Student unlocks mysteries of Norlins Tibetan Buddhist texts

[rug]

Eben Yonnetti, a master’s student in religious studies, focuses on the contemporary transmission and translation of Tibetan Buddhism. His primary research interests include the contemporary trans-national and trans-linguistic dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as translation and ritual studies more broadly. CU Boulder photo by Patrick Campbell.

By Kenna Bruner
Published: April 17, 2017

How did a fruit farmer’s son in New York’s Hudson Valley come to be a graduate student in University of Colorado Boulder’s Religious Studies Department, studying Tibetan Buddhist texts?

As an undergraduate at Siena College, Eben Yonnetti, on a whim, went on a study abroad trip to Nepal to study in the Tibetan and Himalayan Peoples program. Yonnetti lived with a Tibetan exile family who helped him assimilate among the people and learn about their religious community.

Yonnetti eventually became so engaged with Tibetans and Tibetan culture that he decided to study Tibetan language and religious practices and ideas. He is working on a graduate degree in religious studies with a specialization in Tibetan Buddhism—specifically, how Tibetan Buddhism has spread to different parts of the world in the past 50 years.

“I was a lost student floating around in a sea of ideas,” Yonnetti said. “A typical rebel without a cause. That experience started me off, and now here I am.”

http://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2017/04/17/student-unlocks-mysteries-norlins-tibetan-buddhist-texts

[Orrex]

1. Interesting

The article focuses a bit too much on the researcher and too little on the actual interesting subject IMO. I would rather have heard about these unlocked mysteries, as suggested by the article's title, than read about the guy who's unlocking them.

If I announced that I'd translated the Isthmian script, would you rather hear about the content of the script or about my years spent at Penn State?


Still, quite a tantalizing article.

[rug]

2. Me too, although this guy is interesting,

Quick question. My daughter was accepted to Penn State and she has until May 1 to answer. She's vacillating between there and Fordham. Would you, from your experience, say Penn State?

[Orrex]

3. It was years ago, so take it with a grain of a salt

I started at Altoona and finished at Main Campus. Overall I enjoyed it, but I wasn't a big participant in school activities, so part of what I liked was the ability to keep to myself (and my friends).

I know people who still live there, and the Paterno cult is going strong despite the Sandusky case. This can easily make some people uncomfortable.

The school itself is quite good over a range of subjects. What's your daughter hoping to study? Fordham is a very strong school, too, so it might depend on what each can offer her in terms of her major. Also a cost differential, I would guess.


Congratulations to her and best of luck!

[rug]

4. She wants to study neuroscience (shades of Sam Harris).

It may come down to money. Penn State's offering her some and Fordham's offering a lot. Either way there will still be about 15,000 out of pocket because of living on campus. Penn State has the major through the Biology Department and Fordham has an Integrative Neuroscience major with an emphasis on cell and molecular, cognitive, or systems and computational. I think she has a slight preference for Fordham because it's smaller and less than two hours from home. ( I didn't tell her it requires at least two theology classes, being Jesuit and all.)

Thanks for your input, Orrex.

[Orrex]

5. I like us better when we're not biting each others' heads off

[rug]

6. I'm still on the fence.

[Orrex]

7. Doh!