By Sean Jones, Director

Manjushri London Centre has changed its name to Jamyang Meditation Centre with effect from July 22, 1990. “Jamyang” is the Tibetan form of the Sanskrit “Manjushri,” name of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, so the meaning remains the same. The change has been effected in order to distinguish this center from Manjushri Institute at Ulverston in Cumbria.

The assumption of the new name coincided with a grand consecration ceremony carried out under the direction of Sangra Jampa Rinpoche, a renowned lama of Drepung Loseling Monastery of Lhasa and South India, and leader of the team which discovered the reincarnation of the great Yongdzin Ling Rinpoche. This double event thus marked a new begin­ning for the centre and its community. It was celebrated in style on Sunday July 22 with a packed consecration puja to bless the center’s main Buddha Shakymuni statue, the center itself, and all its other statues and sacred objects.

July 22 was chosen as a most auspicious day, as it was Buddha Shakyamuni day according to the Tibetan calendar (obtaining 100 times merit increase for all virtuous activities carried out on that day) and there was also a total solar eclipse (10,000 times merit increase). It was also the day of the new moon, and the sun entered Leo.

Preparations had been made for several weeks, with a team of volunteers rolling up 67,500 copies of prayers, making incense and collecting relics and sacred and precious substances, all to be packed inside the statues according to traditional methods.

After the morning puja there was a buffet lunch in the garden, followed by an afternoon tea party with Jampa Rin­poche, Mrs. Kelsang Y. Takla (representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for UK and Scandinavia) and Glenn H. Mullin (author of a series of books on the Dalai Lamas) amongst the guests of honor. A large number of Tibetans from the UK Tibetan community and other important guests from other centers and Buddhist traditions also attended.

Sangra Jampa Rinpoche gave a short account of the consecra­tion ceremony to the gathering, explaining in detail how, in the face of the wholesale destruction and desecration of represen­tations of the Three Jewels by the Chinese communists in Tibet, he was very happy to be able to bless and consecrate new statues like this in the West. He concluded by saying that he strongly felt that the ceremony’s purpose had successfully been achieved, because, as he said, “the buddhas and bodhisattvas and other enlightened beings had definitely come down and taken up residence in the statues here today.”

Messages of good wishes and congratulation received from Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khyongla Rato Rinpoche in New York, and the center’s resident teacher Geshe Namgyal Wangchen, currently in India, were read out, and the following message was also received from His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

“On the auspicious occasion of the renaming of the Manjushri London Centre as Jamyang Meditation Centre and the conse­cration of its principal statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, and other representations of the Three Jewels, I send all of you my best wishes. I am happy to know of your continuing efforts to improve the center’s facilities and extend its activities and, appreciating your aspiration to be of benefit to the people in your part of the country, I offer my prayers that all your virtuous wishes will be fulfilled.” (signed) Tenzin Gyatso

Jamyang Meditation Centre will continue running the same regular program as Manjushri did previously, and in addi­tion there will be more great lamas coming to visit and teach in future months. For up-to-date information please call the centre at 10 Finsbury Park Road, London N4 2JZ, tel: 071 -3 59 1394.

Items Sealed Inside the Buddha Shakyamuni Statue

The 27 Name-Mantras of the Buddhas: 2,500 copies each of the following scriptures:

1. head mantras 2. throat mantras 3. heart mantras 4. highest yoga tantra 5. His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s name mantra 6. Kyabjes Ling and Trijang Rinpoches’ name mantras 7. Shakyamuni Buddha name mantra 8. LamaTsong Khapa name mantra 9. Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) name mantra 10. Chenresig mantra 11. yoga and charya tantra mantras 12. kriya tantra mantras 13. Tara mantras 14. long life deities; and the three leaders’ (Vajrapani, Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri) mantras 15. five sections mantras 16. sutra mantras (Prajnaparamita Sutras) 17. Essence of Dependent Arising mantra  18. Shakyamuni and the previous Buddhas’ mantras 19. requesting prayer, composed by Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, 20. Migme Tseway prayer 21. verses of auspiciousness 22. wealth gods mantras 23. Dharma protectors’ mantras 24. purifying mistakes mantras 25. hundred-syllable mantra of Vajrasattva 26. Lotus mantra

Religious Relics:

From His Holiness the Dalai Lama: three stupas made from his hair, specially sent for this consecration; his inner offering-pills; sand from his Kalachakra mandala; a piece of his robe; his mani and phurbu rilbus; protection strings, blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which had also circumambulated Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. From Lama Je Tsong Khapa: seven clay impressions of his tooth relic at Ganden Monastery; his hat thread; his body washing pill; rice grains and water from his cave at Okra. Other relics: pieces of tsa-tsa made by Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal. Salt from Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, and threads from his robe. Piece from robe of Je Rinpoche at Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. Inner offering pills of Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche. Hair from Kyabje Tsong Rinpoche. Hair from Kyabje Tsong Rinpoche, & tsa-tsa made from his ashes. Relics from: Lama Thubten Yeshe, Panchen Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen, Tehor Kyorpen, Rinchen Tsotel. Tehor Kyorpen head hair. Chong Rinpoche part of Yamantaka statue. Piece of Panchen Sonam Dragpo’s bootstrap. Text from Tsaparang Western Tibet. Vajra from ceiling of Demchog Mandala Temple, Tsaparang. Tsa-tsa from Tsaparang, Tsimbiling and Tholing Gompas. Nechung rice. Kumbum leaves. Tendurilbu. Rinchen chenma. Mandala sand.

Other Items:

Fifteen meters of yellow cotton cloth to wrap around the prayers and relics. Incense made from: needles from scots pines of Wellyn Garden City, London Christmas trees and Alice’s rosemary bush, (these were plucked, baked, chopped and ground into 45kg of powder at the center). Also incense from: Mount Kailash in Tibet, Lawudo Gompa in Nepal, and the Tibetan Medical Institute in Dharamsala, India. Kusha grass and long life grass. Wealth god mandalas. Dried flowers and stones from Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in Tibet. Dried fish from Lake Manasarovar. Water from Lake Manasa­rovar. Five-colored sand from shores of Lake Manasarovar at Sera Lung Gompa (Eastern Gate). Flotsam from Lake Mana­sarovar. Tibetan saffron from Barkhor market, Lhasa. Best quality Spanish saffron. A selection of semi-precious stones.