SPIRITUAL: Special Event Puja

We will hold a memorial service to benefit Kadampa Center member Orion Saah, who passed away September 9.  The service will be at 10:30 am, Wednesday, September 22. We will offer prayers and special remembrances of Orion's life and his spiritual strengths, to help him as he moves toward his next rebirth. The service will be available only on Zoom.

This is a prayer service for Orion during a period of time he is in the bardo, a transition state between death and rebirth.

Generally the service takes place two weeks after death to allow the deceased time to lessen attachments to this life. The intention of the prayer service is to encourage Orion to remember his positive qualities and efforts undertaken in the life just departed, and to rely on these qualities in the transition period. Prayers are offered to support a fortunate rebirth so that he can continue to engage in positive actions and pursue the practices that lead to enlightenment, in order to benefit others.

We invite those who wish to offer individual prayers for Orion to visit our page, 49 Days of Prayer for Orion Saah, to download a PDF of prayers and/or sign in with your prayer commitment.

The Covid pandemic has taken almost 2 million lives around the world, and continues to spread. This day, all across America, we will remember those who have died, those who are sick and those who are grieving. Light a candle to share the light of loving compassion, and join with Geshe Gelek in prayer.

This practice will be accessible by Zoom - please register here - and streaming on YouTube.

This powerful Mahayana purification practice lets us start the new year with a clean slate. In this fire puja, we burn black sesame seeds symbolizing our past negative actions. It’s a potent experience to watch our negative karma go up in smoke! Dorje Khadro is a deity who purifies our negative karma by consuming it in the form of black sesame seeds.

Because of the pandemic – another example of the ripening of negative karma – for the first time, we will not hold this practice in person at the Center.

Instead, we’ll do part of it together online and part on own at home. We'll start online (see below for links), with an explanation by our director, Robbie Watkins, of the practice and of the visualization to do while burning the seeds. Geshe Gelek will lead us through the actual practice, then each participant can burn their seeds at home – in the fireplace, the fire pit, or the barbecue grill. 

A little advance planning is necessary:  pick up some black sesame seeds in advance at an Asian grocery, or nowadays a lot of regular grocery stores do too. If you can't get the sesame seeds, you can simply write down the negativities you want to purify, and burn them instead. If you don't have access to a fire, visualize! 

Here’s the mantra we’ll say while burning the seeds:

OM VAJRA DAKA KHA KHA KHAHI KHAHI SARWA PAPAM DAHANA BAKMI KURU SOHA

The practice will be accessible through both YouTube and Zoom. Please register here for Zoom.

For an example of the practice and commentary by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, visit this page on Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Come add your presence and your prayers to the consecration of the Buddha statue in our garden, Saturday, Oct. 24 at 1 pm.  Our precious Geshe Gelek and Geshe Sangpo will offer prayers to bless the statue, now placed atop a beautiful new seat of honor. Many volunteers worked in late September/early October to paint the throne and refurbish the statue so that the Buddha shines with brilliance and a peaceful, radiant face.

There will be an opportunity at the end of the ceremony to welcome Geshe Gelek home from Argentina and offer katas and/or other offerings to our Geshes and all our sangha - at a safe social distance! 

If registration fills up (we're limited to 50) and you would like to welcome Geshe-la, consider coming at about 2pm when people begin to disperse, and make your offering at that time.

Because of the pandemic, we will not have katas for students to borrow - however, our bookstore will have katas available for purchase, for $5 or $10, tax included. 

We will closely follow state guidance for safety at an outdoor event. 

Attendance is limited to 50, and we all must wear a face mask and maintain social distancing. 

Registration is required. Please register here.

Jim Davis, a long-time leader and participant in our Sunday morning Meditation Circle, passed away February 13. The interfaith memorial service will be co-led by Venerable Ngawang Khando and The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Jeffries of Horne Memorial United Methodist Church in Clayton.

The service will include a presentation of full military honors.

"This practice of Guru Puja is very profound, with many extra benefits, and is very quick to bring enlightenment. The lam-rim prayer, the prayer of the steps of the path to enlightenment, in Guru Puja has lam-rim and also lo-jong, or thought transformation. Generally, the whole of the lam-rim, from guru devotion up to enlightenment, is thought transformation. If your mind is not transformed into the path, how can you have realizations of the path? There’s no way, without transforming your mind."

As part of the puja, we perform a special practice called tsog which has extensive offerings. According to the Liberation Prison Project Tibetan calendar, on the 10th and 25th of every Tibetan (lunar) month, Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, “Those who have received an initiation into Highest Yoga Tantra have a commitment to perform tsog” on these days. Kadampa Center holds pujas with tsog on these dates (when they don't conflict with other programs).

Anyone is welcome to attend pujas, even if you are unfamiliar with the practice. This puja is partly recited in English and partly chanted in Tibetan. (It is possible to read the English translations of the whole puja, and there is optional sheet music available to help learn the Tibetan tunes.) Traditionally the offerings for the sangha and puja are sponsored by Dharma students, especially if they want to dedicate the puja to their spiritual teachers or loved ones in need of support and prayers.

Sponsoring a puja is a great way to create merit, and it's especially auspicious to do so on a holy day for a puja dedicated to one of our teachers. Sponsorship of this puja is $75, and sponsors can include a dedication that we will read at the puja so everyone can join in the sponsor's intentions. 

Sponsor Here

A Special Animal Liberation/Blessing According to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, it’s incredibly important to do practices to benefit animals and lead them to liberation: “It’s not enough that you look after animals and they give you comfort. You must do something of practical benefit for them. This is what you can do every day:​ Circumambulate with them around holy objects, chanting mantras. Recite prayers in their ears to plant the seed of all the realizations of the path to enlightenment. This makes a huge difference. It has incredible results, enabling them to have a good rebirth in their next life, to be born as a human being, and meet the Dharma.”
		Join us for a special animal liberation! It begins with a pet blessing. Bring your critters to the center (see below for important details) to have your pet circumambulate the stupa and receive a special blessing and mantras by the Kadampa Center nuns. After the blessing, we’ll continue with an animal release of earthworms, who would otherwise have been used as bait, into the woods and soil around the center. You are also welcome to purchase and bring earthworms ​to release.
Important Details for the Pet Blessing Dogs must be on leashes, all other animals must be in cages. In order to keep all the dogs and cats happy, please keep your pet under your control and be ready to follow our instructions at the site. We will have water available to keep the pets from getting thirsty​. ​If the weather is bad, animals will be invited inside the building for the blessing and circumambulation of a special altar.

Sponsor Animal Liberation $75