Gompa

2:00 pm Thursday, July 6, 2017

 

         Every Drop Counts! 

 

Be a wish-fulfilling jewel and offer a pint of blood, a gift of life to others!

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

We hope to present our gift to His Holiness when he comes to Raleigh in October, so the more bountiful the number of donations, the better!

Can't donate blood? You can contribute by volunteering!  We need folks to help make room in the gompa for the donor beds, to check people in and offer snacks, and to set the gompa back up after the drive. Click here to sign up as a volunteer.

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!  

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:

Who: All aspiring bodhisattvas!
What: 50 pints of blood, one pint at a time
When: 2 – 6:30 pm, Thursday, July 6, (His Holiness’ actual birthday)
Where: Kadampa Center gompa
How: Go to redcrossblood.org  and enter sponsor code: Kadampa
  Then follow the instructions
Why: To eliminate suffering!

 

The link to register is redcrossblood.org   Our sponsor code is Kadampa

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

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!

 

 

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
8:30 pm Monday, June 19, 2017

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.

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. Kadampa Center holds pujas with tsog on these dates (when they don't conflict with other programs).

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.

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

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
12:30 pm Sunday, June 18, 2017
Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
12:00 pm Monday, July 31, 2017
                                       

Medicine Buddha puja 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.

Typically we do Medicine Buddha Puja in English.

Sponsor this puja here.

 

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
5:00 pm Sunday, July 9, 2017

We offer this Medicine Buddha Puja to benefit Bob Storms, who passed away May 22.

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.

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."

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
1:00 pm Friday, June 9, 2017

Every Friday from 12:00-1:00, (except Puja days when we meet later, see calendar.)

Come to the Center (BYOL, bring your own lunch) and hang out around the big conference table.

Connections made now will support you and your practice in the future!

“Time is an illusion, lunch time doubly so.” ~ Douglas Adams

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
3:00 pm Friday, June 9, 2017

A Special Animal Liberation/Blessing

According to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, it’s incredibly important to do practices to benefit animals and lead them to liberation: “It’s not enough that you look after animals and they give you comfort. You must do something of practical benefit for them. This is what you can do every day:​ Circumambulate with them around holy objects, chanting mantras. Recite prayers in their ears to plant the seed of all the realizations of the path to enlightenment. This makes a huge difference. It has incredible results, enabling them to have a good rebirth in their next life, to be born as a human being, and meet the Dharma.”

 

Join us for a special afternoon of animal liberation! It begins with a pet blessing. Bring your critters to the center (see below for important details) to have your pet circumambulate the stupa and receive a special blessing and mantras by the Kadampa Center nuns.

After the blessing, we’ll continue with an animal release of earthworms, who would otherwise have been used as bait, into the woods and soil around the center. You are also welcome to purchase and bring earthworms ​to release.

This special event is sponsored by the Saah family, but we welcome other sponsors—if you’d like to make a special donation towards this incredible merit opportunity and the purchase of the beings that will be freed, please contact Donna​ at program.donna@kadampa-center.org

 

Important Details for the Pet Blessing

Dogs must be on leashes, all other animals must be in cages. In order to keep all the dogs and cats happy, please keep your pet under your control and be ready to follow our instructions at the site. We will have water available to keep the pets from getting thirsty​. ​If the weather is bad, animals will be invited inside the building for the blessing and circumambulation of a special altar.

 

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
5:15 am Friday, June 9, 2017

Join us for the power of group practice to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts, followed by a light breakfast, on the celebration of Saka Dawa. This day marks Shakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana (passing from this life).

The Eight Mahayana Precepts are a set of eight vows taken for a period of 24 hours, from sunrise on one day to sunrise the following day. The vows include no killing, stealing, sexual activity, lying, sitting on high beds, taking intoxicants, wearing perfume or jewelry, or eating after noon. Our Spiritual Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, encourages students to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts on holy days.

These precepts must be taken from a qualified master the first time; afterward the student may take them at home before their altar.

Following the precepts ceremony, there will be a light breakfast and a group reading of the Vajra Cutter Sutra.

Geshe Gelek will offer precepts if students request it. If you wish to take precepts for the first time, please register here.

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
7:00 pm Friday, June 9, 2017

On this auspicious holy day, Saka Dawa, Geshe-la will offer Refuge, the Five Lay Vows, and Bodhisattva Vows. It is especially wonderful to be able to take these vows on a Buddha holy day, when the karmic effects of our actions increase exponentially!

Taking refuge vows is making a commitment to Buddhism as one's spiritual path. It also creates a karmic bond with the teacher who offers the vows. When you take refuge in the Three Jewels, the refuge master conferring the vows will also give you a refuge name in Tibetan.

The Five Lay Vows are a set of basic ethical principals, vows not to kill, take what has not been given, lie, take intoxicants or commit sexual misconduct (that is, have sex with someone else's partner)

Bodhisattva Vows are a set of 18 principals that areguides to which actions to practice and which to abandoned in order to be of greatest benefit to others, develop compassion, and overcome selfish ways of being.

You can learn more about these vows in this Mandala Magazine article. The Five Lay Vows are lifetime vows, so they only need to be taken once, and should be taken with the confidence you will keep them.

Those who have already taken refuge are welcome to attend and renew their vows.

Geshe Gelek recommends anyone interested in taking refuge should read the refuge section in the book Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand (available in our bookstore). He also taught a class on refuge in 2013 for students interested in the ceremony - you can listen to it in the recordings section of our website.

The ceremony will likely be in Tibetan, but it is first explained in English what you are saying. Please arrive by 6:30. At the end of the ceremony, it is traditional to offer two katas (white offering scarfs, available in the bookstore) - one to the Buddha statue on the altar, and one to the teacher giving the vows, who returns it by placing it over your head as a blessing. While we often have spare ones to lend, it is best to buy them so you are actually making an offering of your own. It is also auspicious to give the teacher a gift, typically money (any amount) in an envelope, in appreciation for the incredible gift he has just given you with this opportunity. The center will also be giving you a copy of the FPMT booklet on refuge and how to practice it daily. 

Lay Vows and Bodhisattva Vows

Following the refuge ceremony, Geshe-la will offer the five Lay Vows and the Bodhisattva Vows.

Thanking the teacher

If you take any vows with Geshe-la, it is auspicious to thank him by offering and kata and a small gift, typically money (any amount) in an envelope. 

As with all our programs, we offer the Dharma and many resources freely to the community, and rely on your donations to cover the costs involved. Please consider supporting the center by making an offering in the donation boxes, through the bookstore, online, or by mailing a check.

If you have any questions, please email Donna at program.donna@kadampa-center.org

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
1:00 pm Thursday, May 4, 2017

The Nuns will be in the gompa doing a Medicine Buddha Puja for Venerable Khando's sister.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa

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