Gompa

Every Drop Counts!  Be a wish-fulfilling jewel and offer a pint of blood, a gift of life to others! Join our second annual blood drive on Compassion Day, His Holiness' birthday.

To celebrate His Holiness’ birthday, Kadampa Center will hold a blood drive on Friday, July 6, from 10 am to 2:30 p.m.

We will send His Holiness a card signed by all our donors and support volunteers, so the more bountiful the number of donations, the better!

Your offering of blood can be the difference between life and death for another, benefitting not only the recipients but everyone in their lives.  Many of us have personal experience with blood transfusions, either for ourselves or for someone we love – our brother,  our mother, our BFF.

We’re working with the pros in blood drives, the American Red Cross, and we have a big goal – 50 pints!  Last year, our members and friends donated 28 units of blood and 11 units of "power red" blood, and more than 50 people participated, as donors or support volunteers. Please invite your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to join in our blood drive and keep hearts beating throughout our community.

Here’s what you need to know to help create our gift of compassion to others, to offer to His Holiness:

Sign up online! Click here to register.  When you get to the link, click on the red circle with the white arrow, then choose your time and type of donation.

If you can’t donate blood for any reason but want to help create this gift to His Holiness,  you can volunteer here.

Read here about how one precious life was saved by other's kindness. You can make the same difference for someone!

And don’t forget to dedicate your merit, for the benefit of all sentient beings, and for the long, happy, healthy life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama!

FPMT Narm meeting June 22-24
Vacation June 24-July1
ECU Orientation July 2-3
July 4 off
Back in the office on July 5

Donna away

Meeting with Meditation 101 course leaders, area coordinator and SPC.

May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness
May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering
May all sentient beings be inseparable from the happiness that is free from suffering
May all sentinet beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for friends and hatred for enemies

The Four Immeasurables are powerful and inviting meditation techniques to activate the heart of kindness, counter the distortions in our relationships to ourselves, and deepen our relationships to others. Each Sunday morning, we recite this prayer at the beginning of our Dharma for a Happy Life Sunday teachings. In this special Sunday program, visiting teacher Don Handrick will bring the teachings of his weekend workshop on this profound prayer into our morning gathering.   We will explore these four attitudes – the cultivation of equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and empathetic joy –and learn how to skillfully advance them to a limitless degree, eventually making our hearts as wide as the world. As on other Sundays, we will have the Family Program for our children, who are invited to either depart to their classes, or remain in the gompa for the teaching.

We encourage students who plan to attend the coto bring a bag lunch and stay during the break to discuss the morning's teachings together.

Learn more about Don here.

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.

You can support the teachings here.

May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness
May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering
May all sentient beings be inseparable from the happiness that is free from suffering
May all sentinet beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for friends and hatred for enemies

The Four Immeasurables are powerful and inviting meditation techniques to activate the heart of kindness, counter the distortions in our relationships to ourselves, and deepen our relationships to others. In this weekend course with Don Handrick, we will explore these four attitudes – the cultivation of equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and empathetic joy –and learn how to skillfully advance them to a limitless degree, eventually making our hearts as wide as the world. The workshop will meet Friday from 7pm-9pm, Saturday from 10am to 4pm, and Sunday from 1030am to 4pm.  On Saturday and Sunday, we invite students to bring lunch and eat together while discussing the morning's teachings. We encourage students to bring a bag lunch and stay during the break to discuss the morning's teachings together.

Learn more about Don here.

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.

You can support the teachings here.

May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness
May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering
May all sentient beings be inseparable from the happiness that is free from suffering
May all sentinet beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for friends and hatred for enemies

The Four Immeasurables are powerful and inviting meditation techniques to activate the heart of kindness, counter the distortions in our relationships to ourselves, and deepen our relationships to others. In this weekend course with Don Handrick, we will explore these four attitudes – the cultivation of equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and empathetic joy –and learn how to skillfully advance them to a limitless degree, eventually making our hearts as wide as the world. The workshop will meet Friday from 7pm-9pm, Saturday from 10am to 4pm, and Sunday from 1030am to 4pm.  On Saturday and Sunday, we invite students to bring lunch and eat together while discussing the morning's teachings. We encourage students to bring a bag lunch and stay during the break to discuss the morning's teachings together.

Learn more about Don here.

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.

You can support the teachings here.

We offer this Medicine Buddha Puja to benefit Kadampa Center member Russell Allen, father-in-law of Kadampa Center member Christine. Russell passed away May 28. The puja will be at 1 pm Sunrday, June 17. Medicine Buddha Puja is particularly beneficial for those who have passed away and are passing through the bardo. In this beautiful prayer service, we recollect the qualities of the seven Medicine Buddhas and pray for a beneficial rebirth. Geshe Gelek encourages us to attend pujas when members of our community or their loved ones have passed away, to offer our support for those who are grieving and those who have died.

About Medicine Buddha puja:

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."

Guest Speaker Som Paneru

Join us on June 13, 7 - 8 pm, for an informative presentation about Nepal problems and living conditions of the gentle Nepalis. Mr. Paneru will also describe what Nepal Youth Foundation is doing to address the suffering of the girls sold into the “indentured servitude" KAMARI system.

The evening promises to be a moving presentation.

Som Paneru's bio

Som Paneru is from Nepal and is a Social Entrepreneur. Som is serving as the President of Nepal Youth Foundation, a 501 ( c ) (3) public charity registered in California (www.nepalyouthfoundation.org), founded by Olga Murray. The NYF has programs only in Nepal as Olga is solely dedicated to improve the lives of Nepalese children and youth. Som joined this organization in 1995 and climbed the ladder all the way from Social Worker to the President in 2012. The NYF works for the welfare of underprivileged children and youth in Nepal, predominantly in giving access to good education and healthcare. The organization has transformed the lives of over 50,000 Nepalese youngsters. He led the very successful anti-slavery movement in Nepal against a practice of enslaving young girls, named Kamlari Practice, and liberated over 12,000 young girls from slavery and played an instrumental role in its abolition. Som firmly believes in sustainable solution to any social problems. Setting up Nutritional Rehabilitations Homes at every referral hospitals to treat malnourished children, establishment of Sunaula Chowa School in Dhading district, creation of Olgapuri Children’s Village together with a Vocational School are some of the notable social enterprises that he established.

Som has a vast experience in charity management as well as in developing educational institution. He is the founding President (pro-bono) of Ullens Education Foundation in Kathmandu that established Ullens School in 2006 (www.ullens.edu.np). The Ullens School is well known for its unique financial model, an extraordinary social enterprise and philosophy of inclusiveness. Ullens School is now considered as one of the best independent schools in Nepal in terms of education quality as it offers truly a world class education. It is the first and still the only IB World School in Nepal that runs International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP). The school runs from K-12 and has 1200 students, 150 academic faculties and 200 non-teaching staff. Som's vision and imaginative leadership has made Ullens School an iconic academic institution in Nepal in a very short period of time.

Som is a graduate of University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK where he earned his M.A. in International Child Welfare. Born and raised in a humble farming family in rural Gorkha District of Nepal, Som is one of the nine siblings in the family. He always received education through the help of others which has left within him a huge sense of ‘giving back’ to his own society. He is a father of two children and lives a very happy life with his wife Sajani Amatya, a passionate social worker.  

May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness
May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering
May all sentient beings be inseparable from the happiness that is free from suffering
May all sentinet beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for friends and hatred for enemies

The Four Immeasurables are powerful and inviting meditation techniques to activate the heart of kindness, counter the distortions in our relationships to ourselves, and deepen our relationships to others. In this weekend course with Don Handrick, we will explore these four attitudes – the cultivation of equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and empathetic joy –and learn how to skillfully advance them to a limitless degree, eventually making our hearts as wide as the world. The workshop will meet Friday from 7pm-9pm, Saturday from 10am to 4pm, and Sunday from 1030am to 4pm. On Saturday and Sunday, we invite students to bring lunch and eat together while discussing the morning's teachings. Learn more about Don here.

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.

You can support the teachings here.