Visit by His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin Gyana Vajra Rinpoche

HELD AT KAMALASHILA TIBETAN BUDDHIST CENTRE
31 March - 6 April 2026

His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin Gyana Vajra Rinpoche arrived At Kamalashila Tibetan Buddhist Centre on the afternoon of 31 March for his inaugural visit to our Centre. He was received by an extended gathering of sangha with a warm traditional Tibetan welcome ceremony. 

Upon arrival His Holiness blessed the shrine, an auspicious rice and tea offering was made to His Holiness and the gathered sangha. Khenpo Ngawang Dhamchoe made a mandala offering to His Holiness, followed by a speech by our Centre’s President Jack Heath welcoming His Holiness and entourage.

His Holiness was then invited to speak and talked about how pleased he was to be at Kamalashila in such a peaceful place to share the week of dharma together. He spoke warmly about Khenpo Ngawang Dhamchoe, and his respect for him as a teacher. 

The ceremony concluded with long-life prayers and dedications. We all felt so blessed to be in attendance. We all looked forward to the week ahead of precious teachings.

Day 1: The sangha was so fortunate on the first of five days of receiving empowerments and teachings from His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin, commencing with the Vajrakilaya Blessing. Firstly, President Jack welcomed His Holiness with a wonderful introduction giving us insight into how fortunate we are to have such an opportunity to be present with such a master. His Holiness started with the history of Prince Siddhartha and a teaching on the importance of understanding ‘why’ we practise Dharma and what it is that gets in our way of obtaining enlightenment, particularly our attachment to self and the way we differentiate between others, based on how they relate back to ourselves.

Day 2: The second day of empowerments and teachings with His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin consisted of the Vajrasattva empowerment in the morning and Medicine Buddha empowerment in the afternoon. His Holiness explained that each Buddha contains the qualities of all the Buddhas, hence when we’re doing one practice it includes all the Buddhas; they are not separate. His Holiness outlined that we must set the right motivation for practice (renunciation and bodhicitta) and Vajrasattva practitioners are brave because we are doing the practice for all (limitless) sentient beings. Following each empowerment, Khenpo la gave a brief explanation about the sadhana and key aspects of the visualisation.

Day 3: The third day of empowerments and teachings with His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin entailed the Green Tara empowerment in the morning followed the Four-armed Avalokiteshvara empowerment in the afternoon. His Holiness also shared many stories and practical advice about how to embed practice into our daily lives; he suggested we do everything in balance and fully see and accept the suffering that our samsaric minds create by believing our thoughts to be real. His Holiness explained that our everyday samsaric minds operate from either misunderstandings or a lack of understanding, with Vajrayana practice giving us a glimpse of what it is like to be enlightened. A birthday cake was also presented to His Holiness in celebration of his daughter’s 15th birthday, Jetsuma Ngawang Tsejin Lhamo.

Day 4: The fourth day of the empowerment and teaching program with His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin at Kamalashila Tibetan Buddhist Centre included the Shri Vajrapani Bhutadamara empowerment in the morning followed by the Vajrapani Bhutadamara Fire Puja in the afternoon. His Holiness explained that Vajrapani Bhutadamara clears aways obstacles for practice and is traditionally one of the first retreats conducted by the young monks and nuns. Although a wrathful looking deity, Vajrapani is filled with compassion. His Holiness reminded participants that all meditation practices must be approached with a gentle and relaxed mind because the harder you try, the harder it is to meditate; the less you want, the more you can receive. 

A Manjushri transmission was also given to incoming students of Drogmi Buddhist Institute’s three year Autumn Buddhist Philosophy Course which commenced in March and the new three year Shedra course (in-person and online) which is commencing in May, as well as all attendees for the empowerments on this day. Khenpo la concluded the day with a Q&A session covering aspects from all the empowerments from the last few days.

Day 5: On the fifth and final day of the empowerment and teaching program with His Holiness, the White Arya Tara empowerment was bestowed in the morning, followed by the Vajrakilaya torma blessing in the afternoon. His Holiness explained that the most important part of practice is renunciation because once we understand and accept the suffering of samsara, we feel lighter and our practice becomes easier. His Holiness conducted a 3.5-hour Mahakala puja along with a Tsok Offering, after the conclusion of the formal teaching program, to subdue obstacles for practitioners and then proceeded to bless the newly completed Tara gompa. 

It is very hard to sum up the experience over the last five days but everyone was touched by the humour, warmth and practical advice generously shared by His Holiness. It was an extraordinary experience.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin Gyana Vajra Rinpoche for visiting Kamalashila for the past six days for a program of teachings, empowerments and meditation. We thank Khenpo la for inviting and hosting His Holiness to the Centre, for giving us this incredible opportunity to hear the precious Buddhadharma from such an authentic throne holder of the Sakya Lineage. 

We thank all our tireless volunteers and coordinators for giving your time, energy and heartfelt efforts in bringing this program to reality. May all beings benefit from such an auspicious and precious dharma gathering.

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Message from Khenpo Ngawang Dhamchoe

“Dear Committee, coordinators, all volunteers, and all other members, Warm greetings from Khenpo Ngawang Dhamchoe. 

“I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you. Over the last few weeks – and for many of you, the last few months – you have worked tirelessly to prepare for the visit of the head of our school, His Holiness the 43rd Sakya Trizin Gyana Vajra Rinpoche. 

“During his visit, all of you offered your time, energy, and dedication to ensure our guru, our teachers, and the entire audience of sangha and lay practitioners were comfortable, supported, and able to receive the profound empowerments and teachings of the Buddhadharma.

“In this world, the greatest merit we can accumulate is to serve the guru. Serving the guru does not mean serving one individual; the guru’s purpose is to benefit all beings. Therefore, when you help the guru, you are directly helping countless beings. You have shown this with your actions, and for that, I congratulate you.

“My sincere appreciation goes to all the Committee, coordinators, all volunteers, sponsors and donors whose generosity made this event successful. I thank every one of you, and I also thank all the sangha members who participated over the past few days at this special event held at Drogmi Buddhist Institute.

“May we continue to work together to promote peace, wisdom, and compassion within our families, among our friends, throughout our community, and across the wider world.

“Once again, thank you from the depths of my heart. I wish you all good health, harmony, and a peaceful life. I look forward to seeing you again and working together in the future.

“With warm regards,”
Khenpo Ngawang Dhamchoe