Gompa

How do you get to Oz? Follow the yellow brick road. How do you get to Enlightenment? Follow the lamrim, the graduated path. Join Geshe Gelek as he guides us to selected landmarks in the road to enlightenment. These teachings can be accessed via Zoom or on YouTube.    Registration is required to attend the teachings via Zoom. Please click here to register.

Geshe-la's next topic:  The King of Prayers    This beautiful prayer is filled with aspirations to attain enlightenment and benefit others. It is very beneficial to say for those who have recently died, or to incorporae into our daily practice. Geshe-la will explain the prayer.   

Currently we are studying "The Essence of the Vast and Profound: A Commentary on Je Tsongkhapa's Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment" by Pabongkha Rinpoche, which recently has been translated into English.  It is absolutely not necessary to have the book for these teachings!  Those who prefer to study topic by topic may simply follow along as Geshe-la teaches. Some students may wish to follow along in the book.  Many of us are familiar with Pabongkha Rinpoche through another commentary on the lamrim, "Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand," which is a core text used in FPMT's Discovering Buddhism course. We should complete this topic by the end of March.

About the lamrim: In his great compassion, Shakyamuni Buddhia opened the gates to the road to enlightenment through his teachings.

Many years later, Lama Atisha organized all of the Buddha's teachings into a step-by-step guide -- a road map to the territory of practice --  in a short text called "Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment."

Lama Tsongkhapa (the founder of our Gelugpa lineage) wrote a detailed explanation of Lama Atisha's text to help students understand and practice the instructions, called The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lamrim Chenmo). This lamrim foundation is the basis of all practice in our lineage, including tantra.

These incredible teachings by Geshe Gelek on this text are a rare and precious opportunity to gain insights into how to practice.

   These teachings can be accessed via Zoom or on YouTube.

   Registration is required to attend the teachings via Zoom. Please click here to register.

Start your day with a peaceful mind, an hour of silent meditation in Kadampa Center's gompa. We are happy to open our gompa's sacred space for these Monday and Thursday early morning sessions - our first step back into indoor events durnig the COVID pandemic.   Because space is limited to 10 people, meditators are asked to register to attend.

To protect our meditators and all our precious community, we will ask participants to follow these safety guidelines:

• Wear a mask when you're in the building.
• Take your temperature when you enter (we provide a forehead thermometer).
• Clean your hands with hand sanitizer when you enter.
• Practice social distancing.
• Clean your chair before use (we will provide wipes).

Our gompa is set up with chairs for 10 people, the maximum capacity at this time.  Please register here to participate.  

If there's an overflow, additional meditators may gather around the stupa.

Meditators who wish to use a cushion may bring one from home to and from the sessions.

Join us for Kadampa Kids every Sunday from 11:30-12:15. Email familyprogram@kadampa-center.org for login details

Geshe Gelek will offer a teaching every Sunday morning

          con traducción simultánea al español.

Join our community for online teachings tailored to help us greet the challenges of daily life with happy, peaceful minds. 

Each week Geshe Gelek skillfully draws on his vast knowledge of the Dharma, often searching his mental library of memorized texts for just the right wisdom to apply to the circumstance at hand. When he does so, his speech moves seamlessly between English and Tibetan - so if you don't understand a sentence here and there, he may be citing a text in Tibetan.

We are offering this teaching via both Zoom and online YouTube streaming!

Watch the teaching on YouTube online streaming.

To attend by Zoom, please register in advance.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Geshe Gelek ofrece una enseñanza todos los domingos por la mañana.

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.

¡Ofrecemos esta enseñanza a través de Zoom con traducción simultánea al español!

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.

Meditation 101 is an introductory course on basic Buddhist meditation techniques for complete beginners, and includes Buddhist meditations that can be used by anyone to create more peace and happiness in daily life. Presented in five sessions. Students are encouraged to come for the whole class, but drop-ins are welcome. The basic Buddhist meditation techniques covered include:

• Defining meditation 
• Breathing meditations
• Mindfulness meditations
• Visualization meditations

This class is offered via Zoom.  Registration required to access the class. Click here to register.

This class is led by David Machles.

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. 

Protector, remover of obstacles, model of enlightened activity, inspiration to Lama Atisha - Tara is all of these. Doing Tara practice clears obstacles in our spiritual lives and helps us attain our positive goals, both spiritual and mundane. Tara is a female Buddha whose qualities include enlightened action and swiftly removing obstacles (Tara's 21 aspects are represented in statues on our altar).

Geshe Gelek translated this special practice, The Practice of Tara that Fulfills All Wishes, and assures us that this will greatly benefit not just our center and community, but have the best benefit of helping all sentient beings.

Geshe Gelek's teacher, (the former Abbot of Sera Je Monastery) Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Delek, also said when he visited in 2011 that we have a special connection to Tara, so doing her practice is incredibly beneficial for our community, harmony working together, and the success of Kadampa Center.

We will do this practice via Zoom, which will allow us to display the text for all to participate.  There will be no YouTube streaming.

Registration is required to join the Zoom session. This helps protect the session from "trolls" and helps protect participants' security.  

Register here in advance for this practice.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

The practice will be led by Venerable Lhamo.

Important Note: The time for this class has moved to 9:30 am. Existing Zoom registrations will remain effective with the time change. Join Geshe Gelek as he guides us to selected points in the road to enlightenment. Current and upcoming topics:  Geshe-la  is currently teaching calm abiding.

   These teachings can be accessed via Zoom or on YouTube.

   Registration is required to attend the teachings via Zoom. Please click here to register.

In his great compassion, Shakyamuni Buddhia opened the gates to this road to enlightenment through his teachings.

Many years later, Lama Atisha organized all of the Buddha's teachings into a step-by-step guide -- a road map to the territory of practice --  in a short text called "Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment."

Lama Tsongkhapa (the founder of our Gelugpa lineage) wrote a detailed explanation of Lama Atisha's text to help students understand and practice the instructions, called The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lamrim Chenmo). This lamrim foundation is the basis of all practice in our lineage, including tantra.

These incredible teachings by Geshe Gelek on this text are a rare and precious opportunity to gain insights into how to practice.

Medicine Buddha puja is a beautiful prayer service that includes lyrical praises to the seven Medicine Buddhas, requests for their help and aspirations for our own spiritual attainments. It is beneficial for mental and physical healing and world peace, and is especially beneficial for those who are experiencing physical or mental illness or those who have recently passed away. This service is very welcoming to newcomers and beginners. Typically we do Medicine Buddha Puja in English. 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 Zoom and streamed on YouTube. Please click here to 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."

Sponsoring the puja is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here).

Step Two  is making the sponsorship donation

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.

Sponsorship of a Medicine Buddha puja is $60 - click here to sponsor this puja.