Gompa

When he was 41, Shakyamuni Buddha ascended to Tushita 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.

At Kadampa Center, we will gather in the afternoon after Sunday Dharma for a group reciting of sutras and prayers. Students who wish to are encouraged to take the Eight Mahayana Precepts at home, and anyone is welcome to circumambulate the stupa.

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!

Get an overview of the entire Tibetan Buddhist path to awakening. Study the life story of the Buddha and discover a unique system for putting Buddhist philosophy into practice – the lam-rim, or "graduated path to enlightenment."

Presenting the Path is part of a two-year series of classes called Discovering Buddhism. In this course we explore 13 essential topics in Buddhism, from Meditation to Karma to Death and Rebirth, with much, much more! This is an excellent course of study for those who have the very basics and wish to start going a little deeper into Buddhist philosophy.

DB was developed by our affiliate organization, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, and is taught at Kadampa Center by senior lay students with many years of study and practice. Students who take the course together tend to develop great friendships with their Dharma buddies!

In keeping with our long-standing tradition, Kadampa Center does not charge a fee for any Dharma course. These teachings are too precious to allow money to be an obstacle for anyone to hear them!  We do, of course, have expenses to offer the course, so we happily welcome any heart-felt donations.  No pre-registration is required.

This class is led by Don Brown.

New Member Orientation CANCELLED due to weather

New Member Orientation CANCELLED due to weather

Sunday morning Meditation CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER.

It is a fundamental insight of the Buddha that the quality of our life depends primarily on the quality of our mind. As stated in the collection of Buddha’s sayings known as the Dharmapada:
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. It is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts. If we speak or act with an impure mind, suffering follows us, as the wheel of a cart follows the foot of the ox that draws it….
If we speak or act with a pure mind, happiness follows us, like a shadow that never leaves.
    
Therefore all of Buddha’s teachings can be thought of as mind training: how to lessen and eventually eliminate the various harmful states of mind responsible for suffering and dissatisfaction, and how to cultivate and bring to perfection the beneficial states of mind that lead to temporary and ultimate happiness and fulfillment.

However, the term “mind training” (and its equivalent “thought transformation”) is most commonly used to translate the Tibetan term lo-jong, which refers specifically to those spiritual instructions concerned with cultivating the altruistic motivation of a bodhisattva, the supremely compassionate being aiming to achieve enlightenment for the sake of benefitting others. The selfless motivation of a bodhisattva is known as the precious bodhichitta and, as Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche always emphasizes, the greatest obstacle to developing this supremely altruistic motivation is what he calls "the demon of self-cherishing."

The work we will look at this weekend is called the Seven-point Mind Training, one of the fundamental texts of the lo-jong tradition, and it contains very profound and eminently practical advice for reducing the strength of our habitual selfishness and generating in its place the peerless jewel of bodhichitta.
The workshop will consist of lecture, meditation practice and Q&A.

As with all Dharma teachings at Kadampa Center, we offer Jon's classes without charging a fee, so that no one is prevented from hearing the precious Dharma because of money. Of course, there are costs involved in bringing the teachers to Kadampa Center, so we rely on the heartfelt generosity of our members, friends and visitors to cover those costs.

Click here to sponsor Jonathan Landaw.

It is a fundamental insight of the Buddha that the quality of our life depends primarily on the quality of our mind. As stated in the collection of Buddha’s sayings known as the Dharmapada:
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. It is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts. If we speak or act with an impure mind, suffering follows us, as the wheel of a cart follows the foot of the ox that draws it….
If we speak or act with a pure mind, happiness follows us, like a shadow that never leaves.
    
Therefore all of Buddha’s teachings can be thought of as mind training: how to lessen and eventually eliminate the various harmful states of mind responsible for suffering and dissatisfaction, and how to cultivate and bring to perfection the beneficial states of mind that lead to temporary and ultimate happiness and fulfillment.

However, the term “mind training” (and its equivalent “thought transformation”) is most commonly used to translate the Tibetan term lo-jong, which refers specifically to those spiritual instructions concerned with cultivating the altruistic motivation of a bodhisattva, the supremely compassionate being aiming to achieve enlightenment for the sake of benefitting others. The selfless motivation of a bodhisattva is known as the precious bodhichitta and, as Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche always emphasizes, the greatest obstacle to developing this supremely altruistic motivation is what he calls "the demon of self-cherishing."

The work we will look at this weekend is called the Seven-point Mind Training, one of the fundamental texts of the lo-jong tradition, and it contains very profound and eminently practical advice for reducing the strength of our habitual selfishness and generating in its place the peerless jewel of bodhichitta.
The workshop will consist of lecture, meditation practice and Q&A.

As with all Dharma teachings at Kadampa Center, we offer Jon's classes without charging a fee, so that no one is prevented from hearing the precious Dharma because of money. Of course, there are costs involved in bringing the teachers to Kadampa Center, so we rely on the heartfelt generosity of our members, friends and visitors to cover those costs.

Click here to sponsor Jonathan Landaw.

It is a fundamental insight of the Buddha that the quality of our life depends primarily on the quality of our mind. As stated in the collection of Buddha’s sayings known as the Dharmapada:
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. It is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts. If we speak or act with an impure mind, suffering follows us, as the wheel of a cart follows the foot of the ox that draws it….
If we speak or act with a pure mind, happiness follows us, like a shadow that never leaves.
    
Therefore all of Buddha’s teachings can be thought of as mind training: how to lessen and eventually eliminate the various harmful states of mind responsible for suffering and dissatisfaction, and how to cultivate and bring to perfection the beneficial states of mind that lead to temporary and ultimate happiness and fulfillment.

However, the term “mind training” (and its equivalent “thought transformation”) is most commonly used to translate the Tibetan term lo-jong, which refers specifically to those spiritual instructions concerned with cultivating the altruistic motivation of a bodhisattva, the supremely compassionate being aiming to achieve enlightenment for the sake of benefitting others. The selfless motivation of a bodhisattva is known as the precious bodhichitta and, as Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche always emphasizes, the greatest obstacle to developing this supremely altruistic motivation is what he calls "the demon of self-cherishing."

The work we will look at this weekend is called the Seven-point Mind Training, one of the fundamental texts of the lo-jong tradition, and it contains very profound and eminently practical advice for reducing the strength of our habitual selfishness and generating in its place the peerless jewel of bodhichitta.
The workshop will consist of lecture, meditation practice and Q&A.

As with all Dharma teachings at Kadampa Center, we offer Jon's classes without charging a fee, so that no one is prevented from hearing the precious Dharma because of money. Of course, there are costs involved in bringing the teachers to Kadampa Center, so we rely on the heartfelt generosity of our members, friends and visitors to cover those costs.

Click here to sponsor Jonathan Landaw.

It is a fundamental insight of the Buddha that the quality of our life depends primarily on the quality of our mind. As stated in the collection of Buddha’s sayings known as the Dharmapada:
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. It is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts. If we speak or act with an impure mind, suffering follows us, as the wheel of a cart follows the foot of the ox that draws it….
If we speak or act with a pure mind, happiness follows us, like a shadow that never leaves.
    
Therefore all of Buddha’s teachings can be thought of as mind training: how to lessen and eventually eliminate the various harmful states of mind responsible for suffering and dissatisfaction, and how to cultivate and bring to perfection the beneficial states of mind that lead to temporary and ultimate happiness and fulfillment.

However, the term “mind training” (and its equivalent “thought transformation”) is most commonly used to translate the Tibetan term lo-jong, which refers specifically to those spiritual instructions concerned with cultivating the altruistic motivation of a bodhisattva, the supremely compassionate being aiming to achieve enlightenment for the sake of benefitting others. The selfless motivation of a bodhisattva is known as the precious bodhichitta and, as Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche always emphasizes, the greatest obstacle to developing this supremely altruistic motivation is what he calls "the demon of self-cherishing."

The work we will look at this weekend is called the Seven-point Mind Training, one of the fundamental texts of the lo-jong tradition, and it contains very profound and eminently practical advice for reducing the strength of our habitual selfishness and generating in its place the peerless jewel of bodhichitta.
The workshop will consist of lecture, meditation practice, and Q&A.

As with all Dharma teachings at Kadampa Center, we offer Jon's classes without charging a fee, so that no one is prevented from hearing the precious Dharma because of money. Of course, there are costs involved in bringing the teachers to Kadampa Center, so we rely on the heartfelt generosity of our members, friends and visitors to cover those costs.

The meaning of Om Mani Padme Hung by His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Click here to sponsor Jonathan Landaw.

The Tibetan Buddhist teachings on the process of spiritual growth and maturation are presented in terms of what is known as the Stages of the Path, or Lam-rim. The lam-rim demonstrates how all the teachings of the Buddha can be understood as the step-by-step training for properly motivated disciples, from their entrance into the spiritual path all the way up to their attainment of the full enlightenment of buddhahood.
There are many versions of these lam-rim teachings, including Atisha’s original Lamp of the Path and Lama Je Tsongkhapa's extensive Great Treatise. The text we will be following here is The Foundation of All Good Qualities, a short poem by Je Tsongkhapa called “the most concise and stirring outline available” of these lam-rim teachings.” In only fourteen stanzas, Tsongkhapa offers the practitioner a prayer that covers the entire graduated path to enlightenment, short enough to recite every day yet profound enough to study for a lifetime.
During these two Wednesday evening classes, we will be taking a look at this overview of the entire path while concentrating on certain points of particular interest to present-day students. Questions are welcome.

As with all Dharma teachings at Kadampa Center, we offer Jon's classes without charging a fee, so that no one is prevented from hearing the precious Dharma because of money. Of course, there are costs involved in bringing the teachers to Kadampa Center, so we rely on the heartfelt generosity of our members, friends and visitors to cover those costs.

Click here to sponsor Jonathan Landaw.