Gompa

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.

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.

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.

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.

Join Kadampa Center Prison Project Team for a screening of the movie, The 13th. The movie is a provocative a mix of archival footage and testimonies from activists, politicians and historians. It examines why the US has produced the highest rate of incarceration in the world, with the majority of those imprisoned being African American. The title of the film refers to the 13th amendment to the constitution: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”

Watch the trailer:

We'll watch the movie and then the Prison Project Team will lead a discussion and talk a bit about what we are doing both in the prisons and as part of reentry efforts in Wake County.