THE SNOW LION NEWSLETTER

First Bestowing of the Collection of All Sadhanas in the West

Tsechen Kunchab Ling Temple, Seat of His Holiness the Sakya Trizin in the United States, is delighted to announce that H.E. Khondung Gyana Vajra Rinpoche has accepted the temple's request to come to the United States from June 7-17, 2006 to bestow the beginning portion of a very important and historic cycle of initiations known as the Collection of All the Sadhanas. This is the first time that this collection will be bestowed outside of Asia, and the first time that it will be bestowed in English.

The first portion of the Collection of All the Sadhanas, which will be bestowed in June, is known as One Hundred Bari Lotsawa Sadhanas, which is also being given for the first time in the West. H.E. Gyana Vajra Rinpoche is Abbot of Sakya Monastery in Rajpur, India, and the younger son of His Holiness Sakya Trizin.

The Collection of All the Sadhanas is one of the most important initiation cycles in Tibetan Buddhism. This collection of one thousand initiations is an authoritative compendium of initiations for almost all of the short sadhanas of the Sakya, Kagyu, Kadam, Jonang, and Shangba Kagyu Schools, as well as some Nyingma sadhanas.

The Collection of All the Sadhanas was compiled for the first time in the 1800s by the great Jamgon Loter Wangbo, a scholar of the non-sectarian movement. Foreseeing the destruction of libraries, scattering of practitioners, and difficulties that were to come to Tibetan Buddhism in the next century, he traveled throughout Tibet to receive empowerments from the many lamas who held the lineage of initiation and practice for each of the sadhanas, and to collect the texts themselves into a compendium.

Beginning this year, and in following years, additional sections of initiations from this great cycle will be given at Tsechen Kunchab Ling until the transmission of the Collection of all the Sadhanas in the West is complete.

*     *     *

A full list of the initiations contained in this cycle is available at www.sakyatemple.org

Read more about the Origin of the Collection of All Sadhanas Cycle