Gompa

Join us for an informal discussion about Discovering Buddhism topics. Class resumes March 5.

Written by Lama Tsongkhapa, the Lamrim organizes the Buddha's teachings into a systematic method of spiritual growth. Lama Tsongkhapa presented this method in both a lengthy treatise and in short poems designed for easy memorization, as a guide to meditating on the path. Geshe Gelek is teaching on these condensed versions of the Lamrim, with the intention of helping students become familiar with these texts so that we may use them in our daily practice. The Three Principal Aspects of the Path is one of these condensed, foundational texts; it contains the entire lamrim in 14 stanzas.    This course would be meaningful to any interested students, and especially those with some foundation in Buddhist basics, such as Buddhism in a Nutshell or Discovering Buddhism.

Find The Three Principal Aspects of the Path here. 

Kadampa Center will celebrate Losar, the Tibetan New Year, on Sunday, February 18, with traditional prayer and stories,  hosted by Geshe Gelek, with members of the local Tibetan community.

Milk tea, juice, Tibetan rice, and cookies will be served during the celebration.

There will be no classes for the Family Program -- children are invited to remain in the gompa for the festivities.

Join us for a day of meditation. This is the first in a series of one-day retreats that will be offered this year, each focusing on a particular aspect of the lam rim.

About lam rim: The presentation of Buddha’s 84,000 teachings into a step-by-step method is known as “lam-rim” in Tibetan and can be translated as “graduated path.” Indian and Tibetan masters have offered short texts, prayers, commentaries and extensive texts with instruction, all based on this approach.

About this day: We will focus on meditations to develop renunciation, the aspiration wishing to attain freedom from the bonds of karma and affliction. Specific meditations will be on a review of the lam rim, types of suffering, and mental afflictions. Meditations on the types of suffering help us recognize the nature of our current samsaric existence and thereby help us develop the wish to be free of suffering and its causes. Meditations on our afflictions/delusions help us to recognize our own delusions and to develop the ability to overcome them.

To enable participants to keep focus and concentration, the retreat will be silent other than guided meditations and essential communication. To maintain a stable and peaceful retreat environment, participants should commit to attending the entire day.

All students at any level are welcome. Some will be doing this practice in the context of Discovering Buddhism (DB).

Note about DB: If you are working on the requirements for completing the DB Practice Retreats, the Renunciation meditations are required for Day 1 of the Presenting the Path module and Days 1 and 2 of the Samsara and Nirvana module. Please be aware that these mediations will be guided by a fellow student and not an FPMT teacher, so for DB purposes, your approach is similar to if you were preparing for and practicing independently. However, we offer this opportunity in the center’s spiritual setting with other students with the hope that you find the environment beneficial and to cultivate a supportive environment in which we all practice.

Schedule

Please bring food for your day such as snacks and lunch.

8:30 - Center open, check in, make offerings (bookstore open)

9:00 - 9:15 - General information

9:15 - 10:15 - Session 1

10:15 - 10:35 - Break (Silent)

10:35 - 11:35 - Session 2

11:35 - 12:15 - Lunch Break (Silent)

12:15 - 1:15 - Session 3

1:15 - 1:35 - Break (Silent)

1:35 - 2:35 - Session 4

2:35 - 3:00 - Discussion

Clean up, take down offerings (bookstore open)

To REGISTER, enter or select your name and click the blue Next button. Then, answer a few questions and click the blue Next button. Finally, click the Register button. 

We offer this opportunity on a donation basis so that money is never an obstacle to practicing the Dharma. If you are able, please indicate your donation by clicking on one of the following buttons where you will be led to our secure online system. Thank you!!

Set my own amount

$50 - With Love

$75 - With Compassion

$108 - With Joy

Faith and Family Night with the Carolina Hurricanes

Holding these dates for spring retreat at Noland's.

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 puja and offer a dedication to benefit themselves or loved ones. Sponsor this puja here.

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."