25th Anniversary Celebration

25 Years of Sharing the Dharma - A wish for the 3 times.

The Year Long Celebration begins! It's The Kadampa Center's 25th Anniversary this year... 25 years of Sharing the Dharma built the Center you walk into today and we alone build the Center we dream of in the future. We will have a major event in June of 2017 to mark the auspicious time when a wish became reality. To build the suspense, each month we will bring you a story from a founding member. 

Kadampa Center Memories - Story #3

by Bill Judge

According to the “way back machine” it was 1992 and Don Brown was advertising a meditation class at the Unity Church.  It seemed like something I could really use at the time.  How true that was for so many reasons.  It was in this class that I met Andrea who would, two years later, become my wife, best friend and partner in all things.  Our class was held in what I often refer to as “the diaper room” which was a part of the Church’s daycare.  Each time our class met, before we began, we had to remove the diaper pales to make room for us all.  I am sure Joanna Smith remembers.  To this day the smell of diapers has become like incense and brings back calming memories.  Don’s class planted a seed that I will be forever grateful for.  I won’t go as far as saying that he saved my life but I will say that he helped me to find it.  Thank you Don!

Shortly after the class was over work began on the Kadampa Center’s first space which Herb Cunningham was instrumental in finding.  Linda Graham designed the interior of the space and Patrick McGinnity led the construction effort. Andrea, Joanna and a few others were there for painting and the many other tasks that were needed to transform this basement space into the wonderful Dharma Center it became.  I helped out here and there with work on the alter and a few other odds and ends.  Soon our first statues arrived, Lama Tsonkappa and his two students Kedjup Jey and Kyelsup Jey.  They were quite lonely on that big alter.  The day the beautiful statue of the Buddha arrived was a joyous one.

Our little basement Dharma Center grew and became quite beautiful as more statues and thankas arrived.  There was a wonderful closeness between the regulars who wore many different hats to make sure things happened.  The joy in shared effort was always evident. I was very honored to serve as the Kadampa Center’s first Board of Directors chair and help out in those early days.  We were all very enthusiastic about the Center’s future and sharing the Dharma.

Don kept things going with a steady stream of amazing teachers, Kirti Tenshab Rinpoche, Venerables George Churinoff, Thupten Pendy, Tsin la, Geshe Donyo and the list goes on.  We were so fortunate to receive incredible teachings from such wonderful teachers in such an intimate setting.

Geshe Tsulga’s arrival as the Kadampa Centers first resident teacher took the transformation that had begun for me with that first class in the diaper room to an entirely different level, one that is well beyond this little reflection of the Center’s early days.  (Feel free to ask me about my journeys with Gheshe Tsulga sometime.  Just be prepared for a long chat.)   Let’s just say that referring to this place as “The Center” couldn’t be more appropriate.  Geshe Tsulga patiently taught, often to only a small handful of us, and blessed the Kadampa Center in a way that is still felt today.

In those early days the statues sat directly on the alter.  Geshe Tsulga mentioned that they should be on a throne so he and I set about building one for the Bhudda and one for Lama Tsonkappa and his students.  I felt very privileged to be there as a part of the filling and blessing of these statues.  I will say however that it was almost comical at times to see Geshe La halfway inside the statue to carefully place the many roles of microfilmed prayers as well as the sacred objects brought by Lama Zopa.   

Lama Zopa’s first visit was exciting and brought in a pretty good crowd, filling the Center beyond capacity.  The perfect teachings, the rainbow above the Center, the long blessing at the restaurant and the look on Don’s face when Rinpoche told him that we should have a life size Kalachakra in the Center made for a wonderful time.

So many years later it is wonderful to see how the Kadampa Center has grown and how the teachings have spread.  Eh-Ma-Ho!

Kadampa Center Memories - Story #2

by Andrea Judge

My landing up at Kadampa Center’s meditation class back in 1992 was quite by accident. A coworker at the Community Wholistic Health Center where I worked, showed me a postcard about the upcoming class and suggested that I might be interested.  Up to that point I really hadn’t thought about meditation, but my curiosity was piqued and I decided to attend.

I remember the class was held at the Wade Avenue Unity Church, in the day care room.  A surprising choice I thought, but we worked with the deficits - prior to class someone would remove the diaper pail and put it outside to eliminate the distraction of smelly diapers during meditation.

I recall Don Brown’s enthusiastic and genuine talk about helping others and found that it resonated with me.  The group discussions were lively and the practice of meditation, although challenging, was grounding.

As I got to know my classmates, I found one of the young men, Bill, quite interesting.  He seemed to be a deeply spiritual person, yet he was full of contradictions.  He hunted. He drank beer.  He was a firefighter.  Hmm. 

Bill and I continued with Kadampa Center’s next class, held at a yoga center, where we both learned more about Buddhism.  We discussed Buddhism and our meditation practices.  We helped out at class, setting up water bowls and cleaning up afterwards.   Our friendship grew, based on the principles of Buddhism.  We tried to live by the tenets of Buddhism.  We wished for the happiness of all sentient beings.  We tried not to create suffering.  We looked into our lives to see were we might be committing negative actions of body, speech and mind.  We opened our minds and our hearts.

My introduction to Buddhism over twenty years ago, provided a framework for my life.  It gave me a grounding structure and measure of how to live one’s life.  It also gave me and Bill a wonderful opportunity to build our lives together on the foundation of loving kindness.  Today, after twenty-some years of marriage, we still find the Buddhist principles at the core in our relationship and lives.  A precious gift discovered in the day care room so many years ago. 

Early Days of Kadampa Center - Story #1

by Herb Cunningham

I first met Don Brown when he was offering a meditation class. He ran an ad in the local paper, which a friend told me about. I had been studying meditation on my own for a few months, and wanted to hook up with a regular meditation group.

I called him, asked about the course, which he was charging $25 for, as I remember. I asked him if there was a text, and he said to get "Essence of Refined Gold" by the Third Dalai Lama.

I got the book, and started reading. After getting into the Sanskrit names, and all the various lists of Tibetan Buddhism, I decided it was not for me. I called him and cancelled my registration. He sent my check back. Since I already owned the book, I kept reading, and came across the statement: "It is better to fill your mouth with excrement than speak ill of another." Since I was in pretty bad shape emotionally, and was blaming everybody I could think of for my worldly troubles, and not being the least bashful about bad mouthing them, this hit a nerve.

I called him back and took the course. There was about ten of us in the class. We met at Carole Moore's yoga studio at night.  Don went through basic Buddhism and got into Lam Rim a bit, all of which was really 'enlightening'. I became VERY serious about the Dharma from then on. It was the Summer of 1990.

Mary Bean was in the class, who I married 7 years later. Joanna was there as well as some of the very early members of KDC.

Later on, Don suggested we form a meditation group, and we did, meeting at Carol's studio. Later that year Thupten Pende, an American monk, came and gave teachings at Carol's place. We had a retreat at Southern Dharma in the mountains, and I took refuge there from Pende.

We kept having weekly sessions, and later got serious about finding a place to rent. I made some serious Tara requests, and lo and behold my Architect revealed he had a basement while we were going over the plans for apartments he was designing for me. That was the early center. I don't remember what year that was. I volunteered to be the contractor, and Don 'loaned' the money for the upfit.

Once we had the center built, we had our job cut out for us. We started out by offering how to meditate courses, with a small fee, with the proviso you could take it as many times as you wanted after the first fee. Val Jones and I taught the class together for some time, maybe a year or two, and Don had the regular Buddhist program. I am really fuzzy about who did what, but I do remember he and I were jointly teaching on Death and Impermanence, for the first time. Andrea Knapp Judge was our only student that day. Pretty small stuff compared to today.

Don arranged for a steady parade of Monks  and nuns to teach at the center, some were VERY High Lama's indeed, Kirti Tenshab Rinpoche, the lineage holder of the Kalachakra, for example. Geshe Donyo was here for weeks at a time, and gave some really fine teachings and initiations. Venerable Kathleen McDonald was here for an extended period.  All this was before we had a resident teacher, and you must rely on others for the time frame.

I do remember we were contacted by Central Prison to come over and teach a meditation class in the afternoon. It was about 1992 or 93, and I was tapped for that. That was the beginning of our Prison project, I think about two years before Robina started LPP.

We set up a corporation for the Center, and had regular management committe meetings in my apartment. Andrea was the moderator, and ran the show as a really good business person would, no filibustering allowed.