After studying for five years, we reached a certain level where we had to debate in the large hall for our exams. I had to do this twice during my studies at Sera Je. The first time was in 1985, I think, and again in 1996. Usually, certain topics were chosen for the exam and a group of 16 monks were selected from the group of 30 or so in that year. It was like a special debate attended by all the 3,000 monks in Sera Je. These 16 monks were ranked according to their exam results and the top scorer had to debate on the first day. The debates took place over four days in the morning and in the afternoon. Each debate lasted from 45 minutes to an hour.

I went first and my opponent was an African American. We debated well. My opponent didn’t stay on to become a geshe. I think he went back to America. After this big debate, we moved onto another level, which is called the surku class. Here we studied the first chapter of the Paramita texts. This chapter alone has many topics: dependent origination, form and formless concentrations, and Lama Tsong Khapa’s Essence of Eloquence, and so forth.

We had group debates. The students in the class were divided into two groups; each group had to debate with the other. The debate was also open to the floor but we could debate only on the topics discussed in class. All teachers taught the same topics so this wasn’t a problem. I found the group debates nerve-racking most of the time but I did my best to answer. Soon I became used to it. At first I didn’t want to stand up; I was nervous and my legs would tremble. My friends used to pull me up, so I had no choice! Even though I would always have the answer prepared in class, my voice used to shake and people would laugh.

We had no money, of course. When I first arrived in Sera Je, I didn’t even have a cushion. I couldn’t afford one so I used to sit on my sandals when we debated outside. I went to a shop to buy a cushion but it cost about 20 rupees. Somehow, I couldn’t buy one; I needed the money for tea! So I continued with the sandals for two to three months. At the beginning when I still wanted to go back to Kopan, I didn’t have the money to leave. Now when I think back, I am glad that I stayed at Sera Je. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had the chance to study and become a geshe.

Around 1982, about a year after I arrived at Sera Je, Merry Colony (who now works for FPMT International Office) started sponsoring me. I think Merry made the connection with me through Lama Zopa Rinpoche when she asked Rinpoche about sponsoring a monk or maybe Rinpoche asked her. I know at one time Lama Zopa Rinpoche came to Sera Je for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s teachings and Merry was there too. She continued to sponsor me until I completed my studies. At first, she used to send the money through Ven. Neil, who would then allocate an allowance for me. When I got older, Merry would send me the money directly.

Monastery food at that time was not great. There was a canteen but the choice was limited. We had rice and dhal. There were sand and white stones in the rice. Sometimes we’d get bread and potatoes for dinner. We all had to take turns to cook in the main kitchen for all 800-1,000 monks. Every four or five months, it would be your turn to cook and you had to help in the kitchen for one week.

We ate the food at the canteen for eight months. Then we bought a kerosene stove and a pot, and started to cook for ourselves. Some of you might remember this type of stove; you had to pump the stove to get it going.

Tuesday was a holiday. On that day, we would go to the river to do our washing and then to the market to buy vegetables, rice and dhal. We had to walk back and forth; we usually didn’t have enough money to get a trishaw.

Every year all the monks had to help out with harvesting the corn. We had two oxen and a plough. The monks used to put in the seeds and add the fertiliser in the drill. Once the plants started flowering, we’d repeat this process. We had to kneel down and put a handful of fertiliser on each stalk. We worked from 8.00am to 5.00pm and lunch was our only break. When the crops were ready for sale, we used to cut them by hand.

None of us ever ate the corn; the Tibetans say only horses eat corn! The monastery sold the corn and used the money to fund projects. If you didn’t do the work, you had to pay a fee of ten rupees. So more or less, you had to go and work. If you worked, you got five rupees a day. We would still go to debate, of course, after working in the fields all day. Nowadays monks don’t work in the fields.

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