Over 70 members of the Dechen and other sanghas attended the teaching week at Dechen Summer School this year. For the first three days Lama Jampa taught the third and final part of Sonam Tsemo’s ‘General Presentation of the Tantra Sets’, one of the most important Sakya teachings about Vajrayana. Composed by the second of the five great Sakya Masters, Sonam Tsemo, this work is an extensive explanation of the nature and characteristics of the different categories of tantra as well as of the relationship between the tantras and the sutras. The text constitutes one of the major works studied in the Sakya shedra (college of studies) within the Dechen Community.
Following this Lama Jampa gave the initiation of Sakya Pandita before going on to give two full days of teachings on the ‘Nectar of the Fortunate’. This text by the great Ngawang Legpa teaches us how to meditate on the profound view known as ‘the inseparability of samsara and nirvana’, the indispensable basis for Vajrayana.
In addition to the adult members of the sangha this year saw a record 15 children attending the teachings. This is great news for the future of Buddhism in the West and we hope that they will all continue to study and practice the dharma at Sakya Changlochen and elsewhere throughout their lives.