This midsummer weekend, Lama Jampa visited Bristol to continue teaching Sakya Pandita’s pithy and clear ‘Reply to Nyimo Gomchen’ and give the initiation of Green Tara, (Shakyashribhadra tradition), followed by a questions and answers session on Sunday morning.
This was Part 2 in the series of teachings on Sakya Pandita’s text, with this section dealing with profound questions about the nature of mind and how authentic experience of the nature of reality can be achieved. Lama Jampa also reminded students about how helpful this text is for Buddhist students today, 900 years after it was composed. Through his responses to the meditator Nyimo Gomchen, Sakya Pandita addresses many of the mistaken ideas about Buddhist practice which were around in the early years of Buddhism in Tibet, and can also be seen today in the West.
In the afternoon, as well as giving Refuge to new practitioners, Lama Jampa bestowed the initiation of Green Tara from the lineage of Indian master Shakyasrhibhadra, one of Sakya Pandita’s main teachers. Meditation on Green Tara is one of the most widely practised in Tibetan Buddhism. Known as ‘she who is swift to liberate’, this deity is the embodiment of the activity of all the buddhas and her initiation and meditation are especially effective means of awakening one’s capacity for enlightened compassion.
Sunday morning saw some more profound questions, this time in the setting of the Sakya Buddhist Centre shrine room. Students asked about topics ranging from the nature of emptiness to how to practise dharma in the context of work and family life. Around 50 people had the opportunity to hear Lama Jampa answer each with skill, clarity and compassion, with some laughter too at times.
The answers will be made available more widely online in the near future – follow Lama Jampa on Facebook to learn more. To keep up to date with Sakya Buddhist Centre events, you can also find us on Sakya Buddhist Centre Facebook.