Gompa

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.

At this 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 offer a reading of the Vajra Cutter sutra, as well as other prayers, online at 12pm.

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

"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

Spend the lunch hour on this merit-multiplying holy day by joining our communithy in a group reading of the Golden Light Sutra. Lama Zopa Rinpoche, our Spiritual Director, has advised us at Kadampa Center to recite this sutra to create the causes for hosting this year's Light of the Path Retreat.

We will read the sutra monastery-style:  All the pages will be divided among those who attend, and then we will all read aloud at the same time until all are finished. The idea is that, even if we are not consciously comprehending the words, the entire sutra is entering our mindstream because we can hear one another speak. It's a joyful cacophony!

Learn more here about the Golden Light Sutra.

Sponsoring the sutra readings is a great way to create merit, and it's especially auspicious to do so during the Days of Miracles, when our merit is multiplied exponentially.

Sponsorship is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your sponsorship (click here).

Step Two  is making the donation (use the buttons below on this page),

Sponsors may wish to dedicate very simply - "For my mother, Rosemary" - or they might make 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.

Use our secure online community to donate by clicking your choice below. 

To try our new Text Giving, send KC108 to 73256 and select your level from the drop down menu.

Don't forget to dedicate your sponsorship!

Sponsor a Sutra Reading ~ $75

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 requested. Click here to register.

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. 

This session is led by Patti Pandya 

The two-week long Tibetan Great Prayer Festival, Monlam Chenmo, which began with the Tibetan New Year, culminates in the Day of Miracles, Chotrul Duchen, which falls this year on Monday, March 9.  As a Buddha Holy Day, the karmic effects of virtuous actions performed on this day are multiplied exponentially, according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Our Schedule:

•  12:00 pm  Group reading of the Golden Light Sutra, followed by

                       Medicine Buddha Puja

The FPMT spiritual director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, encourages students to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts on holy days. This is a set of vows that are taken for 24 hours, from just before dawn to sunrise the following day. Those who have taken precepts previously from a qualified teacher are encouraged to take them at home, at "first light".

*Lama Zopa Rinpoche recommends reciting the Golden Light Sutra everyday, and especially on Buddha holy days. The benefits from reciting, listening to, or even hearing the name of the sutra are immeasurable, extending from eliminating conflict, terrorism, torture and gamine, to achieving full enlightenment. The Sanghata Sutra is a direct teaching by the Buddha that promised to tranform all who read or recite it.

Sponsoring the sutra readings is a great way to create merit, and it's especially auspicious to do so during the Days of Miracles, when our merit is multiplied exponentially.

Sponsorship is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your sponsorship (click here).

Step Two  is making the donation (use the button below on this page),

Sponsors may wish to dedicate very simply - "For my mother, Rosemary" - or they might make 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.

Use our secure online community to donate by clicking your choice below. 

To try our new Text Giving, send KC108 to 73256 and select your level from the drop down menu.

Don't forget to dedicate your sponsorship!

Sponsor a Sutra Reading ~ $75

We will enjoy milk tea, Tibetan rice, and cookies during the celebration.

There will be no classes for the Family Program -- children are invited to remain in the gompa for the festivities.

The actual date of Losar is Monday, February 24. This day marks the beginning of the 14-day Days of Miracles, a festival of prayer. Lama Zopa Rinpoche advises us that this is an especially auspicious time to do spiritual practice, because our merit multiplies exponentially.

Sponsoring the Losar Celebration is a great way to create merit!

Sponsorship is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your sponsorship (click here).

Step Two  is making the donation (use the button below on this page),

Sponsors may wish to dedicate very simply - "For my mother, Rosemary" - or they might make 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.

Use our secure online community to donate by clicking your choice below. 

To try our new Text Giving, send KC108 to 73256 and select your level from the drop down menu.

Don't forget to dedicate your sponsorship!

Sponsor Losar Celebration ~ $125

Tara, a female buddha, represents enlightened activities that address a multitude of our spiritual and temporal needs. These are represented by the 21 Taras, each an aspect of her buddha nature and wisdom. In this practice, we deepen our connection to each of the 21 Taras by visualizing her present with us, contemplating the specific enlightened activity of each Tara, and engaging in the Seven Limbs of practice:  prostration, offering, purification, rejoicing, entreating Tara to remain, requesting Tara to teach, and dedication. We begin the practice with creating a beautiful and bountiful offering table, overflowing with offerings to each of the 21 Taras. Everyone is encouraged to come and participate in this aspect of the practice. You are also welcome to bring your own flower or food offerings (for this practice, please avoid foods containing egg, meat, onion or garlic).

Students at all levels will enjoy this practice, which we do in English.

This practice was written by Panchen Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen at Tashi Lunpo Monastery in Tibet.  Geshe Gelek's  teacher, the former Abbot of Sera Je Monastery, Khensur Rinpoche Jetsun Lobsang Delek,  said when he visited in 2011 that we have a special connection to Tara, so doing her practice is incredibly beneficial for our community, harmony working together, and the success of Kadampa Center.

The Tara practice consists of reciting sadhanas and mantras for each of the 21 emanations of Tara.  Sadhanas are tantric meditations through which a practitioner aims to achieve union or identity with a divine being such as Mother Tara through visualizations and prayers.

Traditionally the offerings for the sangha and altar are sponsored by Dharma students, especially if they want to dedicate the merit to their loved ones in need of support and prayers. Sponsorship of Tara practice is $125.

Please click here to sponsor Tara practice.

Be sure to include a dedication! 

If you'd like to know more about sponsoring a puja, please contact pujas@kadampa-center.org for instructions about making the donation and sending your personal dedication.