Visit of His Holiness Sakya Trizin to London, June 2010

This past week saw the ninth visit of His Holiness Sakya Trizin to our dharma community. His Holiness was hosted by Lama Jampa Thaye, Dechen Dolma and Sakya Dechen Ling for a total of five days in London. At the request of Lama Jampa Thaye, His Holiness bestowed the initiation of Shri Kalachakra and gave a public teaching on the Zhenpa Zhidral.

The visit began at the Sakya Dechen Ling centre in Notting Hill on Sunday, 13 June where His Holiness and entourage were received by Lama Jampa Thaye, Dechen Dolma and a number of sangha members. Lama Jampa offered His Holiness a mandal tensum for His long life. Due to an auspicious coincidence, the new 43 volume collection of Lamdre texts had arrived at the centre the previous day and His Holiness kindly acceeded to Lama Jampa's request that He bless the texts.

Later that same day the first public event of the visit took place in the spectacular surroundings of the Great Hall at Lincoln's Inn in Central London. His Holiness gave a peerless exposition of the Zhenpa Zhidral via Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen's commentary on the fundamental Sakya text, originally received by the Great Lama Sakyapa from the bodhisattva Manjushri.

Monday, 14 and Tuesday, 15 June saw His Holiness bestow the initiation of Shri Kalachakra at the Kensington Town Hall. Lama Jampa Thaye, Lama Ole Nydahl and a vast assembly of monks and nuns, laymen and women came together on this joyous occasion to receive the initiation. Sangha members came from a number of different dharma communities, including Sakya Thubten Ling, Sakya Ling, the Diamond Way, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition and Rigpa. The conclusion of the initiation saw Lampa Jampa give a short speech rejoicing in the visit of His Holiness and praying for His Holiness' long life.


The fourth day of the visit saw filming of a question and answer session with His Holiness at a recording studio in Notting Hill. His Holiness kindly answered a number of questions on dharma topics, including the bardo, His root lamas and the connections between the Nyingma and Sakya traditions. Footage of the question and answer session will be released shortly on a dedicated YouTube channel.

His Holiness' visit concluded on Thursday, 17 June. His Holiness and entourage flew on to the Netherlands, where He will visit Sakya Thegchen Ling and bestow the initiation and tri of White Tara.

The visit of His Holiness Sakya Trizin was an awesome reminder of the great blessings of our Gentle Lord, the greatest Vajrayana master alive today, and of the vitality of the glorious Sakya tradition.

Click here to register with the Dechen blog and receive updates on the soon to be released DVD of His Holiness' teaching at Lincoln's Inn and further pictures from the visit.

Buddhism for Modern Times

The Dechen blog is delighted to announce the release on DVD of Lama Jampa Thaye's recent public teaching, Buddhism for Modern Times, in Manchester at the Bridgewater Hall. The DVD features Lama Jampa giving a masterful exposition of the path of dharma practice as he highlights the timeless nature of the Buddha's teachings.

Please visit here to view a short clip taken from the DVD. To purchase a copy of the DVD please email ganesha@dechen.org.

His Holiness Sakya Trizin's previous visits to the Dechen Community: 2007

His Holiness's most recent visit to our dharma community came in 2007. His Holiness visited Sakya Thinley Rinchen Ling to bestow a series of teachings. His Holiness gave a public teaching on the first day, followed by the mandala initiation of Rigsum Gonpo and the initiation of 21 Taras from the lineage of Atisa.

At the conclusion of the teachings, His Holiness gave an inspiring discourse on the transmission of dharma to the West which we have extracted in full below.

'Buddhism came from India where all the past Buddhas, the present Buddha, and also the future Buddhas attained enlightenment; also all the great masters such as the 84 mahasiddhas came from India. From the great Indian masters the Tibetan translators learnt and then brought Buddhism to Tibet. Actually - although Buddhism spread to many countries - through the great blessings of the Indian masters as well as through the great hardships of all the Tibetan translators, only to Tibet was it possible to bring all the traditions such as the Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana and also all the other sciences.


When new teachings come there are always problems. In the beginning there were a lot of disturbances by the local Tibetan spirits. Then Guru Padmasambhava came and subdued all the evil ones and the good ones were converted into the Buddhist protectors and so Buddhism was established. Then again there came a degeneration and there were many mistakes. So great masters such as Palden Atisha came and made all the corrections and thus was established the pure Buddhist teachings. Not only through study but also through meditation many great masters accomplished realisation in all the Tibetan traditions. Even as late as the last century there are stories about some masters accomplishing the rainbow body. Now it is coming to the West and of course it's in the beginning stage; but nonetheless it is encouraging to see that so many people are seriously interested. At the same time, of course, there are some people who - mainly, I think, because of the lack of knowledge - are not practising so purely. But eventually I'm sure this will all be cleared and that Westerners will be able to carry on the teaching and establish it firmly and spread the Buddhist teachings.


I've known Lama Jampa Thaye for over 30 years and he has been for many years carrying on the teaching programme and translations as well as practising. I find that he's very traditional and the way that he presents the teachings is very authentic. He is very good and so we are all very happy about the way that the centres are functioning under him.

Whether one practises dharma or not is the individual's choice. The Buddha himself said that I have shown you the path of liberation but liberation actually depends on one's own efforts. So if one chooses to follow the Dharma path it is very important to do it in a pure way; not mixing it with different kinds of things, but practising traditionally and in an authentic way.


Dharma is very important, the most important thing not only for this life but for many lifetimes. So therefore I wish to appeal to all the students to follow the Dharma in a pure way.

Pure way means first of all, as the great master Vasabandhu said: based on sound moral conduct there is study, contemplation and meditation. This structure is I think common to all the Buddhist traditions. The first thing is to have good discipline. So you have all received the vows - the Pratimoksha, Mahayana and Mantrayana vows - keeping these is the good moral conduct. Then based on that, study. You have to study very carefully; without study one can't practise. So first you have to study, especially the important pith instructions. And then contemplate and analyse them. Then eventually, of course, the main purpose is to meditate. Through meditation one gains the result. And if we make the effort, there's no reason why we can't succeed because the earlier masters also in the beginning were ordinary persons like us, with obscurations and so on, but they practised dilligently and so they succeeded. So we also have the same teachings, the same methods and the same practices, so if we make the effort, there's no reason why we can't succeed.


Due to our own merits and prayers we have been able to obtain this precious human life, and not only a human life but all the prerequisites, all the facilities and all the opportunities to practise the precious Dharma. So while we have all this opportunity and while we are still young and healthy, it is very important not to waste it and to at least reach certain steps towards enlightenment. So if we could do this then of course our precious human life has been meaningful and important.

It has been very enjoyable here in Bristol and I'm very happy to meet so many of our Dharma brothers and sisters, so now as I conclude by programme here for the time being, I wish all of you complete success in your practice.'