A Week in the Life of an Exceptional Buddhist Master
Over the course of a week Lama Jampa gave three sets of teachings and a vajrayana initiation. He travelled from London to Renchen Ulm to give two days of teachings on buddha nature from the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. From there he went to the Dechen centre in Stuttgart where he gave a vajrayana initiation followed by teachings on karma from the text on the Three Visions by Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrup of the Sakya tradition. Finally he travelled to Bregenz in Austria to give mind training teachings at the Bodhi Path centre there.
Bodhi Path Centre, Renchen-Ulm
From Friday 14 to Sunday 16 September 2018 Lama Jampa continued the explanation of The Rays of the Stainless Vajra Moon at Bodhi Path Centre, Renchen-Ulm in South-West Germany. This important work about Shentong Madyamaka was composed by the 19th century master Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye. Based on the ‘second turning of the wheel’ teachings by Lord Buddha he shows the validity of the third turning as ultimate truth. It is explained that mind is empty of the adventitious impurities, so it is ‘empty of other’. However, it is not empty of the intrinsic luminous mind, buddha nature, the causal basis to becoming a full enlightened buddha who possesses the Dharmakaya.
Dechen Sakya Centre, Stuttgart
On the evening of Sunday 16 September Lama Jampa gave the initiation of White Sarasvati at Sakya Dechen Ling in Stuttgart. For the next two evenings he continued the teachings of the Three Visions composed by Ngorchen Konchog Lundrup. Lama Jampa explained the correct understanding of karma, the law of cause and effect. He made clear that we should understand the dependent arising of phenomena and pointed out that the effect is determined by many different causes and that karma should not be understood as operating in a simple, mechanical way.
On Tuesday 18 September members of the Sangha went on a sightseeing tour to the former monastery of Bebenhausen near Stuttgart, right after the reformation the buildings and land passed into the ownership of the Duke of Württemberg.
Bodhi Path Centre, Bregenz, Austria
On 19 and 20 September Lama visited the Bodhi Path Center in Bregenz, Austria, a small city just across the German border, located at the Lake of Constance. Lama Jampa there taught the Mind Training in Eight Verses, composed by Langri Thangpa. He told of how his first Tibetan Lama Karma Thinley Rinpoche, when he came to the West, had clear dreams about Atisha (the main source of the mind training traditions in Tibetan Buddhism), which showed the significance of these teachings (Tib. Lojong) especially for people in the West. Lama Jampa encouraged everybody to continue to study and to put this advice into practice.
