Teachings at Sakya Tsechen Thubten Ling, Richmond Canada

VISIT BY KHENPO NGAWANG DHAMCHOE
28 June – 3 August 2025

Khenpo Ngawang Dhamchoe was invited to teach at the Sakya Tsechen Thubten Ling Centre in Richmond, Canada by Her Eminence Jetsun Kushok Chimey Luding Rinpoche la over these past few months. Khenpo la graciously led Sangha through a White Tara Retreat, as well as offering teachings on “The Bodhisattva’s Way of Life” by the great scholar Shantideva. Khenpo la also held a Shamatha Weekend Retreat during his time there.
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The Centre referred to Khenpo la as a renowned scholar and practitioner, expressing how incredibly grateful and blessed they were for his profound wisdom and presence. The teachings were offered in person and on Zoom in English and Chinese translation.

Three Teachings this Summer with Khenpo Ngawang Dhamchoe

In July and August, we gathered at Sakya Tsechen Thubten Ling
a quiet brightening of the day, cushions like small islands shared in an island chain
As Khenpo led three teachings,
the White Tara retreat, the Shamatha Retreat,
and the Bodhisattva Way of Life teachings on patience and meditation. 

White Tara retreat
A lotus, a moon, a figure of brightness is
White Tara with seven eyes
not to scrutinize or criticize, but to witness what we hardly dare to hold.
Nectar poured through the crown; the body mended from within
We dedicated the sweetness to the long life of,
the teacher and guru, the flourishing of Dharma,
and the widening circle of beings.  
 
Shamatha retreat
We practiced building a shelter, a refuge for our attention
step by patient step with 
placement, continuous placement,
returning, close placement, taming, pacifying, fully pacifying,
to find single-pointedness, balanced ease,
a palace of steadiness in a stormy world.
When the mind scattered outward like startled birds, we softened.
When it sank like dark rainy weather, we brightened.
As the boat did not capsize or stall, our oars began working as one.   

Bodhisattva Way of Life teaching
We studied how anger destroys merit like fire in a dry field,
and how patience is strength, not surrender
We endure harm without returning it,
and accept suffering without despair,
to keep faith with the Dharma over years and decades.
From emptiness, compassion naturally appears
for the one who harms, for the one who is harmed,
Both are less solid than the story shouts.   
Then meditation is a vow to be loving and kind
With solitude not as exile but as clear space
The yoga of calm-abiding and insight
One river held in bodhicitta,
Our path is inspired to extend beyond the self.   
And when the teachings end, and when the doors closed each evening,
The evening light and the ocean scents reflect the teachings
be here, return, be kind, return,
until returning is no longer a journey but a home.
This was our summer’s practice, and its result,
a steadier presence, with sparks of awareness and insight,
and the quiet courage to keep returning, to keep opening.

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In summer’s calm at Tsechen Thubten Ling,
We sat on cushions, Khenpo pointed three ways
White Tara’s seven eyes, a watchful love,
Poured nectar through the crown to heal our ways.
To life we pledged, that Dharma’s bloom increase,
And vows grew broad to all who breathe and turn
In shamatha, we built a seat of peace,
From placement into pacifying, return.
The boat held true, our oars began as one.
As Shantideva warns, anger fuels the flame
From emptiness, compassion’s rivers run,
And patience stands, a strength that will not shame.
Be here, return, be kind, return again
Then home is presence, awake once again.
 
~ Poems composed by Gordon Grant inspired by teachings that Khenpo la gave this summer