Gompa

8:30 pm Monday, July 3, 2017

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 $75 - click here to sponsor this puja.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
11:00 am Saturday, August 19, 2017

 

      

Don't miss this rare and precious opportunity - a one-day visit from our Teacher and Spiritual Director Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche. On his way to our Light of the Path Retreat, Rinpoche agreed to spend the day at Kadampa Center to teach the Mahayana principle of Bodhicitta Mindfulness.

Known for his unpredictable teaching style, Lama Zopa Rinpoche often will change the subject to better suit the needs of the students. As an FPMT center we place all our vision, practices, and programs under his guidance. Just meeting Rinpoche is extremely special, much less directly hearing his unique humor, insight, and compassion!

Live Stream here

The schedule:

11 am  Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches on Bodhicitta Mindfulness

Students are encouraged to bring katas (or buy one in the bookstore – best to get one in advance if you can!) and line up to welcome Rinpoche as he arrives, and there will be an opportunity to present offerings at the end of the day. The teachings will be transcribed live during the event in case anyone has difficulty understanding his English with an accent.

Childcare is available. Please go here to register.
Geshe Gelek has requested children learn Lama Zopa Rinpoche's long life prayer as an offering to him. 
Please go here to use this recording by Ven. Lhamo to learn with your children.

Sponsorship Opportunities

You can help make this visit possible with your generous sponsorship.

Sponsor!

You can also help by volunteering!

A Short Biography

(From Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive)

Rinpoche was born in Thami, Nepal, in 1946. At the age of three he was recognized as the reincarnation of Sherpa Nyingma yogi, Kunsang Yeshe, the Lawudo Lama. Rinpoche’s Thami home was not far from the Lawudo cave, in the Mount Everest region of Nepal, where his predecessor meditated for the last twenty years of his life. Rinpoche’s own description of his early years may be found in his book, The Door to Satisfaction (Wisdom Publications). At the age of ten, Rinpoche went to Tibet and studied and meditated at Domo Geshe Rinpoche’s monastery near Pagri, until the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959 forced him to forsake Tibet for the safety of Bhutan.

Rinpoche then went to the Tibetan refugee camp at Buxa Duar, West Bengal, India, where he met Lama Yeshe, who became his closest teacher. The Lamas went to Nepal in 1967, and over the next few years built Kopan and Lawudo Monasteries. In 1971 Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave the first of his famous annual lam-rim retreat courses, which continue at Kopan to this day.

In 1974, with Lama Yeshe, Rinpoche began traveling the world to teach and establish centers of Dharma. When Lama Yeshe passed away in 1984, Rinpoche took over as spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), which has continued to flourish under his peerless leadership. More details of Rinpoche’s life and work may be found on the FPMT Web site.

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
Thursday, November 23, (All day) 2017

Have a Happy Holiday!

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
8:00 am Monday, June 12, to 5:00 pm Thursday, June 15, 2017
Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
2:00 pm Thursday, July 6, 2017

 

         Every Drop Counts! 

 

Be a wish-fulfilling jewel and offer a pint of blood, a gift of life to others!

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

We hope to present our gift to His Holiness when he comes to Raleigh in October, so the more bountiful the number of donations, the better!

Can't donate blood? You can contribute by volunteering!  We need folks to help make room in the gompa for the donor beds, to check people in and offer snacks, and to set the gompa back up after the drive. Click here to sign up as a volunteer.

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!  

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:

Who: All aspiring bodhisattvas!
What: 50 pints of blood, one pint at a time
When: 2 – 6:30 pm, Thursday, July 6, (His Holiness’ actual birthday)
Where: Kadampa Center gompa
How: Go to redcrossblood.org  and enter sponsor code: Kadampa
  Then follow the instructions
Why: To eliminate suffering!

 

The link to register is redcrossblood.org   Our sponsor code is Kadampa

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

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!

 

 

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
8:30 pm Monday, June 19, 2017

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 $75 - click here to sponsor this puja.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
12:30 pm Sunday, June 18, 2017
Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
12:00 pm Monday, July 31, 2017
                                       

Medicine Buddha puja 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.

Typically we do Medicine Buddha Puja in English.

Sponsor this puja here.

 

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
5:00 pm Sunday, July 9, 2017

We offer this Medicine Buddha Puja to benefit Bob Storms, who passed away May 22.

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.

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."

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
1:00 pm Friday, June 9, 2017

Every Friday from 12:00-1:00, (except Puja days when we meet later, see calendar.)

Come to the Center (BYOL, bring your own lunch) and hang out around the big conference table.

Connections made now will support you and your practice in the future!

“Time is an illusion, lunch time doubly so.” ~ Douglas Adams

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa

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