Students from Germany and Beyond
It was a sweltering hot weekend in South Germany, as students gathered not only from Stuttgart itself, but from around Germany and even from Switzerland and Czech Republic.
The Triple Vision: Bodhichitta
Lama Jampa continued the teaching on the Triple Vision, the first part of the Lamdre, in which the Common Mahayana path is set out in some detail in Konchog Lhundrup’s commentary. The section covered this time was primarily on the bodhichitta itself, having covered the preliminary contemplations on love and compassion. Lama emphasised that it is extremely important to have a precise understanding of the bodhichitta, its aspects and their definitions, as if one has only an approximate understanding one will later encounter doubts and lose one’s way. ‘You may know that Berlin is north from here, but if you do not have a detailed map, you will probably get lost somewhere around Hannover!’
Initiation of Ganapati
On the Sunday, Lama Jampa gave the initiation of the wealth deity, Ganapati, a god of the desire realm. Being under the control of Vajrapani, he is able to bestow wealth siddhis to practitioners. Lama concluded by remarking that it was auspicious for the Sakya centre in Stuttgart that people had gathered from so many different places for the occasion. He also thanked his translator Isa who had specially come from North Germany, and all the sangha in Stuttgart who had organised the event, most notably Wolfgang and Hilde.