07/29/2026
Tomorrow, Wednesday, July 29th, is the Tibetan lunar calendar 13th Dechö, the anniversary of Lama Tharchin Rinpoche's passing into Parinirvana. Before he passed, Rinpoche asked me to continue to care for his teachings — to be their custodian after he was gone. In the years since, I've been extremely fortunate to devote my life’s work to preserving his teachings – collecting his videos, audio recordings, writings, art, and photos; and transcribing, editing, archiving, and sharing them through Heart Teachings and the Lama Tharchin Rinpoche Heritage Foundation.
Rinpoche taught that a lama's Parinirvana is the most powerful time to receive their blessings, and that during a lama’s Dechö, we should especially turn to Vajrasattva practice. After the passing of his own root teacher, Kyabje Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche, Lama Tharchin Rinpoche focused on Dorsem Lama Chöpa (The Chariot of Great Merit, Ritual of Offering to the Lama) — Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche's Vajrasattva guru yoga — as his personal gong-dzok or fulfilling of his lama's enlightened intent after the lama’s passing. Rinpoche described this practice as a guru yoga for merging our mind with our lama's all-pervasive wisdom mind: thuk-yi-say, always the heart of our practice, but especially important after our lama’s passing.
As I reviewed and edited the Dorsem Lama Chöpa teaching Lama Tharchin Rinpoche gave during the 2001 Summer Retreat at Pema Ösel Ling, it struck me that while on one level he is giving guidance on Mahayoga deity practice, Rinpoche infuses the teaching throughout from the perspective of the highest Dzogchen view. This was always Rinpoche’s way of presenting any teaching. Here, he points directly to the nature of Vajrasattva:
"Vajrasattva was never born, never aged, and is never going to die. Who is that Vajrasattva? It's your mind. Your mind is Vajrasattva. [When you know this,] then freedom is right there, automatically… Something that was never born, never aging, never dying: that's called freedom. And that freedom, your mind, is Buddha."
For me personally, caring for these teachings and archives has become such a nourishing and sustaining part of my practice. Each time I sit with Rinpoche's words, the sound of his voice, his physical appearance, his infectious sense of humor, his unique way of presenting the teachings, I feel his immediate wisdom presence — and I understand a little more of what thuk-yi-say means: the lama's wisdom mind and our own, merging, not separate. It is the greatest gift of this work, and I offer it with deep gratitude to Rinpoche.
You can view the Dorsem Lama Chöpa 2001 teaching on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFayU3JHvOo&t=3s
For more information about joining the Dechö events, visit our blog:
https://www.heartteachings.com/blogs/blog
Thank you to Eric Colombel, our dedicated team at the Lama Tharchin Rinpoche Heritage Foundation, the Vajrayana Foundation, Lama Sonam Rinpoche, Lama Dechen Yeshe Wangmo, all our Heart Teachings members, and all of you who are supporting this work, preserving Rinpoche's teachings and keeping his wisdom legacy alive and blossoming in our hearts.
- Pema Dechen
Photo: Lama Tharchin Rinpoche at Paro Taktsang, Bhutan, 2012
