UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL COURSES:

Himalayan Languages

Buddhist Studies Courses 

Specialized Textual Studies

GRADUATE LEVEL COURSES:

MA in Buddhist Studies

MA in Translation, Textual Interpretation, and Philology

Note:

• OC – Oncampus Class, Traditional classes where students attend in person on campus.
• CC – Concurrent Class, Taught at the same time to both on‑campus and online students
• OL – Online Class, Classes conducted fully over the internet
• OL AS – Asynchronous online class, study online classes
• MC1 – Main Master Class for on-campus students
• MC2 – Main Master Class for online students
• L1 – Lecture class for on-campus students
• L2 – Lecture class for online students
• Rev1 – On-campus review class 
• Rev2 – Online review class 
• TR1 – On-campus traditional class (beginning and intermediate levels for Classical Tibetan and Sanskrit), focusing on terminology, pronunciation, and text reading
• TR2 – Online traditional class (beginning and intermediate levels for Classical Tibetan and Sanskrit), focusing on terminology, pronunciation, and text reading
• Boost Class 1 – On-campus small group practice session
• Boost Class 2 – Online small group practice session
• ALI1 – Assistant Language Instructor, one-on-one on-campus session
• ALI2 – Assistant Language Instructor, one-on-one online session
• History Class – History class for CLAN students
• Dharma ALI – One-on-one session for language practice and Dharma discussion
• Text Class 1 – Oncampus Text class of colloquial class

Profile

Daniel Patrick McNamara joined RYI as a researcher in 2018, but first connected with the school and its founder—Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche—in 2001. Daniel earned an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School and a PhD in West and South Asian Religions from Emory University. His doctoral dissertation—Nihilists and Noble Ones: Ratnākaraśānti’s Engagement with Nāgārjuna, Mādhyamikas, and the Mahāyāna in the Madhyamakālaṃkāravṛtti—examines the philosophy of the Indian Buddhist scholar-saint Ratnākaraśānti (c. 970-1040), particularly his critiques of Madhyamaka philosophy and his presentation of a single Mahāyāna view. Daniel’s research at RYI concerns the influence of Ratnākaraśānti’s philosophy in Tibet and the development of “other-emptiness” (gzhan stong) doctrines. 

Daniel has taught MA-level classes at the Candler School of Theology and BA classes Emory University; he has also taught on the Carleton-Antioch Buddhist Studies in Bodh Gaya Program. Subjects taught include: translation methodology, methodology of Buddhist Studies, Pramāṇa Theory, Madhyamaka Philosophy, Sanskrit, and classical Tibetan. 

Select Publications

Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. Rainfall of Blessing Amṛta: An Homage to the Life and Liberation of Jetsun Dorje Pagmo Combined with an Aspiration for the Stages of the Path. rje btsun rdo rje phag mo’i rnam thar gsol ’debs lam rim gyi smon lam dang bcas pa byin rlabs bdud rtsi’i char ’bebs. ed. Ryan Jones. Khyentse Vision Project, 2023. 

The King of Tantras, the Glorious Khasama. dpal nam mkha’ dang mnyam pa’i rgyud kyi  rgyal po, *Śrīkhasamatantrarāja. Ed. Andreas Doctor. Toh. 386. http://84000.co. 2022. 

Khenpo Appey Rinpoche. “The Passing of Enlightened Beings” and “The Seven-Branch Prayer.”  Words of a Gentle Sage, vol. 1. Kathmandu: Vajra Books, 2018. 

McNamara, Daniel. “When Madhyamaka is not the Middle Path: Ratnākaraśānti on Yogācāra, Nāgārjuna, and the Madhyamapratipad.” Journal for the International Association of Buddhist Studies 40, pp. 117-135, 2017. 

Select Conference Papers and Public Lectures: 

“How Deep Does the Rabbit Hole Go? Perspectives from Yogācāra and the Kālacakratantra on the Creation of Human Worlds.” Buddhism, Creativity, and Art: An International Conference. Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal. 28-30 April, 2023. 

“The Two Truths are Not Enough: Ratnākaraśānti’s Critique of Mādhyamikas.”  

“Yogācāra Themes in Tantric Literature: Hevajratantra ad 1.8.24-56.” American Academy of Religion (AAR) Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX,  20-23 November, 2021. 

“The Influence of the Laṅkāvatārasūtra on the Sākāra-Nirākāra Debate.” AAR Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, 17-20 November 2018. 

“Tukdam, an Anthropological Perspective: an Interview with Dr. Dylan Lott.” Public Lecture at the Rangung Yeshe Institute, May 2021 

“Buddhism and Philosophy, Buddhism as Philosophy: an Interview with Professor Jay Garfield.” Public Lecture at the Rangung Yeshe Institute, March 2021 

“Exploring a 17^th-century thangka of Cakrasaṃvara.” Public Lecture at the Carlos Art Museum at Emory University. April 2016. 

“An Inverted Apocalypse: Buddhist and Shi’a Narratives of a Righteous, World-Ending War.”  University of Wisconsin-Madison Annual Conference on South Asia, October 2012.  

“Phenomenology, Reductionism, and the Academic Study of Buddhism.” Public Lecture at Mahidol University, Bangkok, March 2012. 

“On the Status of the Trisvabhāvanirdeśa in Contemporary Conceptions of Yogācāra Thought.”  AAR Annual Meeting.  Atlanta, GA. 30 October-1 November, 2010. 

Profile

John Makransky, PhD, has been Associate Professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology at Boston College, Senior Academic Advisor for Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Centre of Buddhist Studies at Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Nepal, president of the Society of Buddhist-Christian studies, and Fellow of the Mind and Life Institute.

John’s academic writings focus on connections between devotion, compassion, and wisdom in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, on adapting Buddhist practices to meet contemporary minds, and on theoretical issues in interfaith learning. In the 1990s, John was one of the leaders of a scholarly movement in the American Academy of Religion to establish a unit dedicated to Buddhist Critical-Constructive Reflection (“Buddhist Theology”). John has also developed the Sustainable Compassion Training model of contemplative practice (SCT) to help modern Buddhists, people of diverse faiths, and those in caring roles and professions generate a more sustaining, inclusive and unconditional power of compassion and awareness to support their lives and work (https://sustainablecompassion.org). 

Select publications

Books: 

Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1997).  Historical and critical text analysis of Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Perfection of Wisdom literature as basis for Buddhist reflection on the nature of Buddhahood—the kinds of awareness, qualities and activities that constitute enlightenment as understood in diverse Indo-Tibetan traditions. 

Buddhist Theology: Critical Reflections by Contemporary Buddhist Scholars (Routledge-Curzon: Critical Studies in Buddhism, 2000), co-edited with Roger Jackson.  Anthology of articles by scholars trained in Buddhist traditions, to explore what Buddhism can learn from modern academic findings and what the modern world can learn from Buddhism.   

Awakening Through Love — Unveiling Your Deepest Goodness (Boston: Wisdom Publications 2007).  Seeks to make newly accessible the principles and practices of devotion, love, compassion and wisdom from Tibetan Buddhism for modern Buddhists, deep inter-faith learning, and for people in caring roles and professions.  

Articles and Chapters: 

“Compassion in Buddhist Psychology” in Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy, ed. by Christopher Germer and Ronald Siegel (New York: Guilford Press, 2012), 61-75.

“Buddhist Constructive Reflection Past and Present: Recurrent Reinterpretation in Meeting New Cultural Needs and Challenges,” Open Access, to be published by the European Academy of Religion in 2024.  

“Compassion and Skillful Means: Cultural Adaptation, Psychological Science, and Creative Responsiveness.” Co-authored with Paul Condon. Mindfulness Journal, March 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01866-y 

“Synergies of Devotion, Compassion and Wisdom in Śāntideva for Buddhists and Christians.” Buddhist-Christian Studies Journal Vol. 41, November 2021, pp. 169-176. 

“Sustainable Compassion Training: Integrating Meditation Theory with Psychological Science,” co-authored with Paul Condon. Frontiers in Psychology 11, September 2020. | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02249 

“Contrasting Tsongkhapa and Longchenpa:  Buddhist Diversity, Fractal Theory and Comparative Theology,” in New Paths for Interreligious Theology: Perry Schmidt-Leukel’s Fractal Interpretation of Religious Diversity, ed. by Allan Race and Paul Knitter (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2019).   

 “How Buddhist and Christian Liberation Epistemologies Should Inform and Correct Each Other,” Buddhist-Christian Studies Journal, Vol. 39, November 2019.

自生智佛学院简介 
自生智佛学院（Rangjung Yeshe Institute，下或简称RYI）由秋吉尼玛仁波切创立于1996年，旨在帮助全球的佛教修行者们深化其对于佛法的认知并提升其内在的修持。过去二十余载，学院在致力开展体系化教学的同时，也坚持为大众开设公共课程，以便在每一位众生的相续中播撒佛法的智慧甘霖。2001年起，RYI与加德满都大学开展了深入的合作，学院为加德满都大学的佛学分部提供教学并具资格授予佛学和相关专业的本科和研究生学位。RYI希望通过自身的努力能服务于坚持传统寺院体系的修行者以及现代的学院派学者，并成为两种体系合作与融合的典范。

愿景

自生智佛学院希望人们不论来自何处，有着什么样的背景的人们，只要有志于学习佛法，都能轻易地契入一个如理的佛教修持体系，进而以智慧和慈悲利益广大众。

使命

自生智佛学院希望秉持高标准、高质量的宗风，并以讲闻、翻译、著作、思辨、研究、修持等方式提供兼具传统与现代特色的体系化佛教课程。

课程

RYI有着系统的佛法教学体系并提供藏文、梵文、尼泊尔文等语言类课程。相关佛法课程在不失传统藏传佛教精髓的基础上，结合了当代佛学研究者们的视角。这些年来，教学地点位于尼泊尔加德满都夏蓉卡秀大佛塔边的噶宁谢珠林寺。在这里学生们也可以领略尼泊尔人民的热情好客以及尼泊尔怡人的自然风景，并结识来自全球的留学生们。
合作每一年，RYI都会迎接许多来自全球顶尖大学的留学生们。大多数的留学生都会在一、两个学期内，修得所需学分才返回他们的母校。其中也有一部分学生会将母校的学分转移至RYI，进入加德满都大学的大学体系。为了深入推进这项合作，RYI已经与相关院校达成正式的协议，并有着师资交换和合作研究项目。作为这项正式合作协议的一部分，RYI也允许学生们通过承认RYI学分的其他教学机构进行注册。如果您希望了解更多相关细节，请联系我们。

师资

RYI汇集了来自传统藏传佛教寺院体系的堪布、洛本，毕业自西方大学的教授、讲师，教书经验丰富的语言导师、学者，以及深谙藏英翻译的译师。每年，RYI都会聘请来自世界各地的大学讲师执教一学期或一年。RYI的教职员来自牛津、芝加哥、麦吉尔、拉瓦尔等知名学府。授课的堪布、洛本则来自桑耶益西佛学院和噶宁佛学院。在之前也曾聘请过来自哈弗大学、埃默里大学、洛桑大学、波士顿大学、维也纳大学、汉堡大学、麦吉尔大学等学府的教员或访问学者。RYI的执教团队致力于帮助学员们打下坚实的佛法知识及相关的语言基础。我们鼓励学生们在学习的过程中培养批判性、多角度、情境化的思维，并提升学术写作，以及分析问题的能力和技巧。

中文课程

本学院将于今秋开办中文课程，其中有藏文口语、古典藏文及佛学思想三门课。中文课程将于2022年6月11日（星期六）开始接受报名。欲知更多有关中文课程的详情，请电邮 chinese@ryi.org。

报名链接: https://bit.ly./Register4RYIChinese

报名截止日期：2022年7月31日 （TBC）