Gompa

Kadampa Center is happy to welcome Visiting Teacher Don Handrick for a weekend workshop on Eight Steps to a Happy Life!

The Noble Eightfold Path is one of the principal teachings of the Buddha and still has great relevance today, providing us with effective guidelines for how to live our lives and develop spiritually. In this weekend course we will explore these eight factors that can alleviate our suffering and train in their skillful and practical application in order to find true happiness in daily life and beyond.

Don Handrick will help us explore these guidelines and how they can help us live truly happy, meaningful lives.

The schedule:

Friday, June 2  7-8:30 pm

Saturday, June 3  10 am - noon and 1:30 - 4 pm

Sunday, June 4   1:30 - 4 pm

Don will also teach our regular  Sunday morning Dharma for a Happy life, from 10:30-noon.

We encourage folks to bring a bag lunch on Saturday and Sunday, so we can keep our momentum by discussing the morning's teachings over lunch -- and get better acquainted in the process!

As always, these Dharma teachings will be offered with no entrance fee. However, there are extensive costs involved in bringing a visiting teacher from another city, including travel and food.  A great way to support the teachings is through sponsorship!

Sponsor Taking the Path to a Happy Life

Want to do more than just come and hear teachings?  We need volunteers to help greet folks at the door, and set up and take down water bowl offerings.  Sign up here for the volunteer job of your choice!

Learn more about Don Handrick.

Every Friday from 12:00-1:00, 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

     "I, a yogi, have practiced in this manner;

     You, who aspire for liberation, too should do likewise."

With these words, Lama Tsongkhapa concludes each point of the path to enlightment that he lays out in the beautiful text Songs of Spiritual Experience. This text  touches on all the essential points of the Lamrim, from devotion to our spiritual mentor through understanding impermanence, karma, renunciation and so on up to developing single-pointed concentration and generating the wisdom that perceives emptiness.

On Wednesdays, Geshe Gelek will teach from Songs of Spiritual Experience, a condensed version of the Lamrim in 45 stanzas. Download the text here.

(Coincidentally, there is a book in our bookstore with the same title, a lovely book, but it is not a commentary on this text.)

Meditation is a foundational tool of the Buddhist practitioner. We use different types of meditation in our practice, to clear and calm the mind, to review and deepen our understanding of teachings, to develop concentration, and so on.

Our First Saturday meditation practice will include three common modes of meditation: breathing, concentration and review.

Each Saturday will begin with a brief overview of meditation, based on notes taken from Geshe Gelek. This will be followed by periods of breathing meditation, concentration meditation, and review of topics such as Tonglen, the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation or Verses from Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life (chapter 6, Patience).

Geshe Gelek says that practicing in a group enhances and increases the power of our meditation, with all of us benefitting from the shared energy and experience of others in the room.

These sessions are led by senior students.

Imagine your heart is so warm and full that all you can think about is giving others all they need -- possessions, happiness, fearlessness.

Imagine your mind is so patient, ou're not bothered by the neighbor's loud stereo, the driver who cuts in front of you, the co-worker who takes credit for your work.

Imagine you have developed such concentration that you can focus for hours on a single thought.

These are just some of the Six Perfections, the summary of all the deeds of a bodhisattva.

Through these practices -- Generosity, Patience, Morality, Joyous Effort, Concentration and Wisdom-- bodhisattvas hone and perfect their ability to work tirelessly for the benefit of others.

In this weekend retreat, Geshe Gelek will lead us in meditating on the Six Perfections.

Noland’s farm is a lovely setting for retreat – a peaceful place in the country with lots of space for reflection. The accommodations are quite rustic – sleeping is indoors, but be prepared to bring sleeping bags and padding. Camping is also an option. The farm is not fully handicapped accessible, including uneven ground for walking and stairs or steps to entrances. The farm is located in Alamance County, off Route 87 about halfway between Route 40 and Route 64 (about 15 minutes north of Pittsboro). Exact directions will be sent after registration.

At the retreat, we uphold the five retreat precepts of no lying; no taking something that isn’t freely given; no killing; no sexual contact; no use of drugs, alcohol or smoking.

Please plan to arrive at the farm on Friday betwen 3:30-5:30pm (if possible to check in). Dinner will be at 6:00pm and a mandatory orientation session begins at 7:00pm.

After a noon lunch on Sunday is a final cleaning and packing session.

Click on the link below to register.

Register here

Find out what it means to take refuge in the Three Jewels and the essential practices of refuge. Learn about the advantage of taking lay vows and their role in enhancing our spiritual growth.

Students who have had prior teachings on Buddhist meditation (Discovering Buddhism, Meditation 101, etc.) are invited to participate in this evening practice. Led by the Discovering Buddhism teacher, Shankha Mitra, this session is aimed at students in the course, but is also open to students who meet the above criteria. An important part of the Discovering Buddhism course is trying the practices, and this class allows students the opportunity to have guidance aLearn the essential facts about the law of cause and effect. Explore ways to deal with life most effectively and take control of your future!nd the support of group practice to learn.

Investigate the role of the teacher on the spiritual path: the need for a teacher, the qualities of teacher and student, and how to relate to a teacher for greatest benefit.

Students who have had prior teachings on Buddhist meditation (Discovering Buddhism, Meditation 101, etc.) are invited to participate in this evening practice. Led by the Discovering Buddhism teacher, Don Brown, this session is aimed at students in the course, but is also open to students who meet the above criteria. An important part of the Discovering Buddhism course is trying the practices, and this class allows students the opportunity to have guidance aLearn the essential facts about the law of cause and effect. Explore ways to deal with life most effectively and take control of your future!nd the support of group practice to learn.

Investigate the role of the teacher on the spiritual path: the need for a teacher, the qualities of teacher and student, and how to relate to a teacher for greatest benefit.

Relating to the Spiritual Teacher is part of a two-year series of classes called Discovering Buddhism. In this course we explore 13 essential topics in Buddhism, from Meditation to Karma to Death and Rebirth, with much, much more! This is an excellent course of study for those who have the very basics and wish to start going a little deeper into Buddhist philosophy.

DB was developed by our affiliate organization, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, and is taught at Kadampa Center by senior lay students with many years of study and practice. Students who take the course together tend to develop great friendships with their Dharma buddies!

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.  No pre-registration is required.

This class is led by Don Brown.

Find out what it means to take refuge in the Three Jewels and the essential practices of refuge. Learn about the advantage of taking lay vows and their role in enhancing our spiritual growth.

Refuge in the Three Jewels is part of a two-year series of classes called Discovering Buddhism. In this course we explore 13 essential topics in Buddhism, from Meditation to Karma to Death and Rebirth, with much, much more! This is an excellent course of study for those who have the very basics and wish to start going a little deeper into Buddhist philosophy.

DB was developed by our affiliate organization, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, and is taught at Kadampa Center by senior lay students with many years of study and practice. Students who take the course together tend to develop great friendships with their Dharma buddies!

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.  No pre-registration is required.

This class is led by  Shankha Mitra, with visiting teacher Don Handrick on Monday, June 5.

The great sage Lama Tsongkhapa taught that the four-point analysis is the best tool to use for meditation on emptiness.

In this class, Geshe Gelek will teach how to do the four-point analysis meditation.

This class is designed for students who are interested in developing their understanding of emptiness, and/or those who attended the Basic Program class on the Heart Sutra.