Spring is here again, and with it the sun has returned to Scandinavia. The nature is changing color from its brown-grey nakedness into lush green, and flowers are springing forth everywhere. When Summer slowly is closing in, one year has almost passed since I started my studies at the one-year program of oral translation at Rangjung Yeshe. 

I ask myself what I will remember from this past year and a smile goes through my mind. There are so many memorable moments. I will remember all my fellow students, and how greatly connected I feel to all of them, although I have never meet them “in real life”. 

I will remember all the time I have spent memorizing words, reading texts, preparing for translation, and listening to teachings. There have been both frustration and immense joy during this year. But mainly, I will remember how when I study Tibetan, especially the Dharma languish, it feels like my whole body is being filled with nectar. This is not anything I tell people in general, except for now, when its written down here for anyone to read, ha, ha!  

I feel that the Tibetan languish is so rich and the meaning of the words are so vast. To put down a lot of effort into trying to understand their meaning, struggling with it, and then suddenly understand, that feeling is immense. I can feel my whole body being filled with joy, and the best way to illustrate it is that you are filled with clear and brightly shining nectarlike light.  

When I think about that these words, that I am reading, was written down by great masters, whose sole purpose was to benefit beings through those teachings, then it is such a blessing to receive them, and being able to do it directly in Tibetan. That makes all efforts that I have put down into trying to learn the languish, actually for several times, before I made a commitment to myself to not give up until I understood, so much worth it.  

So, one year have passed, but I will continue. I do not think there will ever come a time when I feel there is no more need to study, because these studies which fill my whole being with light, are so much more than just knowing words and learning a languish. 

Johanna Joergensen, TTP student 2022.