Gompa

Guru puja (Lama Chöpa)  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. It is a practice recommended by FPMT's Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who says: This practice of Guru Puja is very profound, with many extra benefits, and is very quick to bring enlightenment. The lam-rim prayer, the prayer of the steps of the path to enlightenment, in Guru Puja has lam-rim and also lo-jong, or thought transformation. Generally, the whole of the lam-rim, from guru devotion up to enlightenment, is thought transformation. If your mind is not transformed into the path, how can you have realizations of the path? There’s no way, without transforming your mind.

This puja will be offered on Zoom. Please click here to register on Zoom.

As part of the puja, we perform a special practice called tsog which has extensive offerings. According to the Liberation Prison Project Tibetan calendar, on the 10th and 25th of every Tibetan (lunar) month, Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, “Those who have received an initiation into Highest Yoga Tantra have a commitment to perform tsog” on these days. During the pandemic, when we are doing the puja online, students can make these offerings at home.

Anyone is welcome to attend pujas, even if you are unfamiliar with the practice. This puja is recited partly in English and partly chanted in Tibetan. (It is possible to read the English translations of the whole puja, and there is optional sheet music available to help learn the Tibetan tunes.) Traditionally the 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.

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 Guru puja is $75 - click here to sponsor this puja.

Guru puja (Lama Chöpa)  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. It is a practice recommended by FPMT's Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who says: This practice of Guru Puja is very profound, with many extra benefits, and is very quick to bring enlightenment. The lam-rim prayer, the prayer of the steps of the path to enlightenment, in Guru Puja has lam-rim and also lo-jong, or thought transformation. Generally, the whole of the lam-rim, from guru devotion up to enlightenment, is thought transformation. If your mind is not transformed into the path, how can you have realizations of the path? There’s no way, without transforming your mind.

This puja will be offered on Zoom. Please click here to register on Zoom.

As part of the puja, we perform a special practice called tsog which has extensive offerings. According to the Liberation Prison Project Tibetan calendar, on the 10th and 25th of every Tibetan (lunar) month, Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, “Those who have received an initiation into Highest Yoga Tantra have a commitment to perform tsog” on these days. During the pandemic, when we are doing the puja online, students can make these offerings at home.

Anyone is welcome to attend pujas, even if you are unfamiliar with the practice. This puja is recited partly in English and partly chanted in Tibetan. (It is possible to read the English translations of the whole puja, and there is optional sheet music available to help learn the Tibetan tunes.) Traditionally the 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.

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 Guru puja is $75 - click here to sponsor this puja.

Kadampa Center is happy to host Venerable Thubten Chöying online as she shares images, impressions and insights from her new life as a nun at Kopan Nunnery outside Kathmandu, Nepal.  Venerable Chöying (formerly Sarah Brooks, Spiritual Program Coordinator at Kadampa Center in Raleigh, NC, USA and at Mahamudra Centre in Colville, NZ) ordained in January this year with Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Spiritual Director of our mother organization, FPMT. Come for an evening of hearing the joys and trials of immersion into the ordained life.

Kopan Nunnery has two Geshes from the first class of female Tibetan Geshes who were permitted by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to earn the Geshe degree in 2016. Now that the gender barrier has been removed, there is much more motivation for the young nuns to study seriously because they have role models showing how they can return to the Nunnery and benefit future generations of nuns by becoming qualified teachers. This also means that over time there will be more female Geshes who can teach abroad, which is important for representing the Buddha's view that everyone is equally qualified to become enlightened.

The evening will be offered on Zoom and livestreamed on YouTube.  Registration is required to participate via Zoom. Access to the YouTube livestream is available on Kadampa Center's website. There will be opportunities to ask questions.

Generosity is the first perfection of a bodhisattva! Anyone joyfully inspired by the lives of these dedicated women can help support Venerable Chöying and all the nuns at Kopan by making a donation directly to the nunnery. The most urgent need is for food, but all donations will be used well to support the thriving community in the nunnery.

In keeping with our tradition, Kadampa Center offers this program with no fee to participants. 

Of course, we welcome offerings to help support our programs!

Bodhisattvas are driven by their deep compassion to attain enlightenment, the fully developed state in which they can benefit other beings most effectively. In this weekend course, we will examine a brief and lyrical text by Lama Atisha, the great Indian master who came to Tibet in the 11th century, in which he presents the most essential instructions for living one’s life perfectly as a bodhisattva. Like a string of precious gems, these guidelines are to be worn like a beautiful garland by all those who wish to journey the path of full awakening.

Download Thubten Jinpa's  translation of Dipamkara's Bodhisattva's Jewel Garland, the root text for this workshop, here.

Gen Don brings a masterly understanding of the Buddha's teachings, coupled with a kind and gentle approach to life, to his teaching style. We are happy to welcome him back to Kadampa Center!

This weekend workshop begins Friday evening and continues Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

This course will be offered online via Zoom or YouTube streaming. 

Registration is required to participate via Zoom. Because of Zoom's setup, you will need to register separately for Friday night and for Saturday-Sunday afternoons.  Please register here for Saturday and/or Sunday afternoon.

Supporting the teachings

Supporting the teachings is an incredibly powerful and important act -- it is a practice of the highest form of generosity – giving the means to enlightenment. Kadampa Center has for many years operated within the ideal of offering teachings without charging a fee, so that money is not an obstacle for anyone to hear the precious teachings and participate in the practices. We rely on the generous hearts of those who are moved to support the spiritual offerings and keep them open to everyone regardless of ability to pay.

Although we don't have the expense of travel and hospitality for a teacher's virtual visit, donations are still needed and meaningful, and make it possible for us to make a generous offering to the teacher on behalf of everyone attending the teachings.

Supporting the teachings benefits not just the Center and those who attend, but it also greatly benefits the donor, because it creates the causes to meet the teachings again in future lives, and deepens the connection with the teacher.

Kadampa Center offers two ways to support the teachings: Sponsorships and Donations.

Sponsorships begin at $108.

Sponsors receive:

 - The opportunity to write a personal dedication that we will post for all to share.  We must receive the sponsorship and dedication by the previous day to assure we have time to print and post your dedication.

There may be more than one sponsor for any event.

Donations are any amount less than $108.

Donors of $75 or more receive:

 - The opportunity to write a personal dedication that we will post for all to share. We must receive the sponsorship and dedication by the previous day to assure we have time to print and post your dedication.

Supporting the teachings is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here).

Step Two  is making the donation or sponsorship (use the buttons 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. If you'd like, you can team up with friends on a sponsorship - please have one person make the donation and work it out among yourselves. 

Use our secure online community to donate by clicking your choice below.

To try our new Text Giving, send KC108 to 73256 and select your level from the drop down menu..

Don't forget to dedicate your generosity!

Visiting Teacher Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsor the Dharma ~ $108

Sponsor Tue or Weds ~ $250

Sponsor Friday teaching ~ $350

Sponsor Saturday or Sunday teaching ~ $500

Visiting Teacher Donation Opportunities

Heart Giving ~ $Your Choice

Thank You!

Bodhisattvas are driven by their deep compassion to attain enlightenment, the fully developed state in which they can benefit other beings most effectively. In this weekend course, we will examine a brief and lyrical text by Lama Atisha, the great Indian master who came to Tibet in the 11th century, in which he presents the most essential instructions for living one’s life perfectly as a bodhisattva. Like a string of precious gems, these guidelines are to be worn like a beautiful garland by all those who wish to journey the path of full awakening.

Download Thubten Jinpa's  translation of Dipamkara's Bodhisattva's Jewel Garland, the root text for this workshop, here.

Gen Don brings a masterly understanding of the Buddha's teachings, coupled with a kind and gentle approach to life, to his teaching style. We are happy to welcome him back to Kadampa Center!

This weekend workshop begins Friday evening and continues Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

This course will be offered online via Zoom or YouTube streaming. 

Registration is required to participate via Zoom. Because of Zoom's setup, you will need to register separately for Friday night and for Saturday-Sunday afternoons.  Please register here for Friday night.

Supporting the teachings

Supporting the teachings is an incredibly powerful and important act -- it is a practice of the highest form of generosity – giving the means to enlightenment. Kadampa Center has for many years operated within the ideal of offering teachings without charging a fee, so that money is not an obstacle for anyone to hear the precious teachings and participate in the practices. We rely on the generous hearts of those who are moved to support the spiritual offerings and keep them open to everyone regardless of ability to pay.

Although we don't have the expense of travel and hospitality for a teacher's virtual visit, donations are still needed and meaningful, and make it possible for us to make a generous offering to the teacher on behalf of everyone attending the teachings.

Supporting the teachings benefits not just the Center and those who attend, but it also greatly benefits the donor, because it creates the causes to meet the teachings again in future lives, and deepens the connection with the teacher.

Kadampa Center offers two ways to support the teachings: Sponsorships and Donations.

Sponsorships begin at $108.

Sponsors receive:

 - The opportunity to write a personal dedication that we will post for all to share.  We must receive the sponsorship and dedication by the previous day to assure we have time to print and post your dedication.

There may be more than one sponsor for any event.

Donations are any amount less than $108.

Donors of $75 or more receive:

 - The opportunity to write a personal dedication that we will post for all to share. We must receive the sponsorship and dedication by the previous day to assure we have time to print and post your dedication.

Supporting the teachings is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here).

Step Two  is making the donation or sponsorship (use the buttons 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. If you'd like, you can team up with friends on a sponsorship - please have one person make the donation and work it out among yourselves. 

Use our secure online community to donate by clicking your choice below.

To try our new Text Giving, send KC108 to 73256 and select your level from the drop down menu..

Don't forget to dedicate your generosity!

Visiting Teacher Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsor the Dharma ~ $108

Sponsor Tue or Weds ~ $250

Sponsor Friday teaching ~ $350

Sponsor Saturday or Sunday teaching ~ $500

Visiting Teacher Donation Opportunities

Heart Giving ~ $Your Choice

Thank You!

Most of us would agree that we are living in quite challenging times, and it is important to have some perspective on things in order to maintain our sanity. The Buddha’s eternal advice is to work with our minds in the midst of whatever we encounter, using our spiritual practice to make the best out of these trying times – but perhaps we haven’t been that successful! In this session we will examine the ways that we are being continually tested in this era and discuss how to transform the current political climate into “grist for the mill,” allowing us to truly learn and grow from all that we’re experiencing.

Gen Don brings a masterly understanding of the Buddha's teachings, coupled with a kind and gentle approach to life, to his teaching style. We are happy to welcome him back to Kadampa Center!

This course will be offered online via Zoom or YouTube streaming. 

Registration is required to participate via Zoom. Please register here.

Supporting the teachings

Supporting the teachings is an incredibly powerful and important act -- it is a practice of the highest form of generosity – giving the means to enlightenment. Kadampa Center has for many years operated within the ideal of offering teachings without charging a fee, so that money is not an obstacle for anyone to hear the precious teachings and participate in the practices. We rely on the generous hearts of those who are moved to support the spiritual offerings and keep them open to everyone regardless of ability to pay.

Although we don't have the expense of travel and hospitality for a teacher's virtual visit, donations are still needed and meaningful, and make it possible for us to make a generous offering to the teacher on behalf of everyone attending the teachings.

Supporting the teachings benefits not just the Center and those who attend, but it also greatly benefits the donor, because it creates the causes to meet the teachings again in future lives, and deepens the connection with the teacher.

Kadampa Center offers two ways to support the teachings: Sponsorships and Donations.

Sponsorships begin at $108.

Sponsors receive:

 - The opportunity to write a personal dedication that we will post for all to share.  We must receive the sponsorship and dedication by the previous day assure we have time to print and post your dedication.

There may be more than one sponsor for any event.

Donations are any amount less than $108.

Donors of $75 or more receive:

 - The opportunity to write a personal dedication that we will post for all to share. We must receive the sponsorship and dedication by the previous day to assure we have time to print and post your dedication.

Supporting the teachings is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here).

Step Two  is making the donation or sponsorship (use the buttons 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. If you'd like, you can team up with friends on a sponsorship - please have one person make the donation and work it out among yourselves. 

Use our secure online community to donate by clicking your choice below.

To try our new Text Giving, send KC108 to 73256 and select your level from the drop down menu..

Don't forget to dedicate your generosity!

Visiting Teacher Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsor the Dharma ~ $108

Sponsor Tue or Weds ~ $250

Sponsor Friday teaching ~ $350

Sponsor Saturday or Sunday teaching ~ $500

Visiting Teacher Donation Opportunities

Heart Giving ~ $Your Choice

Thank You!

Although we all feel that our gender strongly identifies who we are, within each of us there is an unlimited source of both male and female energy.   The beloved deity Tara, a familiar figure in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, is a female manifestation of enlightenment and, as such, serves to aid all practitioners in arousing their feminine energy.

In this session, we examine Tara's qualities and activities and explore the transformative power of feminine energy in Buddhist practice.

Gen Don brings a masterly understanding of the Buddha's teachings, coupled with a kind and gentle approach to life, to his teaching style. We are happy to welcome him back to Kadampa Center!

This course will be offered online via Zoom or YouTube streaming. 

Registration is required to participate via Zoom. Please register here.

Supporting the teachings

Supporting the teachings is an incredibly powerful and important act -- it is a practice of the highest form of generosity – giving the means to enlightenment. Kadampa Center has for many years operated within the ideal of offering teachings without charging a fee, so that money is not an obstacle for anyone to hear the precious teachings and participate in the practices. We rely on the generous hearts of those who are moved to support the spiritual offerings and keep them open to everyone regardless of ability to pay.

Although we don't have the expense of travel and hospitality for a teacher's virtual visit, donations are still needed and meaningful, and make it possible for us to make a generous offering to the teacher on behalf of everyone attending the teachings.

Supporting the teachings benefits not just the Center and those who attend, but it also greatly benefits the donor, because it creates the causes to meet the teachings again in future lives, and deepens the connection with the teacher.

Kadampa Center offers two ways to support the teachings: Sponsorships and Donations.

Sponsorships begin at $108.

Sponsors receive:

 - The opportunity to write a personal dedication that we will post  for all to share.  We must receive the sponsorship and dedication by the previous day to assure we have time to print and post your dedication.

There may be more than one sponsor for any event.

Donations are any amount less than $108.

Donors of $75 or more receive:

 - The opportunity to write a personal dedication that we will post for all to share. We must receive the sponsorship and dedication by the previous day to assure we have time to print and post your dedication.

Supporting the teachings is a two-step process

Step One  is dedicating your generosity (click here).

Step Two  is making the donation or sponsorship (use the buttons 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. If you'd like, you can team up with friends on a sponsorship - please have one person make the donation and work it out among yourselves. 

Use our secure online community to donate by clicking your choice below.

To try our new Text Giving, send KC108 to 73256 and select your level from the drop down menu..

Don't forget to dedicate your generosity!

Visiting Teacher Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsor the Dharma ~ $108

Sponsor Tue or Weds ~ $250

Sponsor Friday teaching ~ $350

Sponsor Saturday or Sunday teaching ~ $500

Visiting Teacher Donation Opportunities

Heart Giving ~ $Your Choice

Thank You!

Chokhor Duchen celebrates the Buddha's first turning of the wheel of Dharma.

On this holy day we will do a group recitation of the Vajra Cutter Sutra, each of us taking a turn to read a page (if we wish). Also, we will read In Praise of Shakyamuni Buddha.

This is an online event, available on Zoom and our YouTube channel.

Registration is required to participate via Zoom.

Click here to register.

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

Join our Kadampa Center community in celebrating His Holiness the Dalai Lama's 85th birthday! We will gather online via Zoom and YouTube to say long-life prayers and, at His request, recite the mantra of compassion (OM MANI PADME HUM) to benefit all sentient beings!

This celebration can be accessed via Zoom or on YouTube.

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

Last Eightfold Path Class for the Kids with Christy! Come wrap up Right Concentration with us and then come back next week when we begin a virtual summer art program!