News of His Holiness Sakya Trizin

His Holiness Sakya Trizin has just concluded a tour of North-Eastern India. His Holiness spent several days at the Sakya monastery in Kalimpong where he bestowed the initiations of Mahavairocana and Vajrapani. Following this His Holiness visited Sikkim for almost one month. He visited the Sakya monastery in Gangtok, Sikkim where He gave the initiation of Vajrayogini. He also visited and gave teachings at a number of Kagyu monasteries in Sikkim. His Holiness spent the last part of the tour in Darjeeling, returning to the phodrang on 16 November.

His Holiness travelled to Delhi on 26 November where He will attend a conference. Following this He will travel to Lumbini in Nepal for the Sakya Monlam which is scheduled to start at the beginning of December.

New Issue of Melody of Dharma (No. 7)

The latest issue of the Sakya magazine, Melody of Dharma, has been uploaded to the official website of His Holiness Sakya Trizin. The issue features, among other things, reports on the recent teaching activities of His Holiness and His son, His Eminence Ratna Vajra Rinpoche, which cover His Holiness's visit to our dharma Centre in Mexico and His Eminence's visits to a number of our dharma Centres in the UK and Germany.

Please click here to download the issue.

Karma Thinley Rinpoche visits London

On the weekend of 5 to 6 November Karma Thinley Rinpoche stopped over in London on his annual journey from Nepal to Canada having spent several months this year in Nepal and also visiting Tibet with his attendant, Kunga, during this time. Rinpoche was hosted in London by Lama Jampa Thaye and Dechen Dolma.

On the Saturday, Lama Jampa asked Rinpoche to bless members of the sangha who happened to be visiting London at that time. Rinpoche kindly agreed to Lama Jampa's request and also bestowed the reading transmission (lung) for his commentary on Nagarjuna's Friendly Letter. Before Rinpoche began the reading transmission, Lama Jampa offered Rinpoche a Mandal Tensum for Rinpoche's long life.

Rinpoche will now spend the winter in Canada before returning to Nepal in the spring.

Lama Jampa Thaye teaches in London, 5 November 2011

On Saturday, 5 November Lama Jampa Thaye taught a textual teaching and bestowed an initiation in London, hosted by Sakya Dechen Ling. In the morning Lama Jampa taught Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen's commentary on Parting From the Four Attachments (Zhenpa Zhidral) and in the afternoon bestowed the initiation of Manjushri.

The particular initiation of Manjushri which Lama Jampa bestowed confers the authority to practise the meditation based upon the famous ‘Ganglo-ma’ praise to the deity. This practice is especially helpful for those seeking to acquire authentic wisdom through study of the dharma. After giving the initiation Lama Jampa also transmitted the reading transmission (lung) for the sadhana associated with the initiation and gave a short overview of the practice.

Lama Jampa Thaye on the Tricycle blog

Lama Jampa Thaye's latest article for the Tricycle magazine blog is now available. Please click here to view the article, titled "The Vidyadhara Vow: Reading the Small Print of the Vajrayana".

Lama Jampa Thaye in Los Angeles

Lama Jampa Thaye visited Los Angeles to bestow a number of dharma teachings from 22 to 30 October. On 22 to 23 October, Lama Jampa bestowed teachings on the Madhyamaka View and the initiation of Manjushri at Sakya Samten Ling in Santa Monica.

On Wednesday, 26 October Lama Jampa's teaching programme continued with 'The Letter from the Heart' by Patrul Rinpoche at Kagyu Do-Nga Choling. The event was very well attended by people from several dharma groups in West LA, who listened attentively and asked many questions arising from key points in the text.

A few days later on Saturday, 29 October at Yeshe Nyingpo Lama Jampa taught an extensive overview of the Three sets of Vows, explaining the importance of vows on the different stages of the path. The teaching culminated with the Fourteen Root Downfalls by Sakya Pandita. The shrine room was filled with students from Yeshe Nyingpo and Sakya Samten Ling, as well as with new students who had attended Lama Jampa's previous teaching events that week. Many clarifying questions were made and several people stayed after the teaching to ask additional questions on practice in the Nyingma tradition,

Lama Jampa returned to London, England on Monday, 31 October and will bestow the Zhenpa Zhidral and the initiation of Orange Manjushri in London on 5 November.