Gompa

Venerable Khando is away at Shravasti Abbey.

Holding these dates for Ven. Robina visit

Most of us who have studied Buddhist teachings for any length of time have heard a great deal about death. It can be summed up in the simple statement:          I’m going to die, that’s for sure. As we go through our days doing our best to have a peaceful and content mind, we are both living well and preparing for death. When death arrives, the most important thing is to have a peaceful mind, and how we live very much influences how we die. How do we prepare for the inevitable? The prayers and practices that sustain us in our everyday lives can also sustain us at the time of death, but if illness or mental incapacity comes before death, we might no longer be able to study, pray and meditate, and do the practices that have cultivated a peaceful mindstream. Having those practices available to us can help ease the transition from this life to the next.

A Dharma will is a way of making clear to ourselves and others what will be help us have a  peaceful mind when we are sick, dying or have died.

In this one-day workshop, we will learn about the dying process and the elements of a Dharma will, and then prepare our own documents that lay out our wishes and needs.

The morning session will be a brief overview of the death process and the elements in a dharma will.

The afternoon session will be an opportunity to begin deciding and documenting what will support us during this time: What we want to hear, see, touch and taste, the practices, mantras and images we want around us when we are sick, dying and during our time in the bardo.

We will have an outline that we can use as a guide to fill in our personal information. By doing this in a group, we can receive an offer support to all of us within the group.

Anyone is welcome to attend the morning session only and continue their day. We request those who come for the afternoon work session please attend the morning session as well.

We will break for lunch when folks can go out or bring their own and chat.

This workshop led by Venerable Ngawang Khando.

Please register for this event!  We will have printed copies of some the materials, and your registration helps us print enough, but not too many!

     Here are links to useful information:

For use at the workshop:  Buddhist Death

The following links are to sources that are useful for helping another person with dying. They are not part of the workshop.

   Listening Well

  Needs of the Dying

Geshe-la will bless the wedding of Jeff Suss and Amanda Carson after the teachings. This is a private blessing, the Center members are not invited.

Seven weeks after attaining enlightenment at Bodhgaya, the Buddha gave his first teaching at the Deer Park in Sarnath. He expressed his profound realization of the nature of existence in the Four Noble Truths:

    The Truth of  the Nature of Suffering
    The Truth of the Origins or Causes of Suffering
    The Truth of the Cessation of, or Liberation from, Suffering
    The Truth of the Eight Fold Path as the means to attain ultimate happiness and freedom from suffering.

This teaching, referred to as the First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma, led to the formation of the Sangha, the community of disciples committed to following the Buddha's example of living simply, following the Path, and teaching the Dharma. Accordingly, every year at this time, the FPMT encourages its Centers to celebrate the presence of the sangha community. Our website includes a Sangha Support and Offerings page with valuable information, including a previous year's talk and Q&A about sangha with our director, Robbie Watkins.

 Kadampa Center's Observance of the First Turning of the Wheel, Chokor Duchen,  will include:

  5:30 am   Eight Mahayana Precepts please register if you plan to participate

  3 pm        Animal blessing and liberation

  5:30 pm    International Sangha Day: Life at Sera Jay

    7 pm       Shakyamuni Buddha Puja

Lama Zopa Rinpoche notes that on a Buddha Holy Day such as Chokhor Duchen, karmic consequences are multiplied 100 million times, according to a Vinaya text.

Center members who have previously taken the Eight Mahayana Precepts are encouraged to take them at the center, or at home.

Additionally, it is an auspicious day for prayers, practices, and meditations focusing on any aspect of the Mahayana path to enlightenment.

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. This puja will begin following the Refuge ceremony. Starting time may vary.

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 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."