SPIRITUAL: Holy Day

We will keep a count of our recitations and send our numbers to FPMT on March 19, so they can be offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on our behalf. 

Enter your mantra count here. 

Here are links to information about the mantras:

       OM MANI PADME HUM is the Mani mantra of Chenrezig (find out more about the practice and its benefits here).

    White Tara Mantra:  OM TARE TUTTARE TURE MAMA AYUR PUNYE JÑANA PUSHTIM KURU [YE] SVAHA 

       Find out more about the White Tara mantra here 

And don't forget that throughout the year, we offer Green Tara mantras for the long lives of Geshe Gelek and Geshe Sangpo.

You may enter your Green Tara mantras for our Geshes here.

Lama Tsongkhapa was a renowned scholar, practitioner, meditator, teacher and author.  His studies and meditations in all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism resulted in the founding of the Gelugpa lineage.

Among his major accomplishments is writing the Lamrim, or the Great Treatise on the Path to Enlightenment, a step-by-step guide to the spiritual practices that lead to enlightenment. He also wrote several condensed versions of the Lamrim, including Foundation of All Good Qualities, the Three Principal Aspects of the Path, and Song of Experience. 

Those who wish to participate in the prayers from home may do so via Zoom and YouTube.  Click here for a copy of the practice.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because this event follows directly after the refuge vows, the starting time of 7:00 pm is an estimate. It's possible we may begin as much as 30 minutes or more after that time. We appreciate your patience!

Sponsor Lama Tsongkhapa Day

Create merit by sponsoring a Holy Day event!  Sponsoring spiritual events is beneficial on many levels. It benefits the Center by providing the resources to offer the event; it benefits the students who attend the event, and it benefits the donor by deepening the practice of generosity and creating the causes to meet the Dharma again in the future.

Sponsorship of a Holy Day puja is $125, and of general Holy Day events and activities, it's $108.

Supporting the Holy Day event is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here).

Step Two  is making the donation or sponsorship (use the button 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.

Sponsor Light Offerings $108

On this auspicious holy day, Lama Tsongkhapa Day, Geshe Gelek will offer Refuge Vows. It is especially wonderful to be able to take these vows on a holy day.  Taking refuge vows is making a commitment to Buddhism as one's spiritual path. It also creates a karmic bond with the teacher who offers the vows. When you take refuge in the Three Jewels, the refuge master conferring the vows will also give you a refuge name in Tibetan.

UPDATE:  Geshe Gelek will also offer bodhisattva vows. See below for instructions if you plan to take the bodhisattva vows. Learn more about these vows here.

Students who have already taken refuge are welcome to renew their vows, but should not register. We are requesting that students renew their vows via Zoom and not in person.

Geshe Gelek recommends anyone interested in taking refuge should read the refuge section in the book Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand (available in our bookstore or as an ebook from FPMT's Foundation Store). Geshe-la also taught a class on refuge in 2013 for students interested in the ceremony - you can listen to it in the recordings section of our website.

The ceremony will likely be in Tibetan, but it is first explained in English what you are saying. It is very important to be there by 5:30 pm so we can review what you will be doing. At the end of the ceremony, it is traditional to offer two katas (silk offering scarfs, available in the bookstore) - one to the Buddha statue on the altar, and one to the teacher giving the vows, who returns it by placing it over your head as a blessing. While we often have spare ones to lend, in this case it is best to buy them so you are actually making an offering of your own. It is also auspicious to give the teacher a gift, typically money (any amount) in an envelope, in appreciation for the incredible gift he has just given you with this opportunity. The center will also be giving you a copy of the FPMT booklet on refuge and how to practice it daily.

Learn more about vows from this article in FPMT's Mandala Magazine.

Important Information:

In order to participate, you must register by 6 pm, Monday, December 27.  Sorry, registration is closed. 

 Students who have already taken refuge should not register.

All persons entering the building for the ceremony must be fully vaccinated. 

Masks are required in the building.

On the day of the ceremony, it is important to arrive on time in order to rehearse. You will be going to the altar and making offerings, and it is very helpful to have a chance to walk it through so you can be at ease during the ceremony.

Students taking refuge should bring two katas (please acquire them ahead of time) and a monetary offering for Geshe-la in any amount, in an envelope. If you wish, you may write a card to him expressing your thanks.

Students who are not vaccinated or are unable to come in person may take refuge via Zoom. Register here for Zoom. (Be sure you also register for refuge itself)

If you need to get a kata, the bookstore will be open at these times:

• Sunday, Dec. 12, 10-10:30 am and 11:30am - 12 pm
• Saturday, Dec. 18, 10 am - 12 pm
• Wednesday, Dec. 29, 4:45-5:15 pm.  Bookstore will close for refuge rehearsal at 5:30 pm

Students who plan to take bodhisattva vows should bring:

• A flower to offer on the altar at Kadampa Center
• Something to remind you that you've taken the bodhisattva vows. It can be a book or holy image or statue. After the ceremony you will keep this item.

Lhabab Düchen is one of the four major Buddhist holy days of the year. On this day, we celebrate the Buddha’s return to beings in our realm after a three-month separation. During that separation, he had gone to the God Realm of Thirty-Three, a higher realm where his mother was reborn after giving him birth, in order to repay her kindness by giving teachings to liberate her from samsara. His teachings in the God Realm of the Thirty-Three also benefited the Arya Beings who lived there.

As a Buddha holy day, this is an auspicious day for practice, when the karmic effects of actions are multiplied one hundred million times. This amazing result is taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Lhabab Düchen occurs on the 22nd day of the ninth month on the Tibetan lunar calendar.

On holy days, our spiritual director Lama Zopa Rinpoche encourages students to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts, simple vows of morality that we take for 24 hours.  These must be taken from a qualified master the first time, and Rinpoche has kindly made it possible to begin doing this practice by taking the precepts online from Rinpoche himself!  

Students who have previously taken the Eight Mahayana Precepts from a qualified master are encouraged to take them at home before their altar.For more about the practice of precepts, please read The Direct and Unmistaken Method by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Rinpoche advises many other practices on holy days as well.

    At Kadampa Center, we will celebrate with prayers selected by Geshe Gelek and led by him and Venerable Lhamo, online at 12 pm. 

    Registration is required to participate on Zoom. Please register here or participate via livestreaming on YouTube.

    At 5 pm we will hold a Medicine Buddha Puja to benefit Orion Saah on the 49th day after his passing.

    At 7 pm Geshe Gelek will teach the lamrim class.

Create merit by sponsoring a Holy Day event!  Sponsoring spiritual events is beneficial on many levels. It benefits the Center by providing the resources to offer the event; it benefits the students who attend the event, and it benefits the donor by deepening the practice of generosity and creating the causes to meet the Dharma again in the future.

Sponsorship of general Holy Day events and activities is $108.

Supporting the Holy Day event is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here).

Step Two  is making the donation or sponsorship (use the button 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.

Sponsor Holy Day Activities $108

Join Geshe Gelek onlinw as he leads us in prayers and praises to Shakyamuni Buddha on this special holy day. (See below to register) Lhabab Düchen is one of the four major Buddhist holy days of the year. On this day, we celebrate the Buddha’s return to beings in our realm after a three-month separation. During that separation, he had gone to the God Realm of Thirty-Three, a higher realm where his mother was reborn after giving him birth, in order to repay her kindness by giving teachings to liberate her from samsara. His teachings in the God Realm of the Thirty-Three also benefited the Arya Beings who lived there.

As a Buddha holy day, this is an auspicious day for practice, when the karmic effects of actions are multiplied one hundred million times, according to our Spiritual Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, citing the Vinaya text The Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

Lhabab Düchen occurs on the 22nd day of the ninth month on the Tibetan lunar calendar.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, encourages students to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts on holy days. For more about the practice of precepts, please read The Direct and Unmistaken Method by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Rinpoche advises many other practices on holy days as well.

Our schedule of events for the day:

12 pm  Prayers with Geshe Gelek   Geshe-la will lead us in prayer.  Online only, on Zoom (register here) and streaming on YouTube. 

At 7 pm, Geshe-la will lead the regularly scheduled lamrim class.

Students who have previously taken the Eight Mahayana Precepts from a qualified master are encouraged to take them at home before their altar.

Create merit by sponsoring a Holy Day event!  Sponsoring spiritual events is beneficial on many levels. It benefits the Center by providing the resources to offer the event; it benefits the students who attend the event, and it benefits the donor by deepening the practice of generosity and creating the causes to meet the Dharma again in the future.

Sponsorship of general Holy Day events and activities is $108.

Supporting the Holy Day event is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here).

Step Two  is making the donation or sponsorship (use the button 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.

Sponsor Holy Day Activities $108

Saka Dawa is the month when we honor Shakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana (passing from this life). This day, Saka Dawa Düchen, is the full-moon day of the month.  This day, and the entire month, are especially auspicious for spiritual practice  — the karmic effects of all actions are multiplied one hundred thousand times.  Because of the COVID pandemic, Kadampa Center will not hold any Saka Dawa events at the Center. We will hold a Medicine Buddha Puja online at 12 noon.

Geshe Gelek advises us to create merit by going around the stupa (or the entire Center building), reciting mantras and sutras, liberating animals, saying prayers and doing charitable works. Those who have taken precepts from a qualified master are encouraged to do so at home before your altar.

Saka Dawa is the month when we honor Shakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana (passing from this life). This month, May 12 through June 10, is especially auspicious for spiritual practice  — the karmic effects of all actions are multiplied one hundred thousand times.  Geshe Gelek and Geshe Sangpo advise that we can create merit by going around the stupa (or the entire Center building), reciting mantras and sutras, liberating animals, saying prayers and doing charitable works. Those who have taken precepts from a qualified master are encouraged to do so at home before your altar.

One powerful practice is to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts, simple vows of morality that we take for 24 hours. These must be taken from a qualified master the first time, and Lama Zopa Rinpoche has kindly made it possible to begin doing this practice by taking the precepts online from Rinpoche himself! (Please note: this web page was created in 2020 and cites the date of the 15th day for 2020. In 2021, that date is May 26.)

May 26 is Saka Dawa Düchen, the full moon day. Kadampa Center will hold a Medicine Buddha Puja online at 12pm on this day. 

Because of the Covid pandemic, Kadampa Center will not hold any events at the center for Saka Dawa. Please remember all those suffering from the virus in your prayers. 

Specific practices recommended by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for these special days:

• Taking the eight Mahayana precepts: Students can receive the lineage of these precepts from a specially produced video of Lama Zopa Rinpoche granting them, which was edited from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19 and Practice Advice at Kopan Monastery, recorded in May 2020.
• Reciting the Sutra Remembering the Three Jewels

Other recommended practices include:

• Reciting sutras, such as Vajra Cutter Sutra, Sutra of Golden Light, and Sanghata Sutra
• Reciting other prayers, such as Chanting the Names of Manjushri and King of Prayers
• Performing the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha puja
• Undertaking Nyung nes
• Performing self-initiation, for those who fulfilled the necessary prerequisites
• Performing Lama Chopa, and at either the beginning of the practice or during the lamrim section, you can meditate on emptiness
• Reciting the names of the Thirty-Five Buddhas, with prostrations
• Reciting Vajrasattva mantras
• Reciting OṂ MAṆI PADME HŪṂ with bodhichitta
• Meditating on emptiness and dependent arising
• Meditating on bodhichitta
• Practicing tonglen
• Rejoicing
• Liberating animals
• Joining in activities as your local FPMT Center

Lama Tsongkhapa is extremely important to Kadampa Center - his writings are the framework for our study and practice, and he founded our Gelugpa lineage in Tibetan Buddhism.  With commentary from Geshe Gelek, we will celebrate Lama Tsongkhapa and his great contribution to the Dharma with a festival of prayer and practice.  Our celebration also includes review of his major short works.

Lama Tsongkhapa was a renowned scholar, practitioner, meditator, teacher and author.  His studies and meditations in all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism resulted in the founding of the Gelugpa lineage.

Among his major accomplishments is writing the Lamrim, or the Great Treatise on the Path to Enlightenment, a step-by-step guide to the spiritual practices that lead to enlightenment. He also wrote several condensed versions of the Lamrim, including Foundation of All Good Qualities, the Three Principal Aspects of the Path, and Song of Experience. 

We will meet online via both Zoom and YouTube.

Registration is required to access the Zoom session.  Please register here.

Geshe-la encourages us all to come, even if we can't attend the entire festival. Students are welcome to drop in and drop out throughout the morning.

Program
Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga
  Chant 21 Lama Tsongkhapa mantras 
  Mandala offering.
Foundation of All Good Qualities – review & analytical meditation
Chant 21 Lama Tsongkhapa mantras 
  Mandala offering.
Three Principal Aspects of the Path – review & analytical meditation
Chant 21 Lama Tsongkhapa mantras 
  Mandala offering.
Song of Experience – review & analytical meditation
Chant 21 Lama Tsongkhapa mantras 
  Mandala offering.
In Praise of Dependent Origination – review & analytical meditation
Chant 21 Lama Tsongkhapa mantras 
  Mandala offering.
Recite Lama Tsongkhapa mantra 14 times
Lamrim dedication prayer

Geshe Gelek encourages students who have previously taken Eight Mahayana Precepts to take them at home before sunrise, before their home altar.

Lama Tsongkhapa Day honors a very powerful practitioner so there is great power in the merit of supporting it financially. Supporting this holy day's spiritual practices – whether you are able to attend or not – is an opportunity to collect great merit. If you are sponsoring but not attending, you can offer prayers for those who are participating in the events.

Supporting the Holy Day event is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here).

Step Two  is making the donation or sponsorship (use the button 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.

The festival begins with Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga puja.

Sponsor Holy Day Puja ~ $125

Lama Tsongkhapa is the founder of our lineage, the Gelugpa tradition, in Tibetan Buddhism. He was a renowned scholar, practitioner, meditator, teacher and author.  His studies and meditations in all the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism resulted in the founding of the Gelugpa lineage.       Among his major accomplishments is writing the Lamrim, or the Great Treatise on the Path to Enlightenment, a step-by-step guide to the spiritual practices that lead to enlightenment. He also wrote several condensed versions of the Lamrim, including Foundation of All Good Qualities, the Three Principal Aspects of the Path, and Song of Experience. He also revitalized the monastic code in Tibet, established the annual Great Prayer Festival, established Ganden Monastery, the first of the great monasteries in the Gelugpa tradition, and wrote 18 volumes of teachings.  Lama Tsongkhapa Day is a celebration of the anniversary of his parinirvana. Practices recommended for this day include making offerings and reciting Lamrim texts, as well as Guru Puja.

Please watch our calendar for a schedule of events for the day.