Buddhist Debate: Lay Practitioners vs. the Masters

As a Tibetan growing up in small town Canada, I was always interested in Tibetan Buddhism and spirituality. Like most Tibetans, my amala (mother) and pala (father) used one bedroom of our house as a chokgang (shrine room). But I never rigorously studied the dharma until last year when I joined a Tibetan Buddhist philosophy class at Gajang Buddhist Centre in Toronto. Some friends of mine had started attending the classes while I was working as a journalist in Winnipeg. When I came back to Toronto last year, I joined them and was immediately hooked. And after about eight months of weekly classes, our genla (teacher) Geshe Gedun Dhundop broached the idea of debating to our small sangha, one of the first public debates in North America to feature lay people.