We live in a world in which attention is a primary resource, a “pearl of great price”. It is our primary resource for the practice of dharma and for living an ethical and meaningful life. But it also has become a primary resource for toxic, extractive economical practices. Increasingly the global economy has shifted from […]
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RYI from a Distance
I won’t lie, every time the return to in-person classes gets delayed further I’m disappointed. I miss living in Nepal, I miss the Stūpa, I miss seeing everyone in class and talking in the hallways or at Utpala. But it’s not like I can do anything about it, so I’ve decided to accept it as a new […]
1. [A Whirlwind of Semester] This past semester has been very special in many ways. Having finished my first semester last year here at RYI, I was quite looking forward to forge deeper into the “torturing” yet enchanting Tibetan language. Everything was peaceful and on the right track before the reading week until the outbreak […]
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What does this mean?
During my time here at RYI, I began having a completely different experience to the Buddhism that I knew. Having grown up in a Buddhist family, I had some experience of Buddhist practice and culture, but had never fully immersed myself in any specific text where the Buddhist terminology is used. I had of course some idea of what they meant, but never […]
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Power of Dharma
Studying at RYI has been the most precious time of my life. Philosophy classes at RYI taught by learned Khenpos (holders of the high monastic degree) enriched my view of Mahayana Buddhism. Other classes on Buddhist Ethics, History and Culture, Buddhism and Modernity, the Fundamentalism of Buddhism, Methodology of Buddhist Studies, and so forth, instructed […]
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An Ode to a Lost Sailor
Hello how you doin? He asked Gulping on useless space Spinning in circles he stood In his abiding place. And while he stood We began to lose. So, Where do we go now? Asked the little fellow Standing by my knee, Also there were those Who asked how much the fee? Above all, and below […]
As we all know, there are very few places for lay students to observe, understand and experience the monastic way of study and practice, which is a sublime way to study Buddhism to intensify insight, advance spirituality and develop simplicity. The Center for Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute is one among those places. The […]
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‘dharma-bear’ (chos dred)
When we plunge ourselves day after day; month after month into the rigorous study of Dharma and its related skills (reading/speaking tibetan, sanskrit, ect.) in a challenging environment such at RYI; it becomes all too easy to forget the original motivations and intentions that initially inspired our decision to enter full-time and in-depth study of […]
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Progress Comes In Its Own Time
I am beginning to appreciate that progress comes in its own time. It seems, any result arises naturally, but only by following the effort that aspires for those results. The painting as a finished picture ripens through the efforts of brushstrokes and mixing, but the product is shaped and perfected as a fruition of time, […]
Where to start? Why can’t you make a dead man eat? I am not asking a question, definitely not, you are the one who is failing to answer it. Because the consciousness has gone out of it, isn’t it? Yeah. So much to say. *eating chocolate* The subjective experience of the consciousness has nothing to […]