December 9, 2018 6:07 pm
Published by Rachel Deeming
On Saturday 8 December, the Sakya Buddhist Centre’s traditional, vibrant shrine room was home to a wonderful evening of poetry and music by the acclaimed artist, Emily Maguire. This was the culminating event in Emily’s tour celebrating the publication of her third book, ‘Meditation Mind’, a collection of poems inspired by her Buddhist practice. Emily, performing on acoustic guitar and accompanied by her husband Christian Dunham on double-bass, moved, amused and captivated a sell-out audience, then took time to answer questions on her work, such as how she approaches song writing and what comes first – music or words?! Emily has been a student of Lama Jampa Thaye, the spiritual director of both the Centre and the Dechen community for many years. Proceeds from this gig will go towards supporting the work of Sakya Buddhist Centre Bristol. Everyone at Sakya Buddhist Centre Bristol extends heartfelt thanks to Emily for her support and wishes both her and Christian all success and happiness as they start the next chapter of their adventure in Australia in 2019. We’re already looking forward to hearing the new album when they return in 2020 so watch this space for details! To find out more about Emily’s work and to join her mailing list, visit https://emilymaguire.com/. You can also follow her on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/emily_maguire_music/.
October 22, 2018 1:04 am
Published by Rachel Deeming
A typically autumnal day on Saturday 6 October greeted over 100 people who came to hear Lama Jampa Thaye give teachings on Buddhism in Bristol. In the morning, Lama Jampa taught one of the most famous cycles of teachings in the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism entitled ‘Parting from the four attachments’. This text, explained via a short commentary by the Tibetan master Nubkyi Rigzin Drak, sets out the whole of the Buddhist path with its challenges and accompanying remedies. Lama Jampa outlined how texts such as these help us understand how the myriad teachings given by the Buddha support the development of wisdom and compassion on the journey to freedom from attachment. After this introduction, Lama Jampa went through the text, with its description of four increasingly subtle attachments and instructions on how to overcome them – from clinging to the things of this life, such as wishing for gain and wanting to avoid loss, to holding on to misunderstandings about the nature of reality itself. The afternoon continued the theme of wisdom and compassion, with the initiation of Chenrezik Mahamudra. This initiation bestows the authority to meditate on Chenrezik, the embodiment of compassionate energy, and on Mahamudra – the Great Seal – which is the true nature of mind. Sakya Buddhist Centre Bristol will welcome Lama Jampa back for more teachings in January 2019. For the full programme, take a look at the calendar here.
September 3, 2018 1:11 pm
Published by Rachel Deeming
In the idyllic surroundings of the Périgord noir, with its lush landscape and rich history, Lama Jampa Thaye gave the entire cycle of initiations of the 21 Taras from the 11th century Indian master, Atisha. This is the first time this series of initiations has been given in the West. Around 100 students travelled from countries as diverse as Mexico, the USA, Norway and the UK to our European retreat centre, Sakya Changlochen Ling, to receive Tara’s blessings. Included in the attendees were many children – from babes in arms to young adults – a positive sign for the future flourishing of Buddhism in the West. The nature of Tara The Buddha Tara is known as the mother of all the buddhas as her nature is primordial wisdom. Without this wisdom that cuts through self-clinging, we remain imprisoned in the cycle of birth and death. There are many stories of how Tara manifested, including that of Princess Jnanachandra who made a special vow to always appear in the form of a woman until samsara is emptied in order to help beings. In our time, she is renowned as the Tara who pacifies all fears, swift in giving protection to those in peril. The Taras in this cycle assist practitioners to overcome obstacles on the spiritual path, along with attracting good conditions for swifter achievement of liberation. Vajrayana – the golden roof These teachings are from the highest vehicle of Buddhist practice, the vajrayana. During the teachings, Lama Jampa reminded students of how it is important to continue to rely on the fundamental teachings, such as those on ethical behaviour and having the right motivation for practice, free of self interest, for the blessings to be received. These support the practice of Tara, just like foundations and walls support the golden…
January 23, 2018 10:08 pm
Published by Rachel Deeming
The first teachings of 2018 with Lama Jampa Thaye took place on 13 January hosted by Sakya Buddhist Centre Bristol. They included a thought-provoking text by Karma Thinley Rinpoche on the meeting of Buddhist and Western cosmology called 'The Telescope of Faith'.
January 26, 2017 6:21 pm
Published by Rachel Deeming
In our first major event of 2017, Lama Jampa continued his survey of the Buddhist philosophical schools in chapter 4 of his book, 'Rain of Clarity'. Over 130 people heard how the view of a permanent self is the root of suffering and delusion and actually there is nothing to fear in letting go of this idea as this solid, truly existent self was never there in the first place! We then continued our search for the self in all phenomena, using analytical techniques described by such great Indian masters as Chandrakirti.
April 30, 2016 7:58 pm
Published by Rachel Deeming
Come along to Sakya Buddhist Centre Bristol on Sunday 15 May for a free meditation day.
February 8, 2016 9:35 pm
Published by Rachel Deeming
Lama Jampa Thaye teaches the first instalment of 'Rain of Clarity' on the stages of the path in the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, 6 February, Bristol, UK.
November 1, 2015 4:05 pm
Published by Rachel Deeming
Starting Saturday 14 November at Sakya Buddhist Centre Bristol Wake up to the preciousness of each moment and start to let go of inessential things. Using a key Buddhist teaching as the basis, this Buddhist course will explore ideas such as the true value of life and the causes of happiness, both through discussion and with reference to our own experiences. The course takes place over four weeks and you can come along every week, or to as many individual sessions as you wish. Saturday mornings, 11.30am – 12.45pm 14 November – 5 December £5 (£3) per session Book included with course fee when attending whole course (usual price £4) Open to anyone wishing to find out more. The book we’ll be using is by Lama Jampa Thaye, a Western Buddhist master authorised to teach all aspects of the Buddhist path. For a taster of what we’ll be talking about, have a listen to this short clip from Lama Jampa’s public talk in Bath in 2014. [efsflexvideo type=”youtube” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjP_bUzBQzU” allowfullscreen=”yes” widescreen=”yes” width=”420″ height=”315″/]
