Feb 24, 2024
A Treasury of translations
Ben
We have been so fortunate to have gained permission to share a collection of translations and compositions of Rodney Stevenson. These will be available soon!
Jan 18, 2024
Valuable Commentary now available
Ben
We have been so fortunate to have gained permission to share an edited transcript of an explanation of the Yamantaka self-entry practice given by Ven. Geshe Jampa Tegchog at Nalanda Monastery, France in the Summer of 1985, translated by Thubten Sherab Sherpa and edited by a Ven. Gelong there. This wonderful and rare explanation is available to the community of practitioners. It is particularly useful to those who have completed the mantra retreat and are thereby eligible to practice self initiations.
Jan 10, 2024
PayPal Donations
Ben
Today we finally got recognition as a bona fide charity from PayPal, which is excellent news. All the community finances have been moved into the main accounts, and we are beginning to remove the private funding structures that have kept the site propped up for the last few years. At some point, I will share an annual report of our expenditures. Remember, we do depend upon your donations!
Jan 9, 2024
Download Updates
Ben
The downloads sections are still being updated, including additional comments, and informations about each download. Also, a new document has been added – an expanded version of the fire offering that concludes a mantra retreat (for sincere initiates only). Please check the forum for further discussion on that.
Jan 8, 2024
Concise Guruyoga
Ben
A new download has been added (find it under “General Prayers and Practices”) – a PDF scanned from an old manually typed concise guru yoga that stems from the old Kadampa tradition, and which was handed down to Lama Tsongkhapa. This version was taught some time in the 1970’s by Ven. Lharampa Geshe Damchö Yonten, the founder of Lam Rim Buddhist Centre, and typed out by one of his students. This text was found in his library while tidying and organising it after he passed.
Dec 19, 2023
Yamantaka is a charity!
Ben
We are now a registered charity! This is great news, and has given a well-needed boost to the administrators and developers of the website. We are hoping that this will also allow for the community to maintain this as a useful resource into the future.
We have taken off donations for the time being, while we set up our charity status correctly with Paypal. If you don’t know already, all the work done on this site is volunteered, and the trustees are bound to serve the needs of the charity without remuneration. What that means is all donations go to keeping this website up, and filled with information and insight for you, so please feel generous towards your vajra brothers and sisters.
Needless to say, we are also really interested in what you have to offer the community – practical advice, histories, your own translations, poetry, verse, images, and so on. Far better not to be shy! Please contact Ben or Jhampa (who can be reached by email, at yamantaka.org) about any generous sharing on this website. We will always honour any restrictions as necessary.
Likewise, there is plenty of work to be done on the website itself. We are hoping to provide a description of all the downloads we have – some have been started, but there are many more to provide details or insights about. Likewise, information about the lineage that you can share is very welcome. There are so many ways that you can contribute to the community!
New Hosting Arrangement
We have moved to a new hosting Company! This one is doing it’s best to be aware of climate change, and appears to be doing much to keep it’s services carbon neutral, with a tree planting scheme as a part of it’s cost structure. Sounds great!
Updates - Lineage and more
We have been working on updating lots of the website – closing down broken links, re-arranging information a little more meaningfully, and likewise tidying some loose ends. One of these has been to create the placeholders (and some biographical text) for the teacher lineage of our tradition. (Registration required for access). As you may know, our tradition is well over a thousand years old, and all the teachings and practices have been carefully handed down from teacher to student in an unbroken lineage. Do take a look!
What Else?
This site, and the charity, exists to serve the Yamantaka practitioner community. If you believe there are things we could add, or should add, in order to improve our support to the community, please don’t hesitate to share – either on the forum (for registered users) or by dropping a line to Ben or Jhampa.