Following a warm invitation from the local Bodhi Path centre, Lama Jampa arrived in Prague late in the evening on Thursday 2nd October to begin teachings on the Namshe Yeshe, Distinguishing Consciousness and Primordial Wisdom. The sunny autumnal weekend provided the opportunity for Lama Jampa to also enjoy the beauty of the Czech capital, which had offered a more wintery welcome during his previous visits.
This year marked the start of a new cycle of teachings on Zhentong Madhyamaka. The selected text The Shastra Distinguishing Consciousness and Primordial Wisdom (Namshe Yeshe) is an important work of Buddhist philosophy and practice authored by the renowned Buddhist master, the 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339). Lama Jampa's excellent teaching drew upon the commentary entitled The Lamp that Dispels Darkness, composed by his own master Karma Thinley Rinpoche.
The teachings began on the evening of Friday 7th October and were attended by members of Prague’s Bodhi Path sangha as well as some of Lama Jampa’s own students from the Dechen community.
Lama Jampa opened the teaching explaining the different approaches to understanding the nature of consciousness. Firstly, students heard about the non-buddhist (Tirthika) schools of tenets of ancient India, many of which are still present today. These include various types of theism and materialism.
Following the original text, Lama Jampa moved on to explain the progressively increasing level of sophistication of the view of the Buddhist schools of Vaibhashika, Sautantrika and Chittamatra.
The rest of the teaching was dedicated to a clear explanation of the profound Madhyamaka view, beyond all extremes. Having established the basis for understanding emptiness through the less sophisticated tenet systems, Lama Jampa went on to explain dependent origination. Particular attention was given to a brilliant clarification of the inseparability of emptiness and dependent origination in order to dispel any confusion.
At the end of the teaching, the grateful sangha offered Lama Jampa a collected total of 1500 long life prayers for his upcoming anniversary and expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to receive this teaching, enabling them to now study this important text.