Event Types
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Local Events
Public Talks
Public talks are the ideal opportunity for those who want to find out more about Buddhism, Dechen, and the Kagyu or Sakya traditions.
Introductory Classes
These are regular classes intended for people who are new to Buddhism or new to the Dechen Community and who wish to learn more. Classes last for about an hour and comprise meditation and fundamental instruction in the Buddhist teachings.
National Events
Textual Teachings
These are events where Lama Jampa Thaye gives a detailed exposition of a particular Buddhist text. Students normally take notes and are encouraged to follow up the teaching with individual or group study sessions. In Tibetan Buddhism, receiving such teachings and then studying them is considered an essential complement to meditation practice. Lama Jampa Thaye will bestow the traditional 'reading transmission' (Tib. lung) where appropriate. These events normally last a day with a break for lunch. Longer texts will be split over several days.
Initiations
These are events where the lama bestows a blessing that enables one to perform a particular meditation practice. Initiations are part of the vajrayana, the highest of the Three Vehicles or yanas of Buddhism and therefore are considered to be extremely serious and powerful. They are accompanied by certain commitments such as never to disparage the lama who bestowed initiation upon one. For this reason, it is considered essential for students to have completed the ceremony of going for refuge before receiving initiations. This can be done by arrangement if requested in advance. For more details on refuge and initiations, you can read Lama Jampa Thaye's explanation in Breath of the Dakinis.
Retreats and Courses
Mikyo Dorje Shedra
A shedra is a college of studies where the most extensive Buddhist texts are taught as part of a wide-ranging curriculum covering many aspects of Buddhist learning. The Mikyo Dorje Shedra was founded in 1994 and is named in honour of the supreme yogin and scholar, Karmapa Mikyo Dorje of the Karma Kagyu tradition and is dedicated to the exposition and study of the major treatises of the Karma Kagyu tradition. Running for several days at the end of every year, the shedra can be considered an extension of textual teachings.
Sakya Summer School
This biennial event takes place at Dechen's Sakya retreat centre, Chang Lo Chen, in the Dordogne region of the south of France. Like the Mikyo Dorje Shedra, this is an event spanning several days where Lama Jampa Thaye bestows the more extensive Buddhist texts. The teaching is followed by a week of meditation practice.
Retreats
These are opportunities to deepen one's meditation experience in a calm and relaxing environment among other Buddhists. Retreats normally comprise three or four meditation sessions each day and have quite strict rules of conduct.
