Buddhist Christmas 2014

Merry Buddhist Christmas and a happy New Year 2015! 

Dear readers,

another year has passed. Christmas is just around the corner. Isn't our calender a wonderful tool that reminds us of impermanence. Time goes by so quickly. Without noticing, New Year 2015 is suddenly approaching. We have again become a year older. Of course, it shouldn't have come as a surprise, because the clock has been constantly ticking. Without noticing it, our life-span has  decreased with each moment that passed.

Therefore, we can also relate to big and joyful events like birthdays, New Year and Christmas as reminders of impermanence. So many extra-ordinary people have passed the last year. The loss of the great Tibetan Buddhist master Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche is still present in the minds of Tibetan Buddhists. Also numerous celebrities like Robin Williams, Shirley Temple, Peaches Geldof, Philipp Seymour Hoffman, Maximilian Schell, Eusébio, Mickey Rooney, James Garner and Lauren Bacall have left us forever this year. We may have had to mourn the demise of close ones, friends  and dharma brothers and sisters around us.  

Buddhist teachings tell us, that every being which has been born will surely die one day. If even the greatest among us are subjected to death, the Lord of Death will certainly not spare us either. For a practitioner, it is actually important to become aware of death. In the Parting from the Four Attachments, which have been the subject of the last post, it is said that "if one clings to this life, one isn’t a dharma practitioner". In  the context of these instructions, it is therefore explained that one should make an effort to develop an understanding of death and impermanence. This acts as a remedy for being too much involved with this life. 

Eight good reasons for engaging in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies in Vienna

Eight good reasons for engaging in

Tibetan and Buddhist Studies in Vienna - Buddhist Studies, Part 2

 

Introduction

This post will give you a good idea what it’s like to engage in Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna. In an earlier post on Buddhist Studies I tried to answer the question why one would at all engage in Buddhist Studies. So, in case you still take that into consideration, you might wonder what would be a good place for doing so. 

Suppose you want to dedicate yourself full-time to studies, you basically have two options: you can either enroll in a Buddhist Studies program at a Western university or enter a private institution run by a Buddhist society. Both approaches do have their pros and cons, but I am planning to dedicate a separate post to this subject at a later time.

ISTB, Vienna

Let’s say for the moment you consider studying at a Western university. There are of course a lot of Buddhist Studies programs worldwide to choose from, but only a few of them belong to the circle of leading institutions of the field. I will not make any judgment, stating which University belongs to this group and which doesn’t. Still, the program of the Institute for South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (ISTB) of the University of Vienna is certainly among them.

I have chosen to introduce this particular institute simply for the reason that I’ve spent a large part of my studies there. Therefore, I really do have an idea how the program is like. No doubt, other institutes might have an equally good offer, and I am very interested to learn about that.  

Please, feel free to share your own experiences, either about the program in Vienna or your own institute! You can do so by commenting at the end of this post, but you can also send me a short article about your institute by Email. I will do my best to publish it here in near future.

Eight good reasons for choosing Vienna

 

1. The location

If you have never visited Vienna before, you really should. It is for good reason that Mercer has ranked Vienna for the fourth time in a row as the number one most livable city in the world.  

Not much to add, it is really a wonderful place to be. You can get some impressions here. If you do not come here for your studies, you should at least come for some sight-seeing once. 

Buddhism is also a state-recognized religion in Austria which goes along with a lot of benefits. It for example means that schools are obliged to offer Buddhist religious classes upon demand. Hence, some students may already have a good knowledge of the subject prior to their studies.

Buddhist Christmas

What does Buddhism have to do with Christmas?

Not much of course. Nevertheless, while Christmas becomes more and more visible through all kinds of merchandise articles in Eastern countries, it still plays a very important role for Western Buddhists. Most grew up in an environment where Christmas was the major event of the year. Even if one had parents that were no regular churchgoers, they would not miss out the mass of Christmas eve.

Whether pious Christians like it or not, Christmas isn't any longer only a celebration for the religious in the West. It is an event that is celebrated by the masses regardless of its religious content. For many, it will certainly still be one of the religious highlights of the year, but for the growing non-religious mass, it is equally important as a general festival. Many of the European countries which have a purely Christian ancestry since centuries, many customs and traditions can't be separated anymore from their religious background. Whether one belongs to a specific creed or no, Christmas is certainly the most important event of the year in Europe.

No-one wants to miss out on the great celebration of love when family and friends come together or have to celebrate it alone. You bake Christmas cookies, sing Christmas songs , eat together, go to mass, and enjoy the special festive atmosphere. It is only natural that many Western Buddhists like to celebrate it as well, and why shouldn't they? Even many of my Muslim friends celebrate it.

Buddhist studies, Part 1 - Why Buddhist Studies?

Taking the decision to engage in Buddhist studies is a step with far-reaching consequences. If you happen to live in a Western country without a traditional Buddhist background, you should be prepared for the following question: 

“Buddhist studies – Wow! But what do you do with that once you are finished! Can you live from that”

You might want to have some good responses at hand, because you will be confronted with this question as soon as you inform your relatives and friends about your decision to engage in Buddhist studies. Here is my favorit suggestion:

“True. There is not much jobs out there for Buddhologists. Luckily, there isn’t that many of us either and so it is a fair match. “

The following answer is of course possible as well:

“There is no answer to this, because the question is already wrong. There is actually no end to Buddhist studies, because they go on and on.”

That is very true indeed. Buddhist studies are a life-long enterprise, but isn’t that great? Anyway, here’s another possible answer: