Gompa

12:30 pm Sunday, May 20, 2018

Geshe-la will bless the wedding of Jeff Suss and Amanda Carson after the teachings. This is a private blessing, the Center members are not invited.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
3:00 pm Monday, July 16, 2018

A Special Animal Liberation/Blessing

According to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, it’s incredibly important to do practices to benefit animals and lead them to liberation: “It’s not enough that you look after animals and they give you comfort. You must do something of practical benefit for them. This is what you can do every day:​ Circumambulate with them around holy objects, chanting mantras. Recite prayers in their ears to plant the seed of all the realizations of the path to enlightenment. This makes a huge difference. It has incredible results, enabling them to have a good rebirth in their next life, to be born as a human being, and meet the Dharma.”

Join us for a special animal liberation! It begins with a pet blessing. Bring your critters to the center (see below for important details) to have your pet circumambulate the stupa and receive a special blessing and mantras by the Kadampa Center nuns.

After the blessing, we’ll continue with an animal release of earthworms, who would otherwise have been used as bait, into the woods and soil around the center. You are also welcome to purchase and bring earthworms ​to release.

This special event is partially sponsored by the Saah family, but we welcome other sponsors—if you’d like to make a special donation towards this incredible merit opportunity and the purchase of the beings that will be freed, please contact Donna​ at program.donna@kadampa-center.org

Important Details for the Pet Blessing

Dogs must be on leashes, all other animals must be in cages. In order to keep all the dogs and cats happy, please keep your pet under your control and be ready to follow our instructions at the site. We will have water available to keep the pets from getting thirsty​. ​If the weather is bad, animals will be invited inside the building for the blessing and circumambulation of a special altar.

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
3:00 pm Tuesday, May 29, 2018

A Special Animal Liberation/Blessing

According to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, it’s incredibly important to do practices to benefit animals and lead them to liberation: “It’s not enough that you look after animals and they give you comfort. You must do something of practical benefit for them. This is what you can do every day:​ Circumambulate with them around holy objects, chanting mantras. Recite prayers in their ears to plant the seed of all the realizations of the path to enlightenment. This makes a huge difference. It has incredible results, enabling them to have a good rebirth in their next life, to be born as a human being, and meet the Dharma.”

  
  

Join us for a special afternoon of animal liberation! It begins with a pet blessing. Bring your critters to the center (see below for important details) to have your pet circumambulate the stupa and receive a special blessing and mantras by the Kadampa Center nuns.

After the blessing, we’ll continue with an animal release of earthworms, who would otherwise have been used as bait, into the woods and soil around the center. You are also welcome to purchase and bring earthworms ​to release.

This special event is partially sponsored by the Saah family, but we welcome other sponsors—if you’d like to make a special donation towards this incredible merit opportunity and the purchase of the beings that will be freed, please contact Donna​ at program.donna@kadampa-center.org

Important Details for the Pet Blessing

Dogs must be on leashes, all other animals must be in cages. In order to keep all the dogs and cats happy, please keep your pet under your control and be ready to follow our instructions at the site. We will have water available to keep the pets from getting thirsty​. ​If the weather is bad, animals will be invited inside the building for the blessing and circumambulation of a special altar.

    

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
Monday, July 16, (All day) 2018

Seven weeks after attaining enlightenment at Bodhgaya, the Buddha gave his first teaching at the Deer Park in Sarnath. He 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's Observance of the First Turning of the Wheel, Chokor Duchen,  will include:

  5:30 am   Eight Mahayana Precepts please register if you plan to participate

  3 pm        Animal blessing and liberation

  5:30 pm    International Sangha Day: Life at Sera Jay

    7 pm       Shakyamuni Buddha Puja

Lama Zopa Rinpoche notes that on a Buddha Holy Day such as Chokhor Duchen, karmic consequences are multiplied 100 million times, according to a Vinaya text.

Center members who have previously taken the Eight Mahayana Precepts are encouraged to take them at the center, or at home.

Additionally, it is an auspicious day for prayers, practices, and meditations focusing on any aspect of the Mahayana path to enlightenment.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
7:30 pm Tuesday, May 29, 2018

  

Medicine Buddha puja is a beautiful prayer service that includes lyrical praises to the seven Medicine Buddhas, requests for their help and aspirations for our own spiritual attainments.

It is beneficial for mental and physical healing and world peace, and is especially beneficial for those who are experiencing physical or mental illness or those who have recently passed away.

This service is very welcoming to newcomers and beginners. Typically we do Medicine Buddha Puja in English.

Anyone is welcome to sponsor a puja and offer a dedication to benefit themselves or loved ones. Sponsor this puja here.

This puja will begin following the Refuge ceremony. Starting time may vary.

 

More about the benefits of Medicine Buddha puja

From the Service Manual for Spiritual Program Coordinators, FPMT:

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 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."

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
4:30 pm Sunday, July 8, 2018

Guru puja (Lama Chöpa)  is a practice of making offerings and requests to all the Buddhas and holy beings, but especially the root guru, who, according to the teachings, is the root of the path to liberation. It is a practice recommended by FPMT's Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who says:

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 recited partly 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.

Sponsorship of a Guru puja is $70 - click here to sponsor this puja.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
4:30 pm Saturday, February 10, 2018

Guru puja (Lama Chöpa)  is a practice of making offerings and requests to all the Buddhas and holy beings, but especially the root guru, who, according to the teachings, is the root of the path to liberation. It is a practice recommended by FPMT's Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who says:

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 recited partly 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.

Sponsorship of a Guru puja is $70 - click here to sponsor this puja.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
Thursday, March 1, (All day) 2018

The two-week long Tibetan Great Prayer Festival, Monlam Chenmo, which began with the Tibetan New Year, culminates in the Day of Miracles, which falls this year on Thursday, March 1.  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 of events on this auspicious day includes taking the Eight Mahayana Precepts early in the morning, as well as several opportunities during the day for group readings of the Sanghata Sutra, the Golden Light Sutra, or or Diamond Cutter Sutra.

Kadampa Center Schedule of Events

6:00 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, sitting on high beds, taking intoxicants, wearing perfume or jewelry, or eating after noon. 

The first time you take these precepts, it must be from a qualified master. After that, you can take them from your altar. Geshe Gelek will offer precepts if students request it.  If you wish to take precepts for the first time, please register here.

7:15 am A group reading of the Vajra Cutter Sutra will follow the precepts, and then a light breakfast will be served.

12 pm  Group reading of the Golden Light Sutra

5:30 pm  Group reading of the Sanghata Sutra

The Center will be open all day so students can come and do practices, either individually, or as a group.

Our FPMT spiritual director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, encourages students to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts on holy days.

Other Recommended Practices on Holy Days:

Reading The Golden Light Sutra, Confessions to the 35 Buddhas, or any other Saddhana, Mantra, or “heart practice”
     
Other ways to create merit:

  • To make the day even more powerful dedicate all your positive actions to the benefit of all sentient beings.
  • Be mindful to take advantage of opportunities to practice acts of kindness and generosity towards all sentient beings, including family, friends, strangers, co-workers, “enemies”, and animals.
  • Rejoice in all the positive actions of oneself and others.
  • Rejoice in recognizing and avoiding any occasion to experience irritation, impatience, anger, envy, jealousy, laziness, or any other negative emotion.
  • Purify any negative action of body speech and mind extensively.

 

More about Monlam Chenmo and the Day of Miracles

Monlam Chenmo is a two-week period during which the Buddha performed various miracles. The two weeks of holy days are observed with the Tibetan Great Prayer Festival beginning on Tibetan New Year, and, on the final day - the Day of Miracles - many fesitvals and rituals are held.

The Great Prayer Festival was established in Tibet in 1409 by Lama Tsongkhapa to commemorate Shakyamuni Buddha’s performance of miracles at Shravasti. According to the Sutra of the Wise and Foolish, six great Hindu teachers, representing the six great schools of Hinduism, challenged Shakyamuni Buddha to a competition of miracles. Typically the Buddha purposely avoided displays of powers because people are easily interested in mundane powers instead of practicing Dharma. However, through his clairovoyance, he understood they wouldn’t be subdued unless he performed the miracles, so he outdid them for 15 days, and the six scholars converted to Buddhism. The main purpose of the Great Prayer Festival is to pray for the long life of all the holy Gurus of all traditions, for the survival and spreading of the dharma in the minds of all sentient beings, and for world peace.

The Day of Miracles is an auspicious day for prayer and practice, as the karmic results of positive actions are multiplied exponentially. Students are encouraged to devote some special time to engage in positive actions, and heart practices; to rejoice in the positive actions of others throughout the world on this day, and to dedicate the merit to the benefit and eventual enlightenment of all sentient beings.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
10:30 am Sunday, February 11, 2018

Our Sunday morning teachings are a vibrant, interactive experience where we explore applying the methods of Buddhism to the nitty-gritty of daily life. 

On this Sunday, Visiting Teacher Venerable Amy Miller will teach.

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.

On many Sundays, we also host other events, such as the Newcomer Orientation, New Member Orientation, pujas, and more. Special events for holy days, special practices, or exhibits and visiting teachers are also occasionally held on Sundays, so for all these events please check the calendar for more information and specific times.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
1:30 pm Sunday, February 11, 2018

Making Friends with Death: Finding Peace and Perspective in this Ultimate Transition

A Weekend Workshop with Venerable Amy Miller

       

For most of our culture, death often presents an anxious situation ridden with fear, loss, hopelessness and grief.
In this weekend workshop, we will explore a more expansive view of this natural transition and how it is possible to face death with peace, dignity and no regrets.
The weekend will include discussion and meditation, as well as with practical applications for caregivers.
This course is open to all levels of students with a particular interest in death and dying, hospice work, and all caregivers.

This workshop begins Friday evening. The schedule for Sunday is:

  10:30 am - noon  Regular Kadampa Center Sunday Dharma with Family Program

   12 pm  Brown-bag lunch

   1:30 - 4 pm  Workshop concludes

     We all pitch in to make Venerable Amy's visit a success. There are lots of ways to volunteer!  You can sign up here.

                             Sponsor the Teachings Here

Learn more about Venerable Amy and her teaching schedule at other centers at her website.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa

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