After we graduate from shedra we serve the lineage for three years. This is my third year. I haven’t started teaching the texts I’ve been assigned, so I have some time to get ready (thank Buddha!). Last year I was asked to teach Uttaratantra. Something I found phenomenally useful was listening to and transcribing Khen… Continue reading A restless ramble about writing
I wrote my last shedra exam on December 26th. My original plan was to travel to Bodhgaya with my classmates, celebrate our graduation and make prayers for world peace at the Nyingma Monlam Chenmo. That’s the thing about plans, I guess, sometimes karma takes us in another direction. On December 28th, I was asked to… Continue reading Life after graduation
I don’t think the world will end on December 21st, 2012. That being said, I haven’t posted on this blog of mine for… oh dear, eight months! So, taking the possible end of the world as a lame excuse, here we are: This has been a weird year. I found out early on that I… Continue reading Just in case the world does end…
Someday soon, a friend of mine will become a nun. Meanwhile, in the last year, one monk friend disrobed, another nun friend also disrobed, and a certain nun who I never met not only disrobed but composed and publicized a scathing letter about what she thinks is wrong with the whole system of monasticism and… Continue reading Why do people quit?
While posting photos is something I intend to continue with, I thought I had better write a little something. Back in December I managed to get through yet another year’s final exams. It was, as always, a huge challenge and probably my most productive time of year. My subjects this year were: Key to the… Continue reading Study, practice, and my eighth year.
Here is something that I’ve been thinking about lately: There are no other international students studying in our shedra program. (shedra, for those of you just tuning in, is what we call our college of Buddhist philosophy) Usually, every year or so, I get a query about studying here at Namdroling. Not this year. Nonetheless,… Continue reading Westerners in shedra – where are you guys?
My fellow Western monastics sometimes mention criticism from their lay fellows, much of which is to the point of, “Monastics are unnecessary in the West.” Or, “Western Buddhism is lay Buddhism.” Now I could write about how the Sangha is four-fold, including monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen, but you’ve probably already heard about that. In… Continue reading The Relevance of Buddhist Monasticism
Now that I am in my eight year of a nine year program pretty much everyone is asking me: “What are you going to do next?” and “Are you going to be a Khenmo?” Let me tackle the second question first. I did mention the qualifications to become a Khenpo or Khenmo in a previous… Continue reading The future and other things which don’t yet exist
I was creative as a child. In Canada, the education system nurtures creativity; in grade school we had art class, language arts, and music. In high school I took drama class, choir, creative writing, art and photography. I always had ideas for stories and pictures popping into my head. Then I graduated from high school… Continue reading Creativity
In the Tibetan Buddhist community, both East and West, we love the idea that our lamas are perfect. We are eager to place our trust in masters who exist only to help us progress spiritually. The texts themselves insist that we must regard the spiritual master as a buddha. I agree that this view, combined… Continue reading The human lama
damchoe's nun sense 