Lama Jampa Thaye is a scholar and meditation master trained in the Sakya and Karma Kagyu traditions of Buddhism and authorized as a lama by his two masters, Karma Thinley Rinpoche and H.H. Sakya Trizin. Born in England in 1952, he became a student of Rinpoche at the age of 20 and met His Holiness a year later.

Karma Thinley Rinpoche bestowed upon him innumerable initiations, transmissions and instructions from the Kagyu, Sakya, Nyingma and Kadam traditions. In particular, he received from Rinpoche the famous collection of vajrayana initiations known as the One Hundred Sadhanas of Bari Lotsawa, the One Hundred Lojong Teachings, the complete cycle of Konchog Chindu and various works on Kagyu philosophy.

From H.H. Sakya Trizin, Lama Jampa has obtained many initiations and transmissions from all four sets of tantras, most notably the Thirteen Golden Dharmas, Lamdre Tsokshe, the esoteric teachings of Vajrayogini, the Jonang Transmission of the Eighty Four Mahasiddhas and the One Hundred Sadhanas of Narthang.

"One of the great Western dharma teachers is my dharma regent, Lama Jampa Thaye.
We have opened many dharma centres in Great Britain and he has been giving teachings all over Europe.
He is not only a great scholar, but also a great dharma practitioner."

Karma Thinley Rinpoche, Millennium Letter, Toronto 1999

A third master who was particularly important in Lama Jampa's education was Ngor Phende Shabdrung Rinpoche (b. 1934), from whom he received numerous initiations, textual transmissions and instructions, such as Vajrayogini, Vajrapani and White Tara.

Having completed the Kagyu Mahamudra preliminaries by 1975, Lama Jampa went on to complete the retreat of the development and completion stages of Konchog Chindu as well as the retreat of Amitabha. Over the following years he completed White Tara, Vajrayogini and Hevajra, the chief retreat practices of the Sakya tradition.

In 1977, Lama Jampa was appointed by Karma Thinley Rinpoche as his dharma-regent and subsequently in 1988, as a result of his completion of the necessary retreats and textual studies, he was given the authority to carry out the activities of a lama, such as bestowing vajrayana initiations. Since then he has travelled extensively giving teachings and initiation in many countries.

Lama Jampa Thaye is the author of various works including Garland of Gold (1990), Way of Tibetan Buddhism (2001) and Rain of Clarity (2006). His books and essays have been translated into German, Polish, Spanish and Bulgarian. He holds a doctorate from the University of Manchester for his work on Tibetan religious history and lectured for over twenty years at the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University. He edited and wrote the introduction for Karma Thinley Rinpoche's The History of the Sixteen Karmapas of Tibet (1980) and composed the entries on Tibetan religions for The Dictionary of Religions (1980).

In 1974 H.H. the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa appointed Lama Jampa to the Karma Kagyu Trust (UK) and in 1989 Dzokchen Ponlop Rinpoche requested him to serve on the editorial board of the Nalandakirti Journal of Rumtek Monastery. Lama Jampa regularly contributes articles to Tricycle magazine's on-line blog.

Lama Jampa Thaye lives in Bayswater, London with his family. He maintains a busy annual programme of teachings, initiations and personal interviews at the request of his students.

"I would like to commend Lama Jampa Thaye for the unflagging enthusiasm and effort
that he has devoted to the noble cause of making the dharma available to all those who have an interest in it,
and encourage him to continue his good works."

H.H. Sakya Trizin in his foreword to Rain of Clarity, March 2005