Two days in Norway

I arrived in Norway on the afternoon of May 26th.

On May 27th, at Karma Shedrup Ling, I conducted two teaching sessions and three practice sessions. The following day, May 28th, began with a dawn practice session followed by a morning teaching.

In the afternoon, I visited Karma Tashi Ling for the launch of a Norwegian-language publication by the Marpa Translation Society. This edition features translations by the Norwegian MTS translator, Venerable Karma Lodro Chokyi, of The Torch for the Definitive Meaning and the Seven Points of Mind Training Instruction Manual, both by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Tayé.

Of several life goals that I feel I must achieve, one is to train and nurture translators. By doing so, the hope is to have the wondrous treatises and oral instructions of the past Practice Lineage masters translated into various languages so that everyone may benefit from them together.

The translator, Ani Chokyi, relying on me to learn both the Tibetan language and the sacred Dharma, studied and practised for nine years at Thrangu Sekhar Retreat Centre. Now, at Karma Shedrup Ling in Norway, just as I had wished, she is translating the section on the three vows from The Treasury of Knowledge and then will translate The Ornament of Precious Liberation into Norwegian and is acting in accord with the Dharma. For this, I express my gratitude and commend her. Previously, she also translated a few works into English.

I founded the Marpa Translation Society in 2015, and its name was graciously bestowed by Kyabje Thrangu Rinpoche. Today, the Society includes thirty skilled translators and over thirty trainees—monastics and lay Buddhists from around the world—working together at a single location. This is the result of the kindness of many spiritual friends and the combined and sustained efforts of the students.

Considering the needs of both the East and the West, branches have been established in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.