Many hands, much merit
Behind the scenes of this year’s Summer Course
Our international retreat centre, Sakya Changlochen Ling, is a beautiful and blessed place for study and practice. To help keep it that way, many people from across Dechen give their time, energy and expertise to put up marquees, prune trees, plant flowers, repair, make improvements, tidy and clean, as well as organising and overseeing more major works.
Before the close of 2025, building work started to deal with the unpredictable summer weather, with new drains in place to save both course attendees and cushions alike from a drenching. This paved the way for a brand new marquee, selected by David and Lesley, to give more space but also better protection from sun and rain. After a (very) roundabout journey from England to France, as well as a number of visits by Ed, Lesley, Simon and Barney, this marquee was assembled ahead of the course, with a brand new floor to complete the improvements.
Spring saw the usual flurry of activity, as Sakya Changlochen Ling was awakened from the quiet of winter. There was a lot of cleaning to do, and many people showed up to help – Tony and Annie, Denise and Dave, Jude, Liz; and then came Ed, Lesley and Ness with Keaton in tow, and Anne, Kirsten and Ben. Rachel, Simon and Isla came for a long weekend and worked very hard (Isla mainly studying for her year 10 exams!). Everyone went straight to work, cleaning, washing, planting, mowing and weeding, cooking and refreshing the whole place. And some delicious meals were cooked and enjoyed together in the well-equipped kitchen. The short Chenrezik puja took place daily in the shrine room with a longer one on Sundays. Laura joined us from Mexico to do a few days’ retreat in the retreat flat.
A particularly special highlight of this time was the visit to Sakya Changlochen Ling by Lama Jampa and Dechen Dolma. They had recently returned from Dhagpo Kundreul Ling in the Auvergne, where Lama-la had been teaching the last part of Sonam Tsemo’s ‘Tantra Sets’. Following the Chenrezik puja, Lama Jampa reflected on the importance of Changlochen for everyone in Dechen, what has been achieved over the last 30 years, and looked forward to the next chapter.
In Lama Jampa’s words,
“It is a wonderful legacy that David has left in the [physical and administrative] structures here…it’s great that you can step into that and continue it, and, of course, continue to develop it and expand from what has been made during these first 30 years … it’s a very, very important part of the spiritual curriculum for our people, for the Dechen Community… It’s been wonderful that we’ve managed it, and we continue to manage it for the future, as part of our contribution to the Dharma working in the West.”
After tea and coffee, we were delighted to be joined by Lama Jampa and Dechen Dolma for lunch, fitting 17 people into the Changlochen kitchen. Ness and Liz cooked a delicious meal for everyone, being helped by Lesley, Jude, Molly and Liz. The party included (almost!) everyone involved with the spring opening, along with local friends and residents Martine and Neville.
During the afternoon, Lama Jampa scattered David Armstrong’s ashes at the stupa site, which had been prepared for future building works a couple of years earlier.
We’re grateful to everyone for all the hard work and great effort to set Sakya Changlochen Ling up for the coming 2026 summer course, and for your continued support. This year posed some new challenges, without David at the helm; however with the Lama’s blessings and everyone’s efforts, we are optimistic that things will continue to go joyfully well.