Gompa

Friday, November 10, (All day) 2017

When he was 41, Shakyamuni Buddha ascended to Tushita, a Pure Land (a kind of heaven)  to repay his mother's kindness by giving teachings to liberate her from samsara. After three months, he returned to Earth to continue his teachings at the request of his disciples.

As a Buddha Holy Day, this is an auspicious day for practice, when the karmic effects of actions are multiplied exponentially, according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

This is a merit-multiplying day, when the karmic effects of all our actions (negative as well as positive) are multiplied a million times, according to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, so any virtuous practice on this day is especially auspicious!

Auspicious practices for the day include:

Eight Mahayana Precepts  Geshe Gelek strongly encourages students who have previously received the precepts to take at least one precept today. There are great benefits to living in vows, even for a single day, and because this is a merit-multiplying day, it is especially beneficial to take precepts.

Center open for individual practice

Medicine Buddha puja  at 7 pm. You can sponsor this puja here.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
Thursday, July 27, (All day) 2017

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:

   11 am    Animal blessing and liberation

    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.

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
10:30 am Sunday, July 9, 2017
                    

 

Come join in celebrating His Holiness' 82nd birthday!

You are invited to join Kadampa Center and the Triangle Area Tibetan community to celebrate His Holiness’ 82nd birthday. We will begin with a procession to enthrone an image of His Holiness. Geshe-la and the Tibetan community will offer prayers for his long life, and continued success in all of his extensive activities as the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, and as a world-wide spokesman for basic human values of compassion and universal responsibility.

We also will offer prayers to promote the causes and conditions that will bring His Holiness to Raleigh in the very near future.

Our celebration is family-friendly as we enjoy Tibetan tea, rice and of course a birthday cake together. We will end the celebration with an opportunity to mark the day by offering katas.

“Love and Compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive”  ~ The Dalai Lama

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
Friday, June 9, (All day) 2017

This day marks Shakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana (passing from this life).

This is an especially auspicious day for spiritual practice — the karmic effects of all actions, positive and negative, are multiplied exponentially!

Our schedule at Kadampa Center will include:

Eight Mahayana Precepts, at 5:15 am, followed by a  group reading of the Vajra Cutter Sutra. The precepts begin before dawn and end at sunrise the following day. These precepts must be taken from a qualified master the first time; afterward the student may take them at home before their altar. Geshe Gelek will offer precepts if students request it. If you wish to take precepts for the first time, please register here.

Medicine Buddha Puja at 12 pm.

Geshe Gelek will offer Refuge in the Three Jewels, as well as the five Lay Vows and the 18 Bodhisattva Vows, beginning at 7pm. If you are taking refuge for the first time, please register here by Tuesday, June 6. Those who wish to renew their vows may attend also.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
5:00 pm Saturday, May 14, 2016

About Medicine Buddha: 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 became the seven Medicine Buddhas, and the puja is prayers and offerings to create merit and make requests of the Buddhas. Just some of the benefits of this practice include healing of mental and physical suffering, helping those who have died, as well as removing obstacles and creating the causes of enlightenment.

Anyone is welcome to attend pujas, even if you are unfamiliar with the practice.  Traditionally the offerings for the sangha and puja are sponsored by Dharma students, especially if they want to dedicate the puja to someone who is ill, dying, or generally in need of support and prayers.

 

Special notes for this puja:

  • We will have a table set up for anyone to bring medicines to be blessed during the puja. Please clearly label your medicines, and if you have more than one, place them in a bag with your name on it.  Please arrive at least 10 minutes early if you are bringing medicines.
  • It is always auspicious to make financial offerings to sangha members at a puja. Traditionally these offerings are made during the auspicious verses near the end of the puja by placing an envelope on the sangha members' tables.  There will be Kadampa Center members making offerings at this puja, so if this is new to you, you can follow along with them.  There will be five monks from Sera Mey.  All offerings made to them will go to the cost of building a new debate court at the monastery.  It is also auspicious to make offerings to our own Geshes and nuns!
  • You may also sponsor this puja, which generates the merit of the greatest form of generosity -- offering the Dharma. Sponsorship of a Medicine Buddha puja is $60 - click here to sponsor the puja.

If you'd like to know more about sponsoring a puja, please contact pujas@kadampa-center.org for instructions about making the donation and sending your personal dedication.

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
1:30 pm Sunday, March 12, 2017

The Day of Miracles is an auspicious day for prayer and practice, as the karmic results of positive actions are multiplied exponentially. Students are encouraged to devote some special time to engage in positive actions, and heart practices; to rejoice in the positive actions of others throughout the world on this day, and to dedicate the merit to the benefit and eventual enlightenment of all sentient beings.

This day is the culmination of Monlam Chenmo, a two-week period during which the Buddha performed various miracles. The two weeks of holy days are observed with the Tibetan Great Prayer Festival beginning on Tibetan New Year, and, on the final day - the Day of Miracles - many fesitvals and rituals are held. 

At Kadampa Center, we will celebrate the Day of Miracles with a Shakyamuni Buddha Puja at 1:30 pm.

The Great Prayer Festival was established in Tibet in 1409 by Lama Tsongkhapa to commemorate Shakyamuni Buddha’s performance of miracles at Shravasti. According to the Sutra of the Wise and Foolish, six great Hindu teachers, representing the six great schools of Hinduism, challenged Shakyamuni Buddha to a competition of miracles. Typically the Buddha purposely avoided displays of powers because people are easily interested in mundane powers instead of practicing Dharma. However, through his clairovoyance, he understood they wouldn’t be subdued unless he performed the miracles, so he outdid them for 15 days, and the six scholars converted to Buddhism. The main purpose of the Great Prayer Festival is to pray for the long life of all the holy Gurus of all traditions, for the survival and spreading of the dharma in the minds of all sentient beings, and for world peace.

Our Spiritual Director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, encourages students to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts on holy days. For more about the practice of precepts, please read The Direct and Unmistaken Method by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Rinpoche advises many other practices on holy days as well.

Since the holy days are based on the Tibetan lunar calendar, according to our Western calendar they fall on different days every year. Please see our calendar for specific dates and a schedule of events.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
12:15 pm Sunday, February 19, 2017

If you would like to ask questions about the Center and Buddhism in an informal setting, this orientation is for you! Orientation sessions are on the third Sunday of each month starting after the morning teachings (approx. 12pm). An experienced Center member will give a brief introduction to the Center and answer your questions. These sessions will include information about how we are organized, membership,volunteer opportunities, information about our e-mails lists, and information about the different aspects of the center, such as the Bookstore and Library.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
10:30 am Sunday, February 19, 2017

Our Sunday morning teachings are a vibrant, interactive experience where we explore applying the methods of Buddhism to the nitty-gritty of daily life.  With the guidance of one of our resident teachers, Geshe Gelek Chodha or Geshe Palden Sangpo, we discuss the complications that make us unhappy, and how the tools of Buddhism sheds new light on our thoughts and emotions. In this process we discover how to steer our minds toward happiness.

Sunday mornings typically begin with prayers, a brief meditation, and the rare opportunity to learn from a highly trained Buddhist monk. When Geshe Gelek and Geshe Sangpo are away, one of several senior students will lead the session. The teachings and prayers are in English.

We offer a full range of children's programs on Sundays. Children are invited to sit on the blue cushions at the front of the gompa, and then depart to their classes after opening prayers. Any child who wishes to is welcome to remain in the gompa for the teachings.

On this Sunday, the teachings will end at 11:15 and we will begin the annual Member Meeting immediately at that time.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
12:00 pm Sunday, February 5, 2017

In preparation for Tibetan New Year (Losar), Geshe Sangpo will teach two traditional Tibetan dances, so we can perform them at the Losar celebration on Sunday, Feb. 26.
Bring your twinkle toes and get ready to learn some fine stepping!
We will have additional practice sessions in the coming weeks so we can perfect our steps.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
10:30 am Sunday, February 26, 2017

Kadampa Center will celebrate Losar, the Tibetan New Year, on Sunday, February 26, with traditional prayers, stories and songs, and dancing,  hosted by Geshe Gelek and Geshe Sangpo, with members of the local Tibetan community.

We will also have a chance to dance traditional Tibetan dances and sing along with the lyrics.

Look for a visit from the Snow Lion as well!

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

There will be no separate children’s program. Children will remain in the Gompa for the celebration

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa

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