Dear All,
Welcome to the April newsletter, kicking off with the good news that we are extending our opening hours! From 3rd May the Centre and the Tibetan Tearoom will be open on Fridays from 5.00 pm, with a Shinay meditation session at 7.00 pm.
Coming up this Sunday, 7th April, we have our monthly Vajrasattva Practice Day during which there will be three sessions, the first one starting at 10.30 am. You can take part in as many of the sessions you want, however once a session has started it isn't possible to enter the Shrine Room.
The Statue Filling weekend takes place on the 13th - 14th April. If you have a hollow Buddhist statue that you'd like to have filled with mantras and then blessed, you've only got a limited time to snap up a place as bookings close on the 7th April.to book your place on this weekend.
Following that, later on in April, Drukthar Gyal will be teaching Tibetan again. There will be three courses, catering to the differing levels: beginners; lower intermediate and intermediate. Check the website for full details.
A date for your diary might be the 8th-9th June when we have Khenpo Lekthong giving two days of teachings. More details about the teachings will be available closer to the time, but if you want to book your place in the meantime, just visit the website.
Our final article this month is a piece from our Community Blog and has a nice smiley picture of Kathy, one of the Centre's volunteers, sitting at the reception desk. Hailing from South Africa, Kathy now lives in the UK and you can read more about her amazing story at the end of this newsletter.
Best wishes,
David Bates
Newsletter Editor
Funeral Ceremony at KSDL for Venerable Lodro
On the 18th March we held a funeral ceremony at Kagyu Samye Dzong London for Venerable Lodro Thaye, who passed away peacefully at the age of 85.
Venerable Lodro Thaye lived with Trungpa Rinpoche and Akong Rinpoche during part of their time in Oxford when they first came to the West, and was the first western monk ordained by Trungpa Rinpoche. He lived with HH 16th Karmapa in Rumtek Monastery for several years alongside the four Regents and Lama Yeshe Rinpoche. Prayers have been requested by many of the great Masters, and Lama Yeshe Rinpoche sent a message from South Africa, wishing Lodro Thaye a happy journey to the Amitabha Purelands.
Lama Zangmo welcomed the guests and read out messages from friends. The funeral was attended by the Head of London Buddhist Vihara, Venerable Seelawimala, by Venerable Nagase Shonin from the London Peace Pagoda, Venerable Marita Anjusam from the Milton Keynes Peace Pagoda, Mr and Mrs Shakya, trustees of the Lumbini Nepalese Buddha Dharma Society and guests, friends and devotees. May he rest in peace.
It was the 5th funeral we have had in Samye Dzong London with the support of the KSDL Bardo Group, who joined in the prayers and kindly looked after the guests.
Statue Filling Weekend
We are offering an opportunity to have your precious statues filled and blessed by participating in a weekend of mantra rolling at Samye Dzong London on the 13th-14th April.
Mantra rolling is in preparation for a blessing ceremony in which the Buddhas are invited to become one with the statue, making it ready for use on a shrine.
The process involves cleaning the hollow statues inside, brushing the mantras with saffron water and rolling them tightly around incense sticks. The statues get filled with the appropriate mantras, and with other precious substances.
They will finally be blessed by Drupon Khen Rinpoche, Karma Lhabu, during his visit to Samye Dzong London in May.
To book your place, please visit the website.
Teachings by Drupon Khen Rinpoche Karma Lhabu in May
We are delighted that Drupon Khen Rinpoche, Karma Lhabu, will be giving three evenings of teachings at Kagyu Samye Dzong London, from 7.00 - 9.00 pm;
Tuesday 7th, The Link Between Study, Contemplation and Meditation,
Wednesday 8th & Thursday 9th of May, The Spiritual Song of Refuge by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye.
About Drupon Khen Rinpoche
Drupon Khen Rinpoche Karma Lhabu has received teachings from the revered Khenpo Jigme Puntsok Rinpoche, from the Dzogchen guardian, Khenpo Munsel, the highly learned Khenpo Pentse, Adzom Drukpa Rinpoche, the Milarepa-like Khenpo Choying Kunkhyab, Khenchen Tsultrim Lodro, Khenchen Chime Rigzin, Khenchen Sherab Zangpo, to name a few. You can find out more about Drupon Rinpoche and his activities on his website.
Drupon Khen Rinpoche will also be teaching at the UK Kagyu Monlam held in Samye Ling 11 - 18 May.
New Community Blog Post
I honestly do not know how I got so lucky in this lifetime! It as though this lifetime has been split into two, everything that happened before the dharma and everything that happened after.
I grew up in a religious Christian household and my father was a lay minister in the Anglican Church. My mother was always quite rebellious and naughty, but we were brought up going to church on a Sunday. I spent my teenage years and all the years in my twenties frustrated and chasing dreams, I never felt happy. It was until one day I walked into a room and met someone that I knew I had known in a previous life. I found that confusing because it did not fit in with my then religious outlook. So, I started searching and did a meditation course. That course changed things for me and I left my job working in a stressful emergency call centre and took 2 months off life. I went to live in Cape Town and returned to Johannesburg with no job and no where to live. Someone said that the Buddhist Centre in Kensington Johannesburg rented rooms out. So, I phoned them and went to meet up. And BAM, the course was set, and everything changed.....
The dharma changed me from a stressed out and hopeless youngster to a hopeful, living in the moment, joyful and free spirit. I was a volunteer and devotee at the Kensington and Randburg centres in South Africa from 2002 to 2018. In 2018 I immigrated to the UK and now I am lucky enough to extend my dharma family and be a volunteer in London Samye Dzong too. I still attend weekly online talks by Melanie Polatinsky who teaches for the Randburg Centre. I believe I will always be connected to my dharma family in South Africa. And Melanie will always be my dharma mama.
To read Kathy's full article, visit the Community Blog on the website.