Welcoming the Year of the Fire Horse 2026

Losar Tashi Delek Phun Sum Tsok!

May the vitality of the Year of the Fire Horse 2026 inspire our fearless commitment to swift accomplishment of the Dharma path. Lama Tharchin Rinpoche adored his horse growing up in Tibet, Sa Truk, who he praised for his loyalty, adventurous nature, and bravery. Rinpoche and Sa Truk were inseparable.

For this year’s Losar offering, I’m excited to share a recording I recently edited of Rinpoche’s special Ri Chö Mountain Retreat introduction given to a small group of Pema Osel Ling staff and residents shortly before he left for a one-year sabbatical in 1998 to fulfill a prophecy that he do a retreat to remove an obstacle to his life.

Composed by Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche at Lama Ling in Kongpo, Tibet, in the 1950s for Lama Tharchin Rinpoche’s own Drubdra (three-year retreat) at Rigdzin Gatsal, Ri Chö meant so much to Rinpoche’s personal practice that he considered it an essential guide to his Dharma path. He taught the text many times, both to long-term retreatants and to guide people's practice in their daily lives, noting that his transmission was a very short, direct, and pure lineage.

“The root of blessings is very strong. Also, because I was in three-year retreat when I received this teaching, I had the opportunity to see firsthand its benefits on my own mind stream… I have firsthand experience of its profound blessings.”

Listen to Rinpoche’s Ri Chö teaching on SoundCloud, where you’ll also find the teaching he gave the following day on Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche’s “Calling the Lama from Afar” as the best method for accomplishing the pith instructions of the Ri Chö teaching.

https://soundcloud.com/lamatharchinrinpoche

May Rinpoche’s guidance provide blessings and inspiration for our practice in the Fire Horse year.

Love,

Pema Dechen (Libby)

Images: Lama Tharchin Rinpoche at meditation cave in India or Nepal, circa early 1980s (photographer unknown); Fire Horse watercolor by Tasha Stewart of Sun Moon Market Designs