Gompa

Geshe Gelek is away this Sunday, August 7.

We will have guided meditations in place of teachings.

We have multiple options for attending in person or tuning in online to hear the meditations:

* At home: join us via either Zoom or YouTube streaming. 

    Watch the teaching on YouTube online streaming.

    To attend by Zoom, please register in advance.

* In the gompa: Gather with other students in the gompa in person. Please observe the following COVID protocols if you attend in person.

• Gompa seating will be limited to allow for social distancing and maximum air filtration (please do not rearrange seating).
• Anyone wishing to attend Sunday Dharma inside the gompa must have an up-to-date COVID-19 vaccine. Up-to-date means a person has received all recommended doses in their primary series COVID-19 vaccine, and a booster dose when eligible. No other conditions (such as being infected with COVID-19 in the past) qualify you to be in the gompa. 
• There will be additional seating in the lobby for those who prefer that seating or who are not up-to-date on the vaccine. 
• Please maintain at least a 6-foot distance from Geshe-la, whether he is seated or entering/leaving the building. We will not have a khata line or opportunities to bring offerings to Geshe-la at the end of teachings. Of course, any student who wishes to make an offering may leave an envelope or card of appreciation on his table before he arrives. This is to protect our precious teacher.
• Masks must be worn at all times while inside the building.  Masks are optional for our teachers so they can be clearly understood.
• Please use hand sanitizer upon entering the Center.
• Continue to use good hand hygiene practices while onsite e.g. washing hands immediately after using the restroom or blowing your nose, keeping your hands to yourself, avoid touching your face, cover coughs and sneezes with your elbow.
• Please stay home if you, or someone you have been around, don’t feel well.

Seven weeks after attaining enlightenment at Bodhgaya, Shakyamuni Buddha gave his first teaching at the Deer Park in Sarnath. We celebrate this day as Chokhor Düchen. This is a Buddha holy day, when the karma from our positive actions multiplies 100 million times, according to a Vinaya text - so it's a good day to do spiritual practice, which can be as simple as showing kindness to others.

At his first teaching, the Buddha expressed his profound realization of the nature of existence in the Four Noble Truths:

    The Truth of  the Nature of Suffering
    The Truth of the Origins or Causes of Suffering
    The Truth of the Cessation of, or Liberation from, Suffering
    The Truth of the Eight Fold Path as the means to attain ultimate happiness and freedom from suffering.

This teaching, referred to as the First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma, led to the formation of the Sangha, the community of disciples committed to following the Buddha's example of living simply, following the Path, and teaching the Dharma. Accordingly, every year at this time, the FPMT encourages its Centers to celebrate the presence of the sangha community. Our website includes a Sangha Support and Offerings page with valuable information, including a previous year's talk and Q&A about sangha with our director, Robbie Watkins.

Kadampa Center will open our doors from 10 am to 6 pm to allow students the opportunity to practice. 

You can sponsor Holy Day events - amazing merit!  Click here to sponsor Chokhor Düchen

Seven weeks after attaining enlightenment at Bodhgaya, Shakyamuni Buddha gave his first teaching at the Deer Park in Sarnath. We celebrate this day as Chokhor Düchen. It is a Buddha Holy Day, when the karma of our merit is multiplied 100 million times, according to a Vinaya sutra. To support our members in creating merit, we will open our doors from 10 am to 6 pm for students to do personal practice.

At his first teaching, the Buddha expressed his profound realization of the nature of existence in the Four Noble Truths:

    The Truth of  the Nature of Suffering
    The Truth of the Origins or Causes of Suffering
    The Truth of the Cessation of, or Liberation from, Suffering
    The Truth of the Eight Fold Path as the means to attain ultimate happiness and freedom from suffering.

This teaching, referred to as the First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma, led to the formation of the Sangha, the community of disciples committed to following the Buddha's example of living simply, following the Path, and teaching the Dharma. Accordingly, every year at this time, the FPMT encourages its Centers to celebrate the presence of the ordained sangha community. Our website includes a Sangha Support and Offerings page with valuable information, including a previous year's talk and Q&A about sangha with our director, Robbie Watkins.

Kadampa Center will open our doors from 10 am to 6 pm for students to come and do personal practice. Geshe Gelek recommends practices such as circumambulating the gompa, circumambulating the stupa, reciting mantras, reciting Praises to the 21 Taras, purification practice and, of course, anyone's personal practice.

You can sponsor Holy Day events - amazing merit!  Click here to sponsor Chokhor Düchen

Come join in celebrating His Holiness' 87th birthday!

All are invited to join in Kadampa Center's celebration of His Holiness’ 87th birthday! We will begin with a procession to enthrone an image of His Holiness.  The procession will be followed by prayer offerings in the gompa for His Holiness' long life as well as for the continued success in all of his extensive activities as the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and as a world-wide spokesman for basic human values of compassion and universal responsibility.

Let's celebrate!  For those joining us in person, this family-friendly event will continue ~ outside and socially distanced ~ with birthday cake! 

Join in ONLINE or in person!

ONLINE:

    To attend by Zoom, please register in advance.

    Join the celebration on YouTube online streaming.

Please observe the following COVID protocols while attending Kadampa Center events in person:

• Gompa seating will be limited to allow for social distancing and maximum air filtration (please do not rearrange seating).
• Anyone wishing to attend Sunday Dharma inside the gompa must have an up-to-date COVID-19 vaccine. Up-to-date means a person has received all recommended doses in their primary series COVID-19 vaccine, and a booster dose when eligible. No other conditions (such as being infected with COVID-19 in the past) qualify you to be in the gompa. 
• There will be additional seating in the lobby for those who prefer that seating or who are not up-to-date on the vaccine. 
• Please maintain at least a 6-foot distance from Geshe-la, whether he is seated or entering/leaving the building. We will not have a khata line or opportunities to bring offerings to Geshe-la at the end of teachings. Of course, any student who wishes to make an offering may leave an envelope or card of appreciation on his table before he arrives. This is to protect our precious teacher.
• Masks must be worn at all times while inside the building.  Masks are optional for our teachers so they can be clearly understood.
• Please use hand sanitizer upon entering the Center.
• Continue to use good hand hygiene practices while onsite e.g. washing hands immediately after using the restroom or blowing your nose, keeping your hands to yourself, avoid touching your face, cover coughs and sneezes with your elbow.
• Please stay home if you, or someone you have been around, don’t feel well.

Happy Birthday to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama!

Today marks the birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama! The best gift we can offer our teachers is our practice. His Holiness has expressed the wish that his students and admirers practice loving kindness and compassion on this day. Additionally, you can find FPMT Practice Resources for celebrating His Holiness the Dalai Lama's birthday HERE. This year, in honor of His Holiness's 90th birthday, the FPMT -- on behalf of the entire FPMT organization -- will be offering one hundred statues of Shakyamuni Buddha to His Holiness.  Learn more HERE about these offerings, including opportunities to contribute.

Mark your calendars for Kadampa Center's Celebration of His Holiness's 90th birthday on Sunday, July 6, 2025, from 10:30am-NOON (ET) with a procession into the gompa, prayers, birthday cake and more!  

Join us!  All are welcome at this fun-filled, family-friendly event!

Saka Dawa Düchen (June 14), is the full-moon day of the month when we honor Shakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana (passing from this life). Join us online in two powerful practices - Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas, and a group reading of the Vajra Cutter Sutra. This day, and the entire month, are especially auspicious for spiritual practice  — the karmic effects of all actions are multiplied one hundred thousand times.

12:00 pm:  A group reading of the Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas, and of the Vajra Cutter Sutra. Online only via YouTube and Zoom (registration required for Zoom).

We will display these texts via shared screen so students can follow along. If you wish, you can download them to read in advance.

The practice of Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas is available in the FPMT Retreat Prayer Book 

Download a copy of the Vajra (Diamond) Cutter Sutra from FPMT  Geshe Gelek advises that we begin reading the sutrat at home in preparation for the group reading.

Geshe Gelek also advises us to create merit by going around the stupa (or the entire Gompa), reciting mantras and sutras, liberating animals, saying prayers and doing charitable works.

On this Saka Dawa holy day - a merit-mutiplying day - Geshe Gelek will offer the Eight Mahayana Precepts at the Center.  Kadampa Center will open at 5:15 am; the Eight Mahayana Precepts will begin at 5:30 am.

5:30 am  The Eight Mahayana Precepts,  a set of eight vows taken for a period of 24 hours, from sunrise on one day to sunrise the following day. The vows include no killing, stealing, sexual activity, lying, and more (see below).

The first time you take these precepts, it must be from a qualified master. After that, you can take them from your altar. 

            If you wish to take the Precepts online with a teacher, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has kindly made this option available here: 

• Eight Mahayana Precepts online with Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The Eight Mahayana Precepts are a set of vows that are taken for 24 hours, from first light before dawn to sunrise of the following day. The only prerequisite is that the first time one takes precepts it should be from a qualified teacher who has received the oral transmission of the practice. Thereafter you can perform the ceremony at first light yourself, reciting the prayers before an image of your teacher or the Buddha, imagining you are taking the vows from Buddha himself.

 It is good to take them on full and new moon days, and especially beneficial on Buddha Holy Days, when Karmic results are multiplied exponentionally, according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, citing the Vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

These Mahayana Precepts enable you to live in the essence of pure moral conduct, and since you take them with the strong motivation of cherishing and wishing to benefit all others, their value is immeasurable. Taking these precepts is a powerful and effective way for you to build, maintain and increase deep propensities for spiritual practice and attainment and thus is a profound method for giving meaning to this precious human life. 

The essence of this practice is to recall the Mahayana motivation; to take these precepts in order to become enlightened in order to lead all sentient beings to enlightenment.

The eight precepts are:

1. Not to kill, even insects.
2. Not to steal (Not to take what is not offered).
3. Not to engage in sexual contact.
4. Not to lie.
5. Not use intoxicants: alcohol, tobacco and drugs (except for medicinal purposes).
6. Not to eat at wrong times.*
7. Not to sit on high, expensive beds or seats with pride. Avoid sitting on animal skins.
8. Not to wear jewelry, perfume, or makeup; and not to sing, dance, or play music with attachment.

*It is alright to eat a light breakfast before or after the precepts. Avoid eating black foods: meat, eggs, onions, garlic, and radishes. The main meal of the day is to be finished by midday. After that one can take light drinks, but not undiluted whole milk or fruit juice with pulp, nor any food until sunrise of the following day.

Here is a link where you may read more about the precepts:

http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=503&chid=973