Monday, September 01, 2008

Fall Semester Classes Begin

On September 1 the fall semester at Rangjung Yeshe Institute began. This year 30 new students from around the world are joining the program for a total of 68 students attending classes at the Institute.

The classical texts that are offered this fall are The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva and Ornament of the Mahayana Sutras by Asanga and Maitreya using the commentaries of Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham.


In an exciting development, as the senior students develop their proficiency in Tibetan, an increasing number of classes are being offered where the students study philosophy directly in Tibetan from Khenpos and Lamas. This semester four such classes are taught only in Tibetan for students from our third and fourth year:

1) Kun bzang bla ma'i zhal lung (Words of My Perfect Teacher)
2) bShes-pa’i springs-yig (Letter to a Friend)
3) Spyod ‘jug sgom rim (Meditation on the Way of a Bodhisattva)
4) Lha rdzas me tog phreng wa (The Divine Flower Garland)

Moreover, this year RYI is honored to host philosophy courses with two distinguished guest lecturers. Dr. John Dunne from Emory University will be teaching a course in the philosophy of the great Buddhist thinker Dharmakirti and Dr. Klaus Dieter Mathes from University of Hamburg will teach a research course on Mahamudra and readings in Sanskrit for the MA students.

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