The entrance exam
The exam went quite well on Tuesday.
There were about 50 applicants for the same department where I applied to.
The written exam was held in one of the largest meditation rooms, with a huge bronze Buddha in the middle - it really made me feel relaxed and comfy. We started at 9 am sharp and had an hour to answer the fifteen questions of the test and write a max 2 pages long essay.
The test was a pleasant surprise - it was a multiple choice test about the history, the fundamental teachings and rules of buddhism, and also about some more specific ceremonial parts of the tradition. This latter one caused kind of a headache for majority of the people, I found out later after talking to some of the guys, as many lacked knowledge about the traditional theories and methods, applied in Vajrayana (tantra). I was lucky for having been taught these things by my lama, as beside the fact that our lineage originates back straight to Shakyamuni, it still applies the old traditional ceremonies and methods (btw, that's why some of the newer Hungarian communities are smiling about us and say that we are doing useless hocus-pocus only :) hehe )
Anyway, I finished with the test in 5 minutes, and I think I did 100% correct, the questions were so easy.
Then I could choose from among several subjects for the essay, and the two relevant ones for my application were "What do you think is the difference and common between eastern and western religious traditions and philosophy?" and "Why did the Buddha say that what we love, causes pain and suffering to us?"
My heart's content was to choose the first one as it was very much relevant to the subject of my prospective studies, but since I have no safe knowledge and a solid overview about western philosophy (yet), I thought it would be silly to choose it merely out of being interested in it. I'll know more about it if they accept me, so I chose the second one, which I was quite familiar with. Also, the proctor said I can choose any subject, irrespective of where I applied to.
So the essay was a good one again, I feel.
I finished with the written part in 30 minutes.
I had to return for the oral part at 14.00. The exam-team consisted of 3 people, a student-supervisor (my guy was someone from the Japanese Department), one faculty member of the College (in my case it was the pro-rector, a sinologist) and a guest professor (in my case he was a mathematician) Nice combination, isn't it? :)
They were a very nice delightful company, first they saw my weapons -as I planned to go to trainig after the exam, but later it turned out that I had to skip it-, and I had to talk about what kind of training it was and why I did not apply to Budo "Department" (well, cos they had only Aikido and karate, which I am not interested in). Then when I mentioned I was a member of the traditional Kagyu community, their eyes started to glow and asked all sorts of questions, like why I still was interested in other religions if I found the perfect path for myself. So I had to enlighten them about how I am really dealing with this question in contrary to how it might seem to be from outside :) They wanted to kind of "wring" or confuse me a bit but they did not manage to. I know exactly what I want, what I need, that's why I applied :) The whole conversation lasted for 20 minutes and it was very delightful and friendly.
The results will be announced early August, but I'll try to pull it out from them earlier as I'll be in Japan at that time and won't be able to arrange any paperwork if they accept me.
By the time I finished with the oral part, some guys (complete strangers to me) from the college prepared with some surprise. I've come to know after the morning written exam that a film screening would be held in the afternoon, some Spanish drama, and there was also a Japanese anime scheduled for the next day. Its title was "Grave of Fireflies", and I just released a silent sound of regret about how pity it was that I could not see that as I'd have to work the next day.
When I finished with the oral part, it turned out that the guys changed the screening schedule and were waiting for me to finish with the exam and watch the anime together in one of the classrooms. I was so stunned that I can't tell. It was very nice of them. :) They even made tea, served cookies and sandwiches, so it was a full luxury :) In return I did the dishes afterwards :)
The movie was a great one, very nice and very sad. I try to get it on DVD somehow.
So, it was the most pleasant and friendly entrance examination I've ever attended.
There were about 50 applicants for the same department where I applied to.
The written exam was held in one of the largest meditation rooms, with a huge bronze Buddha in the middle - it really made me feel relaxed and comfy. We started at 9 am sharp and had an hour to answer the fifteen questions of the test and write a max 2 pages long essay.
The test was a pleasant surprise - it was a multiple choice test about the history, the fundamental teachings and rules of buddhism, and also about some more specific ceremonial parts of the tradition. This latter one caused kind of a headache for majority of the people, I found out later after talking to some of the guys, as many lacked knowledge about the traditional theories and methods, applied in Vajrayana (tantra). I was lucky for having been taught these things by my lama, as beside the fact that our lineage originates back straight to Shakyamuni, it still applies the old traditional ceremonies and methods (btw, that's why some of the newer Hungarian communities are smiling about us and say that we are doing useless hocus-pocus only :) hehe )
Anyway, I finished with the test in 5 minutes, and I think I did 100% correct, the questions were so easy.
Then I could choose from among several subjects for the essay, and the two relevant ones for my application were "What do you think is the difference and common between eastern and western religious traditions and philosophy?" and "Why did the Buddha say that what we love, causes pain and suffering to us?"
My heart's content was to choose the first one as it was very much relevant to the subject of my prospective studies, but since I have no safe knowledge and a solid overview about western philosophy (yet), I thought it would be silly to choose it merely out of being interested in it. I'll know more about it if they accept me, so I chose the second one, which I was quite familiar with. Also, the proctor said I can choose any subject, irrespective of where I applied to.
So the essay was a good one again, I feel.
I finished with the written part in 30 minutes.
I had to return for the oral part at 14.00. The exam-team consisted of 3 people, a student-supervisor (my guy was someone from the Japanese Department), one faculty member of the College (in my case it was the pro-rector, a sinologist) and a guest professor (in my case he was a mathematician) Nice combination, isn't it? :)
They were a very nice delightful company, first they saw my weapons -as I planned to go to trainig after the exam, but later it turned out that I had to skip it-, and I had to talk about what kind of training it was and why I did not apply to Budo "Department" (well, cos they had only Aikido and karate, which I am not interested in). Then when I mentioned I was a member of the traditional Kagyu community, their eyes started to glow and asked all sorts of questions, like why I still was interested in other religions if I found the perfect path for myself. So I had to enlighten them about how I am really dealing with this question in contrary to how it might seem to be from outside :) They wanted to kind of "wring" or confuse me a bit but they did not manage to. I know exactly what I want, what I need, that's why I applied :) The whole conversation lasted for 20 minutes and it was very delightful and friendly.
The results will be announced early August, but I'll try to pull it out from them earlier as I'll be in Japan at that time and won't be able to arrange any paperwork if they accept me.
By the time I finished with the oral part, some guys (complete strangers to me) from the college prepared with some surprise. I've come to know after the morning written exam that a film screening would be held in the afternoon, some Spanish drama, and there was also a Japanese anime scheduled for the next day. Its title was "Grave of Fireflies", and I just released a silent sound of regret about how pity it was that I could not see that as I'd have to work the next day.
When I finished with the oral part, it turned out that the guys changed the screening schedule and were waiting for me to finish with the exam and watch the anime together in one of the classrooms. I was so stunned that I can't tell. It was very nice of them. :) They even made tea, served cookies and sandwiches, so it was a full luxury :) In return I did the dishes afterwards :)
The movie was a great one, very nice and very sad. I try to get it on DVD somehow.
So, it was the most pleasant and friendly entrance examination I've ever attended.
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