Gompa

Kadampa Center's first annual Healing Retreat begins with an Opening Ceremony of the Mandala of Healing
	Tuesday, August 26, 2025 beginning at 10am (ET) in Kadampa Center's gompa All are invited to attend!

Join us for the start of Kadampa Center's first annual Healing Retreat with an Opening Ceremony of the Mandala of Healing!  Geshe Sangpo, a resident teacher at Kadampa Center who specializes in the ritual practices of Tibetan Buddhism, initiates the creation of a sand mandala of healing during the Opening Ceremony.  This powerful ritual practice takes place over the course of four days, as Geshe Sangpo meticulously sprinkles sand to create the intricate patterns of the mandala.  The Mandala of Healing is a symbolic representation of the pure land of Medicine Buddha, a healing master whose practices are known to be one of the most powerful ways of overcoming disease and eliminating problems. 

Bring friends and family of all ages ~ everyone is welcome and all will benefit from simply seeing the Mandala of Healing!  

SCHEDULE - TUESDAY, AUGUST 26

SPONSOR THE MANDALA OF HEALING

Sponsoring any Dharma activity is one of the highest forms of generosity.  Your sponsorship of the Healing Retreat makes it possible for soooo many to experience the immeasurable benefits of these healing practices, ceremonies, and meditations.  As a sponsor, you are invited to submit a dedication so that your generosity will be of the greatest benefit to yourself and others.  Here's how to become a sponsor of the Mandala of Healing:

• Online by clicking HERE
• Or by check by placing your check in the donation box outside the gompa door or by mailing your check to:

2.  Click HERE to submit your dedication, which can be simple or elaborate; submitted anonymously or with your name included.

*** See the MAIN RETREAT WEBPAGE for additional opportunites to sponsor the Healing Retreat. ***

Kadampa Center's First Annual Mind-Body Healing Retreat with Geshe Gelek & Geshe Sangpo
	Tuesday, August 26 - Sunday, August 31, 2025 ~ see full schedule below ~

FULL SCHEDULE ~ click the links for more information

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Sponsoring any Dharma activity is one of the highest forms of generosity.  Your sponsorship of the Healing Retreat makes it possible for soooo many to experience the immeasurable benefits of these healing practices, ceremonies, and meditations.  As a sponsor, you are invited to submit a dedication so that your generosity will be of the greatest benefit to yourself and others.

HOW DO I BECOME A SPONSOR & SUBMIT MY DEDICATION?

1.   Make your financial sponsorship contribution in one of the following ways:

• Online:  Choose your amount and click on the corresponding link in the table above.
• By check:  Place a check in the donation box outside the gompa door, or send your check to:

Kadampa Center
5412 Etta Burke Ct.
Raleigh, NC  27606

2.   Click HERE to submit your dedication, which can be simple or elaborate; submitted anonymously or with your name included.

Disclaimer:  There may be more than one sponsor for any given amount or any given event/activity, so opportunities to sponsor are endless!  Additionally, Kadampa Center reserves the right to distribute the funds to cover costs wherever needed.

GURU PUJA WITH TSOG with GESHE GELEK Join us for a Guru Puja with Tsog as we celebrate all our precious teachers!  Geshe Gelek will be attending this month's Guru Puja! Tuesday, September 2, from 6:45 - 8:30 pm This monthly offering takes place in person only at Kadampa Center.

SPONSOR GURU PUJA WITH TSOG

Anyone is welcome to sponsor a puja and offer a dedicaton to benefit themselves, a loved one, world peace, all living beings, etc. ~ whatever you choose.

Here's how to sponsor this Guru Puja with Tsog:

• Make your sponsorship donation HERE.

• Submit your dedication HERE.

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING A GURU PUJA WITH TSOG AT KADAMPA CENTER

During his last visit to Kadampa Center, Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Delek advised us that it is most beneficial for our community to come together twice a month to do Guru Puja with Tsog practice – and especially for students who have taken Highest Yoga Tantra initiation.

The puja will be led in English and Tibetan.

Students are requested to participate fully in the practice by:

• bringing food offerings (read below for ideas)

• arriving by 6:45 pm to prepare offerings and help with setup

• staying after the puja to help with cleanup

MORE ABOUT GURU PUJA WITH TSOG

Guru puja (Lama Chöpa in Tibetan) 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.  As part of the puja, we perform a special practice called Tsog, in which we make extensive food offerings to the teacher, and share the food among ourselves as well.

Traditionally, students who attend a Guru Puja with Tsog bring food offerings – fruit, cupcakes, candy, snacks – festive items that can easily be shared and distributed (via paper lunch bags) to take home among all who are present.  This creates great merit for all of us who bring the food offerings!  When everyone participates in this way, our gompa is blessed with a bountiful offering to make to the holy guru.  Because this is a community practice, all students who attend will participate in preparing for the puja by setting up the offerings in the gompa, as well as in returning the gompa to "default" setup following the prayer service.  Students are requested to arrive at the posted time (6:45pm) and then remain afterwards to assist with cleanup.

This puja also includes chanting and playing instruments - cymbals and drum.  Geshe Sangpo has kindly offered, if students are interested, to teach us how to play these instruments so we can fully take part!  Please let our Puja Coordinator (Donna Seese) know if you are interested.

Anyone is welcome to attend pujas, even if you are unfamiliar with the practice.  This puja is chanted in Tibetan, and we will have the English translations of the whole puja available to follow along.  We plan to occasionally read the lamrim verses in English so both English- and Tibetan-speaking students can hear and understand these teachings.  Traditionally the financial 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 (see above for how to sponsor the puja).

GURU PUJA WITH TSOG with GESHE GELEK Join us for a Guru Puja with Tsog as we celebrate all our precious teachers!  Geshe Gelek will be attending this month's Guru Puja! Monday, August 4, from 6:45 - 8:30 pm This monthly offering takes place in person only at Kadampa Center.

SPONSOR GURU PUJA WITH TSOG

Anyone is welcome to sponsor a puja and offer a dedicaton to benefit themselves, a loved one, world peace, all living beings, etc. ~ whatever you choose.

Here's how to sponsor this Guru Puja with Tsog:

1. Make your sponsorship donation HERE.

2. Submit your dedication HERE.

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING A GURU PUJA WITH TSOG AT KADAMPA CENTER

During his last visit to Kadampa Center, Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Delek advised us that it is most beneficial for our community to come together twice a month to do Guru Puja with Tsog practice – and especially for students who have taken Highest Yoga Tantra initiation.

The puja will be led in English and Tibetan.

Students are requested to participate fully in the practice by:

• bringing food offerings (read below for ideas)

• arriving by 6:45 pm to prepare offerings and help with setup

• staying after the puja to help with cleanup

MORE ABOUT GURU PUJA WITH TSOG

Guru puja (Lama Chöpa in Tibetan) 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.  As part of the puja, we perform a special practice called Tsog, in which we make extensive food offerings to the teacher, and share the food among ourselves as well.

Traditionally, students who attend a Guru Puja with Tsog bring food offerings – fruit, cupcakes, candy, snacks – festive items that can easily be shared and distributed (via paper lunch bags) to take home among all who are present.  This creates great merit for all of us who bring the food offerings!  When everyone participates in this way, our gompa is blessed with a bountiful offering to make to the holy guru.  Because this is a community practice, all students who attend will participate in preparing for the puja by setting up the offerings in the gompa, as well as in returning the gompa to "default" setup following the prayer service.  Students are requested to arrive at the posted time (6:45pm) and then remain afterwards to assist with cleanup.

This puja also includes chanting and playing instruments - cymbals and drum.  Geshe Sangpo has kindly offered, if students are interested, to teach us how to play these instruments so we can fully take part!  Please let our Puja Coordinator (Donna Seese) know if you are interested.

Anyone is welcome to attend pujas, even if you are unfamiliar with the practice.  This puja is chanted in Tibetan, and we will have the English translations of the whole puja available to follow along.  We plan to occasionally read the lamrim verses in English so both English- and Tibetan-speaking students can hear and understand these teachings.  Traditionally the financial 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 (see above for how to sponsor the puja).

Chokhor Düchen Buddha Holy Day Buddha's First Teaching

Seven weeks after attaining enlightenment at Bodhgaya, Shakyamuni Buddha gave his first teaching, on the Four Noble Truths, at Deer Park in Sarnath.  We celebrate this day as Chokhor Düchen.  As one of the four Great Holy Days (or Buddha Days) of Tibetan Buddhism, Chokhor Düchen is a merit-multiplying day, in which the karma from our positive actions is multiplied 100 million times, as taught in the vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic.  Geshe Gelek will offer the Eight Mahayana Precepts and lead us in lamrim meditations and Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga on this especially auspicious day for spiritual practice.  Please see the full schedule for Chokhur Düchen below and plan to join us for any or all of these Spiritual Program offerings. Monday, July 28th, 2025, beginning at 5:30 am.

SCHEDULE for CHOKHOR DÜCHEN 2025

5:15 am: Kadampa Center opens; students arrive.

5:30 am: Geshe Gelek arrives and confers the Eight Mahayana Precepts.

Light breakfast offered by Kadampa Center following the precepts

~8:00 am:  Geshe-la leads Lamrim meditations and Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga

11:30 am: Lunch offered by Kadampa Center

12:00 - 6:00 pm:  Kadampa Center remains open for personal practice

OPPORTUNITY TO SPONSOR CHOKHOR DÜCHEN HOLY DAY

Sponsoring a Buddha Holy Day is an incredible opportunity to earn merit.  Your sponsorship not only benefits you, it also serves our entire community by helping to make holy day events and other Spiritual Programs possible at Kadampa Center.  Sponsors also have the opportunity to offer a dedication of their sponsorship.  Anyone is welcome to sponsor Chokhor Düchen Holy Day.  Here's how:

1. Offer your $108 sponsorship HERE.

2. Submit your dedication HERE.

ABOUT CHOKHOR DUCHEN and INTERNATIONAL SANGHA DAY

At his first teaching, the Buddha expressed his profound realization of the nature of existence in the Four Noble Truths:

1.  The Truth of Suffering
2.  The Truth of the Origin of Suffering
3.  The Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
4.  The Truth of the Path to the Cessation of 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, Chokhor Düchen is recognized by the FPMT as International Sangha Day, therefore, FPMT Centers are encouraged to celebrate the presence of the sangha in their community and worldwide.  Please consider showing your appreciation to Kadampa Center's monks and nuns by making offerings (financial and/or notes of thanks) to them on this special day.  See Kadampa Center's Sangha Support and Offerings page for detailed information on ways in which you can offer support to our sangha members.

Additional practice advice, plus more about Chokhor Düchen and International Sangha Day, can be found HERE.

2025 Dharma Movie Series:  As part of our Spiritual Program, Elise Strevel, Outreach Coordinator and Buddhism in a Nutshell instructor, is hosting dharma-related movies introducing Buddhist teachers and their work to our Kadampa community of students. She will be providing a brief intro to each showing and lead an educational discussion afterward.

A TREASURY OF TWO SIDDHIS - An Extensive Tara Practice to the Twenty One Emanations of Tara

Saturday, August 19, from 9:00 am until about 12:00 pm (ET) ~ in person only at Kadampa Center ~ Tara liberates from cyclic existence, from all fears, and from all sickness.  Mother Tara is the embodiment of compassion in action.  With her 21 emanations, she is capable of helping in every circumstance. Geshe Gelek will lead us in this beautiful practice in which we will invite all the 21 Taras to a special altar set-up in the center of the gompa that we can circumambulate (see below for how to help set it up), and engage with each of the 21 Taras in turn, making prostrations and offerings, visualizing and meditating on each of their distinctive qualities.

OPPORTUNITIES TO ENGAGE MORE DEEPLY WITH THE TREASURY OF TWO SIDDHIS TARA PRACTICE

A Treasury of Two Siddhis typically only takes place once a year at Kadampa Center.  Setting up the altar and making offerings is part of this extensive Tara practice and, by doing so, you form a deeper connection to Tara, generate merit, and are of benefit to all sentient beings.  You are invited and encouraged to participate in any of the following opportunities.  No experience is necessary.

1. Participate in setting up the Tara altar:  On Friday, August 18, beginning at 10:00am, join us in creating and setting up the special altar for the 21 Taras in the center of the gompa.

2. Bring offerings of flowers and/or food:  On Saturday, August 19, plan to arrive by 8:30am to add your offerings of flowers (vases are available at the Center) and/or food (note: For this particular practice, please avoid foods containing egg, meat, onion or garlic; fruit, individually wrapped snack items, or candy are good options) to the Tara altar.

3. Make offerings to sangha members:  Provide notes of thanks and/or financial offerings (any amount is fine) in envelopes to Kadampa Center's monks and nuns.

4. Sponsor this Tara practice:  Sponsoring dharma practices benefits Kadampa Center, its teachers and students, and is an incredible opportunity for one to practice generosity, build merit, and create the causes to meet dharma teachings and teachers in the future.  Please consider becoming a sponsor for this practice.  Here's how:

• Make your $108 sponsorship donation HERE.

• Offer your dedication HERE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND AND HEARTFELT GENEROSITY!

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TREASURY OF TWO SIDDHIS TARA PRACTICE

Written by Panchen Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen at Tashi Lunpo Monastery in Tibet, the Treasury of Two Siddhis practice deepens our connection to each of the 21 Taras by visualizing her being present with us, contemplating the specific enlightened activity of each Tara, and engaging in the Seven Limbs of practice: prostration, offering, purification, rejoicing, entreating Tara to remain, requesting Tara to teach, and dedication.  This Tara practice consists of reciting sadhanas and mantras for each of the 21 emanations of Tara.  Sadhanas are tantric meditations through which a practitioner aims to achieve union or identity with a divine being such as Mother Tara through visualizations and prayers.  Students of all levels will enjoy this beautiful practice which will be conducted in English.

Khensur Rinpoche Jetsun Lobsang Delek (Geshe Gelek and Geshe Sangpo's teacher and former Abbot of Sera Je Monastery in India) said when he visited Kadampa Center in 2011 that our center has a special connection to Tara, therefore doing Tara practice is incredibly beneficial for our community, for increasing harmony in working together, and for the continued success of Kadampa Center.

WHITE TARA SADHANA PRACTICE WITH GESHE GELEK OR GESHE SANGPO

Saturday, December 20, from 10 - 11 am (ET) ~ in person only at Kadampa Center ~ Join us for this beautiful and incredibly beneficial practice led by one of our resident Geshes, either Geshe Gelek or Geshe Sangpo.  This newly offered practice will be held at the Center on the third Saturday of every other month (please confirm via the Kadampa Center calendar prior to arrival).  All are welcome and encouraged to participate; no prior experience or initiation is required.  White Tara is a female buddha associated with longevity, purification, and countering illnesses (both physically and mentally).  Her white color is seen as a purifying and life-giving force.  Her seven eyes symbolize her compassionate vigilance and ability to see all suffering, thus quickly acting to heal, protect, and prolong life.   Sadhana is a Sanskrit word meaning the "method of accomplishment".  Contained within a sadhana are the practices related to a specific deity, in this case White Tara.

OPPORTUNITY TO SPONSOR THE WHITE TARA SADHANA PRACTICE

Sponsoring dharma practices, such as the White Tara Sadhana, benefits Kadampa Center, its teachers and students, and is an incredible opportunity for one to practice generosity, build merit, and create the causes to meet dharma teachings and teachers in the future.  Please consider becoming a sponsor for this practice.  Here's how:

• Make your sponsorship donation HERE.

• Offer your dedication HERE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND AND HEARTFELT GENEROSITY!

WHITE TARA SADHANA PRACTICE WITH GESHE SANGPO

Saturday, October 18, from 10 - 11 am (ET) ~ in person only at Kadampa Center ~ Join us for this beautiful and incredibly beneficial practice led by one of our resident Geshes, either Geshe Gelek or Geshe Sangpo.  This newly offered practice will be held at the Center on the third Saturday of every other month (please confirm via the Kadampa Center calendar prior to arrival).  All are welcome and encouraged to participate; no prior experience or initiation is required.  White Tara is a female buddha associated with longevity, purification, and countering illnesses (both physically and mentally).  Her white color is seen as a purifying and life-giving force.  Her seven eyes symbolize her compassionate vigilance and ability to see all suffering, thus quickly acting to heal, protect, and prolong life.   Sadhana is a Sanskrit word meaning the "method of accomplishment".  Contained within a sadhana are the practices related to a specific deity, in this case White Tara.

OPPORTUNITY TO SPONSOR THE WHITE TARA SADHANA PRACTICE

Sponsoring dharma practices, such as the White Tara Sadhana, benefits Kadampa Center, its teachers and students, and is an incredible opportunity for one to practice generosity, build merit, and create the causes to meet dharma teachings and teachers in the future.  Please consider becoming a sponsor for this practice.  Here's how:

• Make your sponsorship donation HERE.

• Offer your dedication HERE.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND AND HEARTFELT GENEROSITY!