Gompa

We offer this Medicine Buddha Puja to benefit Chris Spruyt, who attended Kadampa Center for many years. Chris passed away suddenly May 2. The puja will be at 3 pm Saturday, August 4.  A gathering to share memories and stories about Chris will follow the puja, in our front lobby area. Medicine Buddha Puja is particularly beneficial for those who have passed away and are passing through the bardo. In this beautiful prayer service, we recollect the qualities of the seven Medicine Buddhas and pray for a beneficial rebirth. Geshe Gelek encourages us to attend pujas when members of our community or their loved ones have passed away, to offer our support for those who are grieving and those who have died.

About Medicine Buddha puja:

Many eons ago, seven bodhisattvas strongly prayed for the temporal and ultimate happiness of all sentient beings, that their names become wish-fulfilling in order to heal both the mental and physical sicknesses and diseases of sentient beings. They vowed that their prayers will be actualized during these degenerate times when the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha are in decline. When they became enlightened, one of the ten powers of a Buddha is the power of prayer - that means that all the prayers that have been made get fulfilled. As the Buddha's holy speech is irrevocable, you can wholly trust in their power to quickly grant blessings to help all sentient beings in these degenerate times. They are called the Seven Medicine Buddhas, the main one is `Lapis Buddha of Medicine, King of Light'. Buddha Shakyamuni taught the teachings on the Medicine Buddha, and according to one tradition, is also considered as one of the Medicine Buddhas, and hence the Eight Medicine Buddhas.

The seven Medicine Buddhas manifested in order to pacify the obstacles to the achievement of temporary happiness, liberation and the ultimate happiness of full enlightenment. They are powerful in healing diseases as well as for purification. The Medicine Buddha practice can be used to help purify those who have already died and liberate them from suffering. It is also very powerful in bringing about success, both temporary and ultimate.

The reason why the Medicine Buddha practice brings success is that in the past when the seven Medicine Buddhas were bodhisattvas practicing the path to enlightenment, they promised and made extensive prayers to actualize all the prayers of living beings of the degenerate time when the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha are in decline. They generated a very strong intention to become enlightened for this reason; this was their motivation for meditating on and actualizing the path.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, "It is very important that the elaborate Medicine Buddha puja with extensive offerings be done regularly. The offerings should be as extensive and as beautiful as possible, and done in order to benefit all sentient beings."

Dear Kadampa Center Family,
 

Aloha! Dust off your Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts… LET’S LUAU!

When: Saturday, July 28, 6:30pm

Where: Kadampa Center
 

Best Hawaiian dressed contest, potluck, hula hooping, lei and limbo fun.

Bring your favorite summer dish, hula hoops, lawn chairs and soak your feet in a pool!
 

Love from Heather,

Hospitality Coordinator

Kadampa Center is happy to welcome Venerable Robina Courtin for a week-long visit with teachings from 7-9  every evening, a weekend workshop and our Sunday morning Dharma.

Don't miss this dynamic teacher who combines a precise knowledge of Dharma with a challenging and compassionate teaching style.  Veberable Robina will arrive, very auspiciously, on Saka Dawa, a Buddha holy day that marks Shakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana (passing from this life).

Come experience Venerable Robina's unique teaching style, which penetrates through the fog of confusion to the essence of the question at hand.

Click here to view all of her teachings at Kadampa Center in 2019.

Get a taste of Venerable Robina's teaching style.

Volunteer opportunities!  Be a part of making this visit a success!  Sign up to volunteer here.

Registration requested. Please click here

Schedule:

Supporting the teachings

Supporting the teachings is an incredibly powerful and important act -- it is a practice of the highest form of generosity – giving the means to enlightenment. Kadampa Center has for many years operated within the ideal of offering teachings without charging a fee, so that money is not an obstacle for anyone to hear the precious teachings and participate in the practices. We rely on the generous hearts of those who are moved to support the spiritual offerings and keep them open to everyone regardless of ability to pay. Supporting the teachings benefits not just the Center and those who attend, but it also greatly benefits the donor, because it creates the causes to meet the teachings again in future lives, and deepens the connection with the teacher. 

Kadampa Center offers two ways to support the teachings: Sponsorships and Donations.

Sponsorships begin at $108.

Sponsors receive:

 - The opportunity to attend a private tea with the teacher at the end of the visit, on Saturday, June 22. We must receive the sponsorship by Wednesday, June 19 to assure your place at the tea.

 - The opportunity to write a personal dedication that we will post on the gompa door for all to share.  We must receive the sponsorship and dedication by two days before the teacher’s visit begins to assure we have time to print and post your dedication.

There may be more than one sponsor for any event.

Donations are any amount less than $108.

Donors of $50 or more receive:

 - The opportunity to write a personal dedication that we will post on the gompa door for all to share. We must receive the donation and dedication by two days before the teacher’s visit begins to assure we have time to print and post your dedication.
 

Supporting the teachings is a two-step process
 

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here).

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

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.

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 generosity!

Venerable Robina Sponsorship Opportunities

Transformed Warrior (sponsor travel) ~ $350

Awakened Warrior ~ $250

Insight Warrior (teaching session) ~ $200

Compassion Warrior ~ $150

Realized Warrior (spirtual materials) ~ $108

Venerable Robina Donation Opportunities

Heart Giving ~ $Your Choice

Thank You!

Every Drop Counts!  Be a wish-fulfilling jewel and offer a pint of blood, a gift of life to others! Join our second annual blood drive on Compassion Day, His Holiness' birthday.

To celebrate His Holiness’ birthday, Kadampa Center will hold a blood drive on Friday, July 6, from 10 am to 2:30 p.m.

We will send His Holiness a card signed by all our donors and support volunteers, so the more bountiful the number of donations, the better!

Your offering of blood can be the difference between life and death for another, benefitting not only the recipients but everyone in their lives.  Many of us have personal experience with blood transfusions, either for ourselves or for someone we love – our brother,  our mother, our BFF.

We’re working with the pros in blood drives, the American Red Cross, and we have a big goal – 50 pints!  Last year, our members and friends donated 28 units of blood and 11 units of "power red" blood, and more than 50 people participated, as donors or support volunteers. Please invite your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to join in our blood drive and keep hearts beating throughout our community.

Here’s what you need to know to help create our gift of compassion to others, to offer to His Holiness:

Sign up online! Click here to register.  When you get to the link, click on the red circle with the white arrow, then choose your time and type of donation.

If you can’t donate blood for any reason but want to help create this gift to His Holiness,  you can volunteer here.

Read here about how one precious life was saved by other's kindness. You can make the same difference for someone!

And don’t forget to dedicate your merit, for the benefit of all sentient beings, and for the long, happy, healthy life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama!

FPMT Narm meeting June 22-24
Vacation June 24-July1
ECU Orientation July 2-3
July 4 off
Back in the office on July 5

Donna away