A flash of lightning on a dark night
News from the annual Dechen Summer Course in France at Sakya Changlochen Ling.
This summer, many places have seen fierce heat, parched fields and sudden, heavy bursts of rain. The wild and beautiful Dordogne in France is often witness to such dramatic changes, leading to vivid sunsets and misty dawns.
It was in this setting that Lama Jampa Thaye gave teachings on Shantideva’s classic guide to the Buddhist path, the Bodhicharyavatara or ‘Entering the Bodhisattva Conduct’.
Over the two weeks, people of all backgrounds and ages from the US, Mexico, Europe, the UK and Ireland encountered Shantideva’s beautiful and straight down the line poetry, taught with clarity, warmth and humour by Lama Jampa, relying on the structured and detailed commentary by Sakya master, Sonam Tsemo, translated by Adrian O’Sullivan.
Whether directly or indirectly, I should do nothing apart from benefitting beings.
Through the first seven chapters of this work, Shantideva guides travellers on the path from the first glimmers of bodhichitta, the thought of enlightenment focused on buddhahood for others, through renunciation and regret for unskilful actions, to joyful effort, the fourth of the Six Perfections, where we are inspired to engage in beneficial actions…
…like an elephant tormented by the midday sun plunging into a lake.
Lama Jampa also gave the vajrayana initiations of Manjushri and Chenrezik Mahamudra, whose practice formed a key aspect of the course, joining compassion with experiential wisdom.
Alongside the daily programme, there was time to chat over coffee (often kindly sponsored – much to the delight of those in need of mid morning caffeine!), play and enjoy music, thread mala beads and even to play with the odd stick or two! The dogs in residence joined in the fun too, once the weather was cooler.
Come heat, thunder, rain or shine, a fantastic team of volunteers made sure that the Centre was a comfortable and conducive place to study and practise.
Whilst the course is over for this year, this means we have less than a year to wait for the next one! You can enjoy a photo gallery as a reminder of this year’s course here.
In the meantime, for anyone wanting to deepen their understanding further, Dechen London are running study groups for anyone who has received part or all of Shantideva’s work – for more details, click here.