Visit by His Holiness the 42nd Sakya Trizin Ratna Vajra Rinpoche

Held at Kamalashila Tibetan Buddhist Centre

April 2019

Kamalashila Tibetan Buddhist Centre in Tilba warmly welcomed His Holiness the 42nd Sakya Trizin to lead a three-day White Tara Retreat. ​

Khenpo-la and around 80 people performed a welcoming ceremony for His Holiness, which included a Welcome to Country from the First Nations peoples of the land, the Djiringanj peoples of the Yuin Nation, by Gordon Campbell.

After the Welcome to Country by Gordon, a local Djiringanj man from the Yuin Nation, the President of Drogmi Buddhist Institute, Jack Heath formally welcomed His Holiness to Kamalashila and spoke of the benefits of the teachings and empowerments His Holiness would bestow over the following three days.

His Holiness then spoke about the significance of the namesake of the centre – Kamalashila, the renowned 8th century Buddhist master from Nalanda University, India – who journeyed to Tibet and the future seat of the Sakya order.

The teaching program commenced with an early Green Tara puja led by Khenpo-la, followed by a tremendous day of two Empowerments bestowed by His Holiness. The King Tradition Avalokiteshvara Empowerment was conducted in the morning and the Six Dome Uncommon White Tara Empowerment in the late afternoon.

His Holiness proceeded to give two teaching sessions for two days on the Uncommon White Tara. He explained the importance of the practice being an unbroken direct lineage traced back to the historical Shakyamuni Buddha in terms of authenticity. The Uncommon White Tara sadhana belongs to the Kriya class of tantra but sealed by higher tantra to perform different practices. His Holiness outlined the three parts of the sadhana practice (preliminaries, main practice and conclusion) and gave detailed guidance on the common and uncommon aspects.

At the end of the last teaching session, His Holiness bestowed the Vajrakilaya Torma Empowerment that has been in the Khon family lineage since around the 10th century, when directly received from Padmasambhava in Tibet!  

In addition to the sadhana teachings and empowerments over the three days, His Holiness shared many pithy and practical teachings for new and old practitioners alike. This included reminding us that we cannot hide any action of body, speech and mind from the Law of Karma (cause and effect), that our mindfulness and vigilance need to act as our teacher.

Over 60 people attended the complete teaching program in Tilba, as all the practitioners look forward to receiving teachings from His Holiness in the future.  

​We wished His Holiness the safest of travels back to India, and thanked Him for turning the Wheel of Dharma for all of us at Kamalashila Tibetan Buddhist Centre.