Highlights from Lama Jampa Thaye’s Visits to Stuttgart, Freiburg, Basel, and Bodhi Path Renchen-Ulm

Stuttgart: Clarifying the Vajrayana & Bestowing Long Life: Three Days in Stuttgart

Lama Jampa’s Dharma program in Stuttgart was spread over three days.

On Friday evening the German language translation of his book Diamond Sky was presented, having been recently published by Rabsel Publications under the title Klare Weiten. Lama Jampa explained his thinking behind writing Diamond Sky, being to clarify the position of Vajrayana Buddhism within the spectrum of Dharma practice and teachings. He gave an introduction to the book and an overview of its contents.

On Saturday Lama Jampa taught the first part of Karma Thinley Rinpoche’s commentary on Geshe Chekawa’s seven points of mind training, entitled Dispelling the Darkness of Suffering.

On Sunday morning the Jenang permission initiation of the goddess of long life and supreme wisdom White Tara, from the tradition of the Indian master Shakya Shribadra, was kindly bestowed. Lama Jampa pointed out the necessity of possessing both long life and wisdom to be able to benefit beings, and similarly Dharma centres and groups need to be maintained and kept ‘alive’ to help propagate the teachings and to provide sangha support.

After lunch Lama Jampa led the final item in the program, being the practice of the sadhana of Guru Rinpoche together with the ganachakra tsog ritual called Shower of Blessings.

Freiburg & Basel: Across the Rhine: Presenting ‘Klare Weiten’ in Freiburg and Chenrezig Initiation in Basel

Traveling on from Stuttgart, Lama Jampa arrived to a warm reception at the Freiburg Kagyu centre on Monday afternoon, at the invitation of Peer, Dagmar and the team, following Lama-la's very first visit to the centre the previous autumn.The evening event was a public launch of the new German translation of Diamond Sky ('Klare Weiten') at a well-presented venue near to the Kagyu centre.

Lama-la started by addressing the reason for yet another book about Buddhism, surveying the over-saturation of the market in spiritual books, and concluding with irony that he had nothing original to say! Nonetheless, by adhering to the traditional systematic presentation of the Buddhist path, the book provides a concise yet comprehensive guide to the main features of the path of the three vehicles, explaining the main facets of each with reference to authentic lineage sources. Beat from Bodhipath Zurich translated Lama-la's words faithfully into German with clarity and technical accuracy. Then, following the Q&A from an engaged and enthusiastic audience, a mix of established practitioners and those curious to find out more, Lama-la kindly stayed on to sign copies of the books, before heading off to cross the Swiss border to Basel.

In Basel, the Bodhipath centre, which Lama Jampa had visited a couple of times before in years gone by, was now host for the special occasion of a vajrayana initiation, the bestowal of the permission-initiation (je-nang) of Chenrezig from the lineage of Bari Lotsawa and subsequent Sakya masters. There was just enough room to squeeze in the enthusiastic students from as far apart as Italy and Denmark, and Lama-la expressed his delight at the gathering of students from different dharma communities, including many from the Kagyu centre in nearby Freiburg. As he noted, the Tangton Gyalpo sadhana practice of Chenrezig (for which he also gave the lung) is commonly practiced across Bodhipath, Dhakpo Mandala and Dechen centres in near-identical format.

Lama-la thanked Tessie and the team for organizing the event and after fond farewells, it was time to move on, with a short break in Basel before the weekend teaching in Renchen Ulm, Germany.

Renchen-Ulm: Completing the Cycle: The 3rd Karmapa’s Teachings at Bodhi Path Renchen-Ulm

What a blessing that Lama Jampa Thaye granted us teachings here at the Bodhi Path Centre in Renchen-Ulm on the important work of the 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje ‘Discriminating ordinary Consciousness and Wisdom’.
At the request of Shamar Rinpoche and Jigme Rinpoche, Lama Jampa Thaye has been teaching on the Great Madhyamaka for around 10 years. This year, he has completed a multi-year cycle focusing on the above-mentioned text. The teachings were based on the detailed commentary written by Karma Thinley Rinpoche.
We are looking forward to next year, when Lama Jampa Thaye will continue his teachings on the 3rd Karmapa’s shastra ‘Nyingpo Tenpa’, the revealing of Buddha-Nature’.