Gompa

Taking our cue from Valentine's Day, we will focus this morning on love - not just romantic love, but the big, expansive loving kindness of the altruistic attitude. Join us for meditations to expand the heart!

This event will be accessible on YouTube and Zoom (register here for Zoom). 

Tara nos protege de todo daño y miedo.   Mientras los incendios forestales arrasan la Patagonia, nos unimos a Geshe Gelek para cantar Alabanzas a las 21 Taras con el fin de pacificar el fuego.

Este evento será accesible en YouTube y Zoom.  El acceso de Zoom utilizará el mismo enlace que usamos para las conexiones de Dharma del domingo por la mañana, por lo que no es necesario registrarse nuevamente.

Tara protects us from all harm and fears. As wildfires rage through Patagonia, we join with Geshe Gelek to chant the Praises to the 21 Taras in order to pacify the flames.

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This event will be accessible on YouTube and Zoom (register here for Zoom).  Zoom access will use the same link we use for Sunday morning Dharma Connections, so there is no need to register again if you are already have a link for Sunday mornings. 

Kadampa Center continues offering our classes online via Zoom during the COVID crisis.  Please register below to get the link for joining the class online.

Are you interested in Buddhism but don't know where to start? Have you heard words like dharma and karma and samsara and wondered what they meant or why they mattered? Do you want to get an overview of Buddhism without making a long-term commitment? Then this is the program for you.

In five short classes, we introduce you to the major terms and concepts of Buddhism - a fast tour of the basics to enable you to take the next steps if you want more.

This course provides a broad, basic overview of key aspects of Buddhism and our practice. There is no required reading, no homework and no quizzes!

Topics covered include:

• The Four Noble Truths
• Different kinds of Buddhism: Theravadan, Mahayana, Vajrayana, etc.
• Buddha's teachings in a gradual form for the practice of one individual...where to start, what next, etc.
• A brief introduction to meditation

Registration required to access the class. Click here to register.

We have a minimum registration; the class may be cancelled if registration doesn't meet the minimum.

In keeping with our long-standing tradition, Kadampa Center does not charge a fee for any Dharma course. These teachings are too precious to allow money to be an obstacle for anyone to hear them!  We do, of course, have expenses to offer the course, so we happily welcome any heart-felt donations. 

The instructor for this course is Sandy Carlson.

At the request of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and FPMT, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will give an online teaching on emptiness at 10:30 pm Raleigh time, Sunday, February 7 (Monday morning Feb. 8 India time). For more information, please go to His Holiness' website.

To prepare us for the teaching, Geshe Gelek will offer teachings on Wednesday nights beginning January 20, on the text His Holiness will teach -  Recognizing the Mother: An Experiential  Song of the View by Changkya Rölpai Dorjé.

FPMT has made a translation of the text available here.

In the January 20 class, Geshe Gelek advised becoming familiar with the death dissolution meditation, and focusing on the internal signs. You can find the death dissolution meditation on Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. Death dissolution is the first meditation on this page. 

These teachings will replace the regular Wednesday Lamrim class for the time being.

Students who have already registered on Zoom for the Lamrim class can continue to use the same registration link to attend the Zoom sessions on this text.

   Students who have not been attending the lamrim class can click here to register.

As always, we will also stream the teaching on YouTube.

We will continue review of teachings on calm abiding at 6:45 pm and Geshe-la will arrive at 7 pm.

Start your day with a peaceful mind, an hour of silent meditation with Kadampa Center students. We are happy to offer meditation online for these Monday and Thursday early morning sessions. We will remain online until we can return to indoor events durnig the COVID pandemic.   The meditation is accessible via Zoom; registration is required.

To protect our meditators and all our precious community, we will ask participants to follow these safety guidelines:

• Wear a mask when you're in the building.
• Take your temperature when you enter (we provide a forehead thermometer).
• Clean your hands with hand sanitizer when you enter.
• Practice social distancing.
• Clean your chair before use (we will provide wipes).

Our gompa is set up with chairs for 10 people, the maximum capacity at this time.  Please register here to participate.  

If there's an overflow, additional meditators may gather around the stupa.

Meditators who wish to use a cushion may bring one from home to and from the sessions.

Start your day with a peaceful mind, an hour of silent meditation with Kadampa Center students. We are happy to offer meditation online for these Monday and Thursday early morning sessions. We will remain online until we can return to indoor events during the COVID pandemic.   The meditation is accessible via Zoom; registration is required.

The following information is regarding in-person meditation at the gompa during COVID-19, which is suspended for now:

To protect our meditators and all our precious community, we will ask participants to follow these safety guidelines:

• Wear a mask when you're in the building.

• Take your temperature when you enter (we provide a forehead thermometer).

• Clean your hands with hand sanitizer when you enter.

• Practice social distancing.

• Clean your chair before use (we will provide wipes).

Our gompa is set up with chairs for 10 people, the maximum capacity at this time.  Please register here to participate.  

If there's an overflow, additional meditators may gather around the stupa.

Meditators who wish to use a cushion may bring one from home to and from the sessions.

Learn the definition and purpose of meditation, how to sit, how to set up a meditation session, different meditation techniques, and how to deal with obstacles to meditation.   Our enrollment process now includes three steps: (1) enrollment (2) registering with Zoom to obtain the link to the Zoom sessions (3) obtaining the login information to access course materials on our website.   Please enroll here to receive links to register for Zoom and obtain course materials.

DB was developed by our affiliate organization, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, and is taught at Kadampa Center by senior lay students with many years of study and practice. Students who take the course together tend to develop great friendships with their Dharma buddies!

In keeping with our long-standing tradition, Kadampa Center does not charge a fee for any Dharma course. These teachings are too precious to allow money to be an obstacle for anyone to hear them!  We do, of course, have expenses to offer the course, so we happily welcome any heart-felt donations.  No pre-registration is required to stream on YouTube.

The instructor for this class is Don Brown.

"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.

Supporting pujas benefits not just the Center and those who attend, but it also greatly benefits the donor, who collects the merit of giving the Dharma, and thus creates the causes to meet the Dharma again. 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.

Sponsoring the puja is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here)

Step Two  is making the sponsorship donation (click here)

Dedications may be very simple - "For my mother, Rosemary" - or they might encompass more extensive spiritual wishes, such as "May these teachings be the cause to liberate all sentient beings," or wishes for the teacher's long life, to benefit a person who is ill - any heart-felt positive intention!  You also can dedicate for more than one intention.