Gompa

	DISCOVERING BUDDHISM, MODULE 01: MIND AND ITS POTENTIAL
	Mondays, January 6 - 27, from 7 - 8:30 pm Examine the mind and how it creates both our happiness and our suffering.  Learn to transform destructive thoughts and attitudes to create a positive and joyous mind!  ~ offered in person and online ~

HOW TO ATTEND

• In person, onsite at Kadampa Center - The most interactive way to participate, and is especially beneficial for those who live locally.

• Join via Zoom HERE - A somewhat interactive way to participate.  If you choose to join us on Zoom, you are considered part of the class, thereofore, please plan to have your camera turned on and refrain from eating and other distracting activities.

• Watch via YouTube live stream HERE - A non-interactive choice.

HOW TO SUPPORT DISCOVERING BUDDHISM

Whether you attend class online or in person, please consider making a donation to Kadampa Center to enable us to keep Dharma classes like Discovering Buddhism possible.  Donations in any amount are greatly appreciated ~ thank you!  Donations can be made in any of the following ways:

• Cash or checks (made to Kadampa Center) can be dropped in the Donation Box just outside the gompa door.

• Checks can be mailed to Kadampa Center at:  5412 Etta Burke Court, Raleigh, NC 27606.

• Donate any amount online HERE.

LEARN MORE ABOUT DISCOVERING BUDDHISM

• Visit the General Information webpage HERE to learn about the Discovering Buddhism course offered at Kadampa Center.

• Visit the FPMT website HERE for more in-depth details about the Discovering Buddhism course, how to take the course online, and how to work towards Certificates of Acheivement for each module.

• Questions?  Email Linda Saah, Spiritual Program Coordinator, at program.linda@kadampa-center.org

SUNDAY DHARMA with GESHE GELEK Join us on Sunday mornings as Geshe Gelek offers his kind and compassionate wisdom through teachings that are tailored to help us meet the challenges of daily life with happy, peaceful minds.  Geshe-la may also decide to lead chanting practice at the end of the teaching. 10:30am - 12pm: teaching and possible chanting practice ~ offered in person and online ~

HOW TO ATTEND SUNDAY DHARMA TEACHINGS WITH GESHE GELEK

1. Attend onsite, in person at Kadampa Center ~ the very best way to attend, especially if you live locally!

2. Join on Zoom by registering HERE ~ a somewhat interactive way to attend.

3. Watch via live stream on YouTube HERE ~ a view-only, non-interactive way to attend.

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.

	GURU PUJA WITH TSOG
	Join us for a Guru Puja with Tsog as we celebrate all our precious teachers! Thursday, January 9, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm. This monthly offering takes place in person only at Kadampa Center.

SPONSOR GURU PUJA WITH TSOG

Anyone is welcome to sponsor a puja and offer a dedicaton to benefit themselves, a loved one, world peace, all living beings, etc. ~ whatever you choose.

Here's how to sponsor this Guru Puja with Tsog:

1. Make your sponsorship donation HERE.
2. Submit your dedication HERE.

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING A GURU PUJA WITH TSOG AT KADAMPA CENTER

During his last visit to Kadampa Center, Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Delek advised us that it is most beneficial for our community to come together twice a month to do Guru Puja with Tsog practice – and especially for students who have taken Highest Yoga Tantra initiation.

The puja will be led in English and Tibetan.

Students are requested to participate fully in the practice by:

• bringing food offerings (see below for ideas),

• coming at the posted time (6:30 pm) to help with setup, and

• staying after the puja to help with cleanup.

MORE ABOUT GURU PUJA WITH TSOG

Guru puja (Lama Chöpa in Tibetan) is a practice of making offerings and requests to all the Buddhas and holy beings, but especially the root guru, who, according to the teachings, is the root of the path to liberation.  As part of the puja, we perform a special practice called Tsog, in which we make extensive food offerings to the teacher, and share the food among ourselves as well.

Traditionally, students who attend a Guru Puja with Tsog bring food offerings – fruit, cupcakes, candy, snacks – festive items that can easily be shared and distributed (via paper lunch bags) to take home among all who are present.  This creates great merit for all of us who bring the food offerings!  When everyone participates in this way, our gompa is blessed with a bountiful offering to make to the holy guru.  Because this is a community practice, all students who attend will participate in preparing for the puja by setting up the offerings in the gompa, as well as in returning the gompa to "default" setup following the prayer service.  Students are requested to arrive at the posted time (6:30pm) and then remain afterwards to assist with cleanup.

This puja also includes chanting and playing instruments - cymbals and drum.  Geshe Sangpo has kindly offered, if students are interested, to teach us how to play these instruments so we can fully take part!  Please let your SPC (Linda Saah) or Puja Coordinator (Donna Seese) know if you are interested.

Anyone is welcome to attend pujas, even if you are unfamiliar with the practice.  This puja is chanted in Tibetan, and we will have the English translations of the whole puja available to follow along.  We plan to occasionally read the lamrim verses in English so both English- and Tibetan-speaking students can hear and understand these teachings.  Traditionally the financial offerings for the sangha and puja are sponsored by Dharma students, especially if they want to dedicate the puja to their spiritual teachers or loved ones in need of support and prayers (see above for how to sponsor the puja).

Geshe Gelek leads the annual Dorje Khadro Fire Puja on New Year's Eve at Kadampa Center this year!

Tuesday, December 31, from 7:00 - 9:00 pm (in person only) Dorje Khadro Fire Puja is a powerful Mahayana purification practice.  Throughout the year, it is easy to make mistakes by doing negative actions of body (physical), speech (verbal), and mind (thoughts), thereby creating harmful karmic seeds that will eventually ripen as suffering, or "complications" as Geshe Gelek says.  This annual event offers an opportunity to go into the new year with a relatively clean slate.  Bring along your family and friends for this purification practice where we burn black sesame seeds (provided) which symbolize our past negative karmic actions.  Dress for being both indoors and outside.  Everyone is welcome! Sign up HERE to help with this event ~ thank you!

SCHEDULE FOR THE EVENING

Arrive:  Plan to arrive a little before 7pm to gather in the gompa before Geshe-la arrives.

7:00pm:  Geshe Gelek arrives and leads us through the begining prayers of the Dorje Khadro puja pracice.

Next:  We head outside to the fire pits where Geshe-la leads the group through the remainder of the practice.

Finally: Let's celebrate and socialize ~ refreshements will be provided!

9:00pm:  Wrap up and head home or plan to stay and help clean up if your schedule allows.

<<< PLEASE SIGN UP HERE TO HELP OUT >>>

MAY ALL LIVING BEINGS ENJOY A HAPPY, HEALTHY, PROSPEROUS & PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!

Interested in learning more about Dorje Khadro?  Check out the FPMT eBook, The Preliminary Practice of Dorje Khadro.

2024 Dharma Movie Series:  As part of our Spiritual Program, Elise Strevel, Outreach Coordinator and Buddhism in a Nutshell instructor, is hosting dharma-related movies introducing Buddhist teachers and their work to our Kadampa community of students. She will be providing a brief intro to each showing and lead an educational discussion afterward.

Lhabab Düchen ~ Descent of Lord Buddha from the God Realm of the Thirty-three
	Geshe Gelek leads lamrim meditations and practices on Lhabab Düchen Friday, November 22,  beginning at 1:00 pm and lasting until about 3:00 pm ~ offered in person and online ~

HOW TO ATTEND

1. In person at Kadampa Center

2. Join via Zoom HERE

3. Watch on YouTube HERE

ABOUT LHABAB DÜCHEN

Occurring on the 22nd day of the ninth month on the Tibetan lunar calendar, Lhabab Düchen is one of the four major Buddhist Holy days of the year.  This year, Lhabab Düchen takes place on November 22, 2024. 

Lhabab Düchen celebrates Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s return to Earth from the God Realm of the Thirty-Three after teaching Dharma for several months to the gods, including his mother, Mayadevi, who had died a week after Buddha’s birth and been reborn there. 

As a merit multiplying day, the karmic results of actions done on this day are multiplied 100 million times. This amazing result is taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.

More about Lhabab Düchen can be found HERE.

MAKING OFFERINGS ON LHABAB DÜCHEN

1.   Sponsor Lhabab Düchen Holy Day activities, $108

   • make your financial sponsorship HERE

   • dedicate your generorsity HERE

2.   Make offerings to Kadampa Center sangha members by placing financial and/or notes of thanks and kindness in envelopes for our precious monks and nuns.

3.   Contribute to the FPMT Puja Fund ~ learn more about the Puja Fund and make your donation HERE

On this Lhabab Düchen holy day - a merit-multiplying day - Geshe Gelek will offer the Eight Mahayana Precepts at Kadampa Center. Students who wish to take precepts for the very first time, please register HERE. Students who have taken precepts previously do NOT need to register.  You are, however, encouraged and welcome to attend the precepts ceremony at the Center with Geshe-la and other students (alternatively. you may choose to take the precepts at home in front of your home altar).

SCHEDULE FOR TAKING PRECEPTS ON LHABAB DÜCHEN HOLY DAY 

• Before deciding to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts for the very first time, new students are encouraged to read and learn about the commitments involved in taking the precepts (see below for more information).

• 6:00 am -- Kadampa Center opens

• 6:15 am -- Students taking precepts should arrive no later than 6:15am for a brief orientation about what to expect

• 6:30 am -- Geshe Gelek arrives and the precepts ceremony will begin

• After the ceremony, the Center closes and reopens at 12:30 pm

• NOTE: Kadampa Center will not provide breakfast after the precepts ceremony.  Please enjoy your breakfast of preference in the comfort of your own home, and then join us for Lamrim meditations with Geshe-la at 1:00 pm.

• 12:30 pm -- Kadampa Center reopens

• 1:00 pm -- Geshe Gelek arrives and leads lamrim meditations and practices ~ everyone is welcome to attend regardless of having taken precepts or not

THE EIGHT MAHAYANA PRECEPTS

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 the precept vows 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 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 has not been 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.

Learn more about the Eight Mahayana Precepts HERE.

Learn more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche offering the Eight Mahayana Precepts online HERE.