SPIRITUAL: Special Class

Kadampa Center will host the fourth Light of the Path Retreat in August of this year. It's a rare opportunity to spend a lot of time hearing the teachings of a great master, Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

In this hour, we will explore the benefits of attending the retreat, and hear from Center members who attended past retreats about what it's like.

To celebrate this day honoring Lama Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug tradition -- our lineage at Kadampa Center -- we will round out the evening by making light offerings at the stupa. 

Please come and join in !

Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche has advised us to perform Kshitigarbha practice extensively from now until February, 2016, to pacify the danger of earthquakes, especially in Nepal and California.  Through this practice we can fulfill our teacher's wishes and also offer help to our sister centers and all the people living in earthquake-prone areas.

Please join us as we recite as many mantras as possible before beginning the Guru Puja practice at 4 p.m.

To learn more about Rinpoche's advice and to make your own pledge to recite mantras, please go to the website created by Bay area FPMT centers.

You can download your own copy of the practice here.

Tired of lugging all your mental baggage around?  We can free ourselves of the guilt, depression and low self-esteem that arise from carrying negative karma around in our mindstream. The key is purification practice.

Come for a morning of Vajrasattva purification practice on Saturday, August 22, from 9:30 a.m. to noon -- give your purification practice a boost and close out your summer on a high note!

Many of us hold anger in our hearts either because we blame others for harming us or ourselves for our mistakes. Learn the Buddhist method of forgiving ourselves and others through purification. The basis of purification practice is the four opponent powers - regret, reliance, remedy, and resolve. This allows us to see harm done to us by others as the result of our karma, and helps us let go of our own mistakes and reduce or eliminate their harmful effects. This practice helps eliminate guilt, grudges, anger and frustration.

Geshe Gelek has been emphasizing the importance of purification this year. In this session. Kadampa Center founder Don Brown, who led the recent Vajrasattva retreat and also retreat preparation sessions in June and July, will lead us in Vajrasattva practice with guided visualizations and mantra recitations.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama will turn 80 on July 6, and at Kadampa Center we will celebrate His birthday in the best way possible -- by offering Him our practice of compassion.

On Sunday, July 5, we will have a birthday celebration at 10:45 a.m.  (There will be no 9 a.m. session.)
We will be joining our energies and efforts with our sister FPMT centers throughout North America to celebrate compassion in our lives. (For a wealth of ideas of how to broaden and deepen your rejoicing, meditation and acts of compassion, see  http://www.compassionday.org)

This year we honor His Holiness' wishes by offering cards listing our act(s) of kindness and compassion. Please join us for a family (children) friendly birthday celebration during the 10:45am program. We'll invite His Holiness to join us (represented by a large photo), say a short prayer for his long life, watch a short video of His Holiness talking with several youth groups, offer our cards of compassion, and at the end present a cake and sing happy birthday.

We can begin the celebration now, by taking note of each little act of compassion in our daily lives, and by making a conscious effort to expand our acts of compassion to include a broader circle of the beings we encounter in life. Get a little notebook or a card and jot down your compassionate actions. Then, at His Holiness' birthday party, we'll offer our acts of compassion to Him.
 

“Love and Compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive”

                                                                                              --  His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Here are the videos shown during the celebration this morning:

Geshe Gelek will offer a Refuge and Five Lay Vows ceremony. For details about these vows, please see this Mandala magazine article. The Five Lay Vows are lifetime vows, so only need to be taken once, and should be taken with the confidence you will keep them.

In order to participate, you must register ahead of time. To register, go to http://www.tfaforms.com/366849 and submit the form. The deadline to register is Monday, June 22. Students who would like to refresh their refuge vows may come as well, but should not register.

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). He 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. Please plan to be there at least 15 minutes before the ceremony starts. At the end of the ceremony, it is traditional to offer two katas (white 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, 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.

As with all our programs, we offer the Dharma and many resources freely to the community, and rely on your donations to cover the costs involved. Please consider supporting the center by making an offering in the donation boxes, through the bookstore, online, or by mailing a check to Kadampa Center, 5412 Etta Burke Court, Raleigh 27606.

Transforming Negative Emotions: Practical Coping Methods for Realistic Healthy Living

When negative mind states such as stress, anxiety, depression, anger, or jealousy get engaged, how do we stop the dysfunctional looping and maintain a healthy presence? This weekend program will explore a deeper understanding of what happens, offer techniques to interrupt unhealthy habits, and introduce meditations that can guide us to a more balanced reality. Tonglen and loving kindness meditation will be included. All events are open to anyone, with no pre-registration required.

Sunday, June 28, 2015, 9:00am - 12:00pm: Retreat with teachings and meditation continued

      Sponsor Ven. Amy's visit

About Venerable Amy Miller

Amy J. Miller (Ven. Lobsang Chodren) first encountered Tibetan Buddhism in the spring of 1987 during a course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Since then, she has spent a great deal of time engaged in meditation retreats, study, teaching, and Buddhist center management throughout the world. Prior to meeting the Dharma, Amy was a political fundraiser in Washington, DC and also worked for Mother Jones Magazine in San Francisco, California.
From 1992-1995, Amy managed Tse Chen Ling Center in San Francisco, California. She then served as Director of Vajrapani Institute, also in California, from 1995-2004. From 1998-2002, she was also the Manager of the Lawudo Retreat Fund (which supports the center in which the sacred cave of Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche is located) in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. In 2004, after resigning as Director, Amy completed a seven-month solitary retreat at Vajrapani. For most of 2005 and 2006, she organized international teaching tours for and traveled with the esteemed Tibetan Buddhist master, Ven. Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche until Rinpoche’s death in 2006. Amy then became a touring teacher for the FPMT (the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition). From 2008-2014, Amy was Director of Milarepa Center in Barnet, Vermont.

Amy has also had the good fortune to visit Tibet in 1987 and again in 2001 as a pilgrimage leader for the Institute of Noetic Science in the United States. She has also led pilgrimages to India, Nepal, Bhutan, Darjeeling, and Sikkim for the Liberation Prison Project and Milarepa Center. The next pilgrimage she will be leading will be to Burma (Myanmar) in September, 2015. Contact Effie@hightreks.com for more information.
Amy was ordained as a Buddhist nun in June 2000 by the great Tibetan master, Ven. Choden Rinpoche, and has been teaching extensively since 1992. Her teaching style emphasizes a practical approach to integrating Buddhist philosophy into everyday life. She is happy to help people connect with meditation and mindfulness in an effort to gain a refreshing perspective on normally stressful living. Amy’s courses and retreats predominantly focus on establishing and maintaining a meditation and mindfulness practice, death and dying, overcoming anxiety and depression, battling addiction, dealing with self-esteem issues, and cultivating compassion and loving kindness. She is also often involved in leading a variety of retreats.

Amy is the co-author of Buddhism in a Nutshell and a contributor to Living in the Path, a series of online courses produced by FPMT
Based in the United States, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Amy teaches and leads retreats and pilgrimages around the world.

      Sponsor Ven. Amy's visit

Transforming Negative Emotions: Practical Coping Methods for Realistic Healthy Living

When negative mind states such as stress, anxiety, depression, anger, or jealousy get engaged, how do we stop the dysfunctional looping and maintain a healthy presence? This weekend program will explore a deeper understanding of what happens, offer techniques to interrupt unhealthy habits, and introduce meditations that can guide us to a more balanced reality. Tonglen and loving kindness meditation will be included. All events are open to anyone, with no pre-registration required.

Schedule

Saturday, June 27, 2015, 10:00am - 3:30pm: Retreat with teachings and meditation; vegetarian potluck lunch*

   *Saturday potluck - please bring a vegetarian dish to share; entrees are particularly helpful, and hot dishes need to be brought in a crockpot (we don't have a way to heat dishes in the kitchen). Labeling ingredients helps people with dietary issues (vegan, gluten-free, etc.) tell if they can enjoy your offering!

Sunday, June 28, 2015, 9:00am - 12:00pm: Retreat with teachings and meditation continued

      Sponsor Ven. Amy's visit

About Venerable Amy Miller

Amy J. Miller (Ven. Lobsang Chodren) first encountered Tibetan Buddhism in the spring of 1987 during a course at Kopan Monastery in Nepal. Since then, she has spent a great deal of time engaged in meditation retreats, study, teaching, and Buddhist center management throughout the world. Prior to meeting the Dharma, Amy was a political fundraiser in Washington, DC and also worked for Mother Jones Magazine in San Francisco, California.

From 1992-1995, Amy managed Tse Chen Ling Center in San Francisco, California. She then served as Director of Vajrapani Institute, also in California, from 1995-2004. From 1998-2002, she was also the Manager of the Lawudo Retreat Fund (which supports the center in which the sacred cave of Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche is located) in the Mt. Everest region of Nepal. In 2004, after resigning as Director, Amy completed a seven-month solitary retreat at Vajrapani. For most of 2005 and 2006, she organized international teaching tours for and traveled with the esteemed Tibetan Buddhist master, Ven. Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche until Rinpoche’s death in 2006. Amy then became a touring teacher for the FPMT (the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition). From 2008-2014, Amy was Director of Milarepa Center in Barnet, Vermont.

Amy has also had the good fortune to visit Tibet in 1987 and again in 2001 as a pilgrimage leader for the Institute of Noetic Science in the United States. She has also led pilgrimages to India, Nepal, Bhutan, Darjeeling, and Sikkim for the Liberation Prison Project and Milarepa Center. The next pilgrimage she will be leading will be to Burma (Myanmar) in September, 2015. Contact Effie@hightreks.com for more information.

Amy was ordained as a Buddhist nun in June 2000 by the great Tibetan master, Ven. Choden Rinpoche, and has been teaching extensively since 1992. Her teaching style emphasizes a practical approach to integrating Buddhist philosophy into everyday life. She is happy to help people connect with meditation and mindfulness in an effort to gain a refreshing perspective on normally stressful living. Amy’s courses and retreats predominantly focus on establishing and maintaining a meditation and mindfulness practice, death and dying, overcoming anxiety and depression, battling addiction, dealing with self-esteem issues, and cultivating compassion and loving kindness. She is also often involved in leading a variety of retreats.

Amy is the co-author of Buddhism in a Nutshell and a contributor to Living in the Path, a series of online courses produced by FPMT

Based in the United States, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Amy teaches and leads retreats and pilgrimages around the world.

      Sponsor Ven. Amy's visit