at now. The director gave us a talk and a tour and he seemed very enthusiastic about our program, and very genuine. He was educated partly in a monastery. After going to Kathmandu University we went to Namo Buddha, where there is a monastery and a stupa. It is supposedly the place where in a former life the Bu...

“This is Dorje. He’s a good friend of mine. He’s gonna be your host father… OK?”   After this short introduction by Gerry, I had to face my host parents for the first time, not speaking one word of Tibetan. To be perfectly honest, I knew the one phrase that everybody knows: Tashi delek!   But it wasn’t really sufficient to interact with them on an everyday basis! Therefore, during the first few weeks, body language and my host sister’s English helped me to get acclimated.  However, day by day (or maybe I should say month by month) my Tibetan was getting better, and the conversation became a little bit more interesting during dinner. Because I was taking Tibetan language classes at the Shedra all day, dinner was really the main time my host family and I spent together.  The family consisted of my host father, Dorje, my host mother, Tsering, my host sister, Tenzin, and me. Being able to talk about what I did during the day, or why I was going...

Congratulations to Sophie Greenewalt, who after only two years of Tibetan study is already translating for the Shedra! The she recently translated for a three week short course on The 37 Practices of the Bodhisattva taught by one of our monastery’s newer teachers, Lopon Drupgyu Tendar. In Sophie’s own words: 'I like to listen so I figured I would like translating. In the past three weeks I have learned that translating is more than just listening. I have never had to listen so carefully and I have never been responsible for someone's words in such an immediate way. Nor have I been put on the spot for such an extended period of time.  It's not easy. But, fortunately, I had this opportunity to practice and am slowly becoming accustomed to awkwardly molding Tibetan sentences into English in front of a room of staring people. One has to start somewhere and translating for a short course was a good place to start. I hope the Shedra will continue to provide opportunitie...