Gompa

Saka Dawa Düchen (June 14), is the full-moon day of the month when we honor Shakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana (passing from this life). Join us online in two powerful practices - Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas, and a group reading of the Vajra Cutter Sutra. This day, and the entire month, are especially auspicious for spiritual practice  — the karmic effects of all actions are multiplied one hundred thousand times.

12:00 pm:  A group reading of the Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas, and of the Vajra Cutter Sutra. Online only via YouTube and Zoom (registration required for Zoom).

We will display these texts via shared screen so students can follow along. If you wish, you can download them to read in advance.

The practice of Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Confession Buddhas is available in the FPMT Retreat Prayer Book 

Download a copy of the Vajra (Diamond) Cutter Sutra from FPMT  Geshe Gelek advises that we begin reading the sutrat at home in preparation for the group reading.

Geshe Gelek also advises us to create merit by going around the stupa (or the entire Gompa), reciting mantras and sutras, liberating animals, saying prayers and doing charitable works.

On this Saka Dawa holy day - a merit-mutiplying day - Geshe Gelek will offer the Eight Mahayana Precepts at the Center.  Kadampa Center will open at 5:15 am; the Eight Mahayana Precepts will begin at 5:30 am.

5:30 am  The Eight Mahayana Precepts,  a set of eight vows taken for a period of 24 hours, from sunrise on one day to sunrise the following day. The vows include no killing, stealing, sexual activity, lying, and more (see below).

The first time you take these precepts, it must be from a qualified master. After that, you can take them from your altar. 

            If you wish to take the Precepts online with a teacher, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has kindly made this option available here: 

• Eight Mahayana Precepts online with Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The Eight Mahayana Precepts are a set of vows that are taken for 24 hours, from first light before dawn to sunrise of the following day. The only prerequisite is that the first time one takes precepts it should be from a qualified teacher who has received the oral transmission of the practice. Thereafter you can perform the ceremony at first light yourself, reciting the prayers before an image of your teacher or the Buddha, imagining you are taking the vows from Buddha himself.

 It is good to take them on full and new moon days, and especially beneficial on Buddha Holy Days, when Karmic results are multiplied exponentionally, according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, citing the Vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

These Mahayana Precepts enable you to live in the essence of pure moral conduct, and since you take them with the strong motivation of cherishing and wishing to benefit all others, their value is immeasurable. Taking these precepts is a powerful and effective way for you to build, maintain and increase deep propensities for spiritual practice and attainment and thus is a profound method for giving meaning to this precious human life. 

The essence of this practice is to recall the Mahayana motivation; to take these precepts in order to become enlightened in order to lead all sentient beings to enlightenment.

The eight precepts are:

1. Not to kill, even insects.
2. Not to steal (Not to take what is not offered).
3. Not to engage in sexual contact.
4. Not to lie.
5. Not use intoxicants: alcohol, tobacco and drugs (except for medicinal purposes).
6. Not to eat at wrong times.*
7. Not to sit on high, expensive beds or seats with pride. Avoid sitting on animal skins.
8. Not to wear jewelry, perfume, or makeup; and not to sing, dance, or play music with attachment.

*It is alright to eat a light breakfast before or after the precepts. Avoid eating black foods: meat, eggs, onions, garlic, and radishes. The main meal of the day is to be finished by midday. After that one can take light drinks, but not undiluted whole milk or fruit juice with pulp, nor any food until sunrise of the following day.

Here is a link where you may read more about the precepts:

http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=503&chid=973

Learn the disadvantages of self-cherishing and the advantages of cherishing others. Learn to employ the special techniques of mind training (lojong) to transform problems into happiness. Discovering Buddhism is now being offered in an online/onsite hybrd format.  Students have the option to attend class either online or onsite in person at the Kadampa Center!

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.

The instructor for this class is Robbie Watkins.

Geshe Gelek offers his kind and compassionate wisdom through teachings every Sunday 

Geshe-la tailors these Sunday teachings to help us meet the challenges of daily life with happy, peaceful minds.

On this holiday weekend, the gompa will be closed, and we will tune in online only to hear Geshe-la's encouraging wisdom.

* At home: We offer the teachings via both Zoom and YouTube streaming. 

    Watch the teaching on YouTube online streaming.

    To attend by Zoom, please register in advance.

* En español: Ofrecemos esta enseñanza a través de Zoom con traducción simultánea al español.

Traducción disponible solo en Zoom

Únase a nuestra comunidad para recibir enseñanzas en línea diseñadas para ayudarnos a enfrentar los desafíos de la vida diaria con mentes felices y tranquilas.

Para asistir por Zoom, apriete el enlace para registrarse con anticipación.

Después de registrarse, recibirá un correo electrónico de confirmación con información sobre cómo unirse a la reunión.

We will have a very special program this coming Sunday, in place of Geshe Gelek's teaching.  

Our Geshes have been refurbishing the prayer wheels from the front of the building. Now these holy objects need to be blessed before they are returned to their place of honor near the stupa. 

Anyone is welcome to come to the blessing ceremony. The gompa will be decorated with special offerings, and it is a blessing to experience and observe this ceremony!

Also, you are welcome to bring holy objects to be blessed - statues, malas, prayer wheels, and so on. Two important notes:
1. If you have a statue, it can be blessed. However, the Geshes will not be filling statues - simply blessing them.
2.  Please put your name on any item you bring, so it can come back to you. Multiple items can be placed in a nice box or bag.

If you can't come Sunday, please stop by the Center between 1 pm and 5 pm on either Wednesday or Friday.

Kathy, our office admin, will be there to take your items and place them in the gompa. Of course, you can also bring items Sunday morning.

Following the ceremony, we will reinstall the prayer wheels in their frame - freshly painted this week! 

The ceremony will be streamed on YouTube, and you can Zoom in as well!
It will all take place at 10:30 am Sunday, May 22. 

The ceremony will be streamed on YouTube, and you can Zoom in as well!

Watch the ceremony on YouTube online streaming.

To attend by Zoom, please register here.

We hope to see you there!

This puja is sponsored to benefit Frances Davis, who passed away April 16. 

Anyone is welcome to sponsor a scheduled puja and offer a dedication to benefit themselves or loved ones. Sponsor this puja here.

The puja will be offered on YouTube and Zoom.    Register on Zoom.

More about the benefits of Medicine Buddha puja

From the Service Manual for Spiritual Program Coordinators, FPMT:

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."

Supporting pujas benefits not just the Center and those who attend, but it also greatly benefits the donor, who collects the merit of giving the Dharma, and thus creates the causes to meet the Dharma again.

Sponsoring the puja is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here).

Step Two  is making the sponsorship donation (click here)

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 include more than one intention in your dedication.

Exploring Buddhism: Exploring Mind Training, part I

To progress on the path to enlightenment the motivation of bodhichitta alone is not enough; we need to learn how to transform every situation, especially adverse circumstances, into the path.   In this module, we will examine the uniquely powerful methods for transforming the mind that are found in the lojong or mind-training texts, which clarify how to bring about a radical change in our attitude from that of a self-centered world-view to one that is other-centered and altruistic.

Previous study of at least some modules of Discovering Buddhism, either in a center or online, is highly recommended before enrolling in this program.

New students are welcome.  You do not have to have attended previous Exploring Buddhism modules.

This pilot course will take place online only (via Zoom) on Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 pm.

Sorry, registration is closed.

Exploring Buddhism is a new program  currently being developed by FPMT to serve as a bridge between Discovering Buddhism and The Basic Program. It is designed to help students of Buddhism delve more deeply into a broad array of topics that form a solid foundation for furthering one’s study and practice.  The program will initially be run as a pilot program in FPMT centers to further test and refine the curriculum.

We depend on your support

In keeping with our tradition, Kadampa Center does not charge a fee to attend any Dharma teachings, so that financial resources will never be an obstacle to hearing the Dharma. We rely on the generosity of students to be able to offer these courses, inclulding making an offering to the teachers who will lead each module. 

Your support for the course opens access to the Dharma for others, and enables Kadampa Center to make a generous offering to each module's teacher.

Support Exploring Buddhism

Instructor for this module: Gen Don Handrick

Gen Don Handrick is a touring teacher for the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), sharing the Dharma with centers and study groups in North America and other parts of the world, both in-person and online. Don's study of Buddhism began in 1993 after reading The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. Over the next two years he practiced with Sogyal Rinpoche's organization, until he began attending classes in 1996 with Venerable Robina Courtin at Tse Chen Ling in San Francisco. Don left the Bay Area in 1998 to attend the FPMT's Masters Program of Buddhist Studies in Sutra and Tantra, a seven-year residential study program conducted at Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Tuscany, Italy, and taught by the scholar and kind Spiritual Friend, Geshe Jampa Gyatso. He successfully completed all five subjects of this program in 2004, receiving an FPMT final certificate with high honors. Students appreciate his humble, compassionate demeanor and his capacity to explain profound ideas with precision, contemporary examples and humor.

This program is offered jointly by:

• Guhyasamaja Center, Centreville, VA
• Kadampa Center, Raleigh, NC
• Lama Yeshe Ling, Burlington, Ontario
• Shantideva Center, Brooklyn, NY
• Thubten Kunga Ling, Deerfield Beach, FL