Earlier this month Lama Jampa Thaye and Dechen Dolma travelled to Nepal to visit Karma Thinley Rinpoche. Rinpoche, grand master of both the Sakya and Karma Kagyu traditions, is the Lama with whom Lama Jampa took refuge in 1973. It is at Rinpoche’s request that Lama Jampa has since established the international network of Buddhist centres known as Dechen. The name Dechen means ‘great bliss’ and was given by Rinpoche following a dream.
On arrival, Lama Jampa and Dechen Dolma made the Tenzhug longlife offering to Karma Thinley Rinpoche. The three long life objects offered were a rupa of Namgylama for body, a text of the Medicine Buddha Sutra for speech, and a stupa for mind. In the final image you can see the objects placed on Rinpoche's shrine.
In between visits to Rinpoche, Lama Jampa and Dechen Dolma spent time circumambulating the great stupa of Boudhanath. They also found time to visit the ancient stupa at Namo Buddha, called Tamo Luchen in Tibetan. When Lord Buddha visited this place he explained that he himself, in a previous life, had been a prince of a local royal family and had given his body to a starving tigress and her hungry cubs there.
On another day they went to the holy sites of Pharping to the south of Kathmandu. The pictures show them outside the two caves there that are sacred to Guru Rinpoche - the Yanglesho cave and Asura cave - and the Vajrayogini Temple, a beautiful ancient Newar temple with links to the Pamtingpa brothers of the Naro Katchodma lineage.
Towards the end of the short stay in Nepal, Lama Jampa was invited to Sakya International Buddhist Institute, founded by Khenpo Appey Rinpoche in 2001.
Khenpo Jampa Losel hosted the visit. He gave Lama Jampa and Dechen Dolma a full tour of the institute, which houses two libraries. The picture shows them in front of the Manjusri shrine in one of the libraries
Khenpo Jampa Losel presented Lama Jampa with some of the publications produced by the institute. Lama Jampa presented some of the recent Dechen publications for the IBA library.
Khenpo Jampa Losel made a request to Lama Jampa to give teachings at the institute in the near future, which Lama Jampa accepted.
At the end of the visit Rinpoche offered farewell kadags to Lama Jampa and Dechen Dolma at their final meeting before departing back to London.
