Candidates for advanced degrees at the High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China in Beijing debate Buddhist scripture on Friday with heated arguments. (Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily)
He noted that candidates will be challenged on five major Mahayana sutras-the classics of Tibetan Buddhism that every monk must study and understand-by senior monks from Buddhist temples or colleges from the Tibet autonomous region and the surrounding Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Gansu provinces.
Sherab Nyima, a 27-year-old Tho Ram Ba candidate at the college, said he was more nervous than he expected as he prepared for the debating session.
Nyima became a monk in the Tibetan Bon region when he was 8 years old, and has been studying the five major Mahayana sutras since he was 16.