Gompa

The Spring Session is May 5 - 19

Join us for 3 weeks of Family Dharma Discussions. The subject matter and format for Family Dharma Discussions is:

• How to say what you believe
• How to treat real live bullies
• How to decide whether to play a video game or watch a show 

The Winter/Spring Session is January 13 - April 28

• Students will be studying 16 Guidelines Curriculum from the wisdom group How We Think. We have three classes, one for preschool, one for grades K - 4, and one for grades 5 - 8. 
• Drop off is made available by the generosity of many volunteer teachers and assistants.
• Exceptions:
  • Families will join the larger community in the gompa on Feb 10 to celebrate Losar
  • No program at the center on April 21 because of the Family Camping weekend

There will be no special programming this Sunday. Children are welcome to join their families in the gompa.

Holiday Schedule

• Sundays, November 25 - January 6 (No program Dec 23 and Dec 30)
  • November 25, Thanksgiving weekend, Families are invited to join the larger community in the gompa for a special program
  • December 2 - 16, Parents are invited to join their children in the classroom building for programming designed for Family participation.
  • This is not drop-off programming, parents attend with their children.
  • December 23 and 30, Children are welcome to join their families in the gompa.

In Buddhism, we practice offering a mandala - a whole jeweled universe of the best of everything - to our teachers and to the Buddhas.

Geshe Sangpo reminds us that this is a wonderful practice for earning merit.

On this Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, we'll offer a special mandala, created from items our members donate to benefit Interact. We'll learn about the practice, and use our day to benefit others! 

Everyone is invited to bring their items in by November 25. We will take all the items into the gompa on this day, and offer them on behalf of all our members as part of the mandala, then take the collected items to InterAct.

Items to be collected in our lobby now until Nov 25:

• Bath Towels
• Feminine Hygiene Products
• Gas Cards
• Hair Shampoo/Conditioner (Full Size)
• Women’s Socks/Underwear

Sunday mornings typically begin with prayers and a brief meditation.

Sunday is a great time for a first visit to Kadampa Center – students at every level come, from newcomers to practitioners with 30+ years of experience, and it's a great opportunity to meet others and start making new friends.

Led by Christy Batts, coordinator of our Family Program

Just in time for Thanksgiving, we will explore gratitude, how it benefits us and how to think about it in a meaningful way. We'll learn a little about how science has shown that gratitude improves happiness, and think about our own role models for gratitude.
Led by Denise Flora

Sunday mornings typically begin with prayers and a brief meditation.

Sunday is a great time for a first visit to Kadampa Center – students at every level come, from newcomers to practitioners with 30+ years of experience, and it's a great opportunity to meet others and start making new friends.

We offer a full range of children's programs on Sundays. Children are invited to sit on the blue cushions at the front of the gompa, and then depart to their classes after opening prayers. Any child who wishes to is welcome to remain in the gompa for the teachings.

In our journey to reduce troubling thoughts, develop our positive qualities, and extend our compassion to all sentient beings, some of us may stumble with bringing kindness, acceptance, and a caring attitude towards ourselves.

This session will bring together insights from the increasing body of evidence about the many physical and emotional benefits of self-compassion and how self-compassion fits into Buddhist psychology.

We will explore misconceptions about self-compassion and experiment with some meditations and tools to strengthen our self-compassion.

This talk will be led by Karen Edwards, one of our senior students. She will draw from Thupten Jinpa’s A Fearless Heart (2015) and Kristin Neff’s, Self Compassion (2011) for this talk.

Geshe Gelek will teach on the 12 deeds of Shakyamuni Buddha. These are deeds that all buddhas perform. They are : descending from Tushita Heaven, entering his mother’s womb, birth, studying arts and handicrafts, enjoying life in the palace, renunciation, undertaking ascetic practices, going to Bodhgaya, defeating the negative forces (Mara), attaining enlightenment, turning the wheel of Dharma, entering parinirvana.

Following Geshe-la's teaching, we will have a group reading of the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra - the Buddha's teaching on emptiness, given on Vulture Peak in northern India. It is one of the most well-known of the Buddha's teachings.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche says:  "(W)e are extremely fortunate, unbelievably fortunate even to be able to hear some teachings on emptiness, the Buddha’s teachings on the wisdom perfection. Even one stanza, not the complete teaching, but even a few lines from the Buddha’s teaching on the Perfection of Wisdom, even just to be able to hear it is unbelievably fortunate, leave aside having the opportunity to meditate, to reflect and to meditate, to study... For us, even if we are unable to practice; even those of us who are unable to practice in our daily life, at least we can leave a positive imprint on our mental continuum, to make preparation to realize emptiness in the near future. Even if we can’t meditate in everyday life, on lam-rim and on the teachings on the Perfection of Wisdom, at least we are able to leave an imprint by reading and by listening, even one time."

Come join in this amazing practice, and take a step toward realizing emptiness!

We will read the Vajra Cutter Sutra "monastery style" -- the pages will be divided evenly among all those present, and then we will all read our pages aloud, simultaneously.

This creates a joyful cacophony, as many voices join in together!  Even though we don't hear it all with our conscious mind, the imprint of the entire sutra enters our mindstreams.