On July 5, 2025, the auspicious anniversary of Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava according to the Tibetan calendar, Venerable Lama Drimed Rinpoche presided over the second consecration ceremony of the “Thousand World Peace Guru Rinpoche Statues” in Ottawa. On this exceptionally auspicious occasion, he formally announced the establishment of Dechen Rang Dharma Center Canada (hereafter referred to as “the Center”) — the first Nyingma lineage Dharma center in Canada belonging to the lineage of H.H. Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche, the Supreme Guide of our time. In Tibetan, Dechen Rang means “Pure Land of Great Bliss.”

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Why Ottawa

 

The decision to establish a Dharma center in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, arises from the fact that this region presents an opportunity for Dharma to flourish in a place that has been lacking pure Tibetan Vajrayana practice centers.

In the Chinese Buddhist tradition, the phrase “igniting the torch of the Dharma in a borderland” is not merely a response to a regional absence, but also an expression of the profound aspiration of Venerable Lama Drimed Rinpoche to continue the lineage and benefit countless beings in Canada.

Venerable Lama Drimed Rinpoche once gave the following teaching: “If the practitioners here (in Ottawa) have sufficient merit, it would be wonderful to purchase a place and establish a genuine Dharma center, providing a true environment for practice. There are very few such centers here, especially Tibetan Vajrayana practice centers — there are none. I hope everyone can generate this aspiration and support the establishment of Dechen Rang Dharma Center here. From the time of Shakyamuni Buddha until today, temples and Dharma centers have almost always been built through the collective support of practitioners from all directions. It is extremely rare for one individual to accomplish this alone. Therefore, it depends on the collective merit of everyone. If the merit is sufficient, the center will come into being very quickly.”

 

The Enduring Merit of Establishing a Dharma Center

 

A Dharma center may remain in the world for hundreds or even thousands of years. During that time, all virtuous activities performed there — from teaching the Dharma, holding ceremonies, prostrations, and recitations, to even the smallest acts such as making offerings, cleaning the grounds, gazing upon a sacred image, or simply passing by and generating a single thought of reverence — all such merit is shared by those who support the establishment of the center, continuously and inexhaustibly.

 

The Lotus Sutra states:

“If one raises a stupa, builds a temple, or creates a Buddha image,

such persons are as if they have seen innumerable Buddhas,

have attained unsurpassed awakening,

and liberated countless beings.”

 

It further teaches:

“Even if in an open field, one gathers earth to form a Buddha shrine,

or children at play heap sand into a Buddha stupa,

all such beings have already attained the path of Buddhahood.”

 

The Original Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra teaches:

“In future times, if virtuous men or women cultivate roots of goodness in the Buddhadharma — through offerings, donations, repairing stupas or temples, restoring scriptures, even to the extent of a hair or a grain of dust — and dedicate the merit to the Dharma realm, they will receive sublime joy for hundreds of thousands of lifetimes.”

 

The Avataṃsaka Sutra states:

“Those beings who encounter this fragrance shall fully acquire the Buddha’s merits…

Through offering with incense, constructing images and temples,

they attain wondrous fragrant radiance.”