Hello Dharma Friends,
Due to the poor road conditions, we will cancel the teaching for Sunday November 24.
Take care!
-
Continue reading →: Four Reflections that help to turn the mind away from Samsara
Dear Dharma friends,
We have finished the teaching series on the “Eight Verses of Mind Training”.
For the next four weeks, Geshe la will teach on the “Four Reflections that help to turn the mind away from Samsara”.
This is the upcoming schedule for the week. Note that we won’t have Wednesday meditation/prayer. Instead we will have a prayer on Friday.
17 NOV, SUN
11am – 12:30pm
Regular Dharma teaching
22 NOV, FRI
6:30 – 8pm
Lhabab Duchen Guru puja prayer
2024-11-10 teaching summary:
Geshe la began by emphasizing the importance of studying and practicing dharma, noting that one doesn’t need to convert to Buddhism to benefit from its teachings. The core message focused on
understanding cause and effect – that all experiences, good or bad, result from one’s own actions and motivations.Key points covered:
Motivation and Actions:
* Pure motivations lead to positive results and happiness. Negative motivations lead to suffering
* One must be mindful of every action of body, speech, and mindThe Eight Verses of Mind Training (attributed to Geshe Langri Tangpa): * Maintaining humility and avoiding arrogance
* Being vigilant about afflictive emotions
* Viewing difficult people as precious opportunities for practice * Accepting abuse and slander without retaliation
* Viewing those who harm you despite your help as teachers
* Practicing giving and taking meditation (taking others’ suffering, giving happiness)
* Keeping virtuous actions free from the eight worldly concernsPersonal Development:
* Importance of having clear life goals and plans. Need to work hard for results * Being prepared for both difficulties and successes
* Maintaining stability despite praise or criticism
* Being one’s own master in transformationThe talk concluded with advice about compassion, noting that while one should cultivate compassion for those who mistreat you, this doesn’t mean allowing abuse to continue – one must maintain both compassion and appropriate boundaries.
-
Continue reading →: Lhabab Duchen Fri Nov 22 6:30pm
Dear Dharma friends,
We are now entering the fourth great occasion in Buddha’s life. Buddha’s mother Maha Maya had been reborn in the heaven of Thirty-Three. To repay her kindness and to benefit the gods, Buddha spent three months teaching the Dharma.
The day Buddha returned to the world was celebrated as Lha Bab Düchen which falls on the 22nd of the 9th lunar month. Because of its huge potency, it is said that every action good or bad is multiplied 1 million times.
This act of Buddha’s great compassion for his mother reminds us to think of our own parents who have raised us with so much kindness and protected us with love. His Holiness always teaches us to use the love of our own mothers’ kindness to generate love & compassion for all sentient beings for they too have been our mothers in our past lives and while they were our mothers they have loved and cherished us in the same manner.
So, on this day do not lose the opportunity to practice virtue such as generosity, patience & forgiveness etc. for the sake of not only our parents of this life but for all mothers we have had from the beginning-less time. Just as our practice is the best offering we can make to our Lamas, like His Holiness, it is also the best way that we can repay the kindness of all our mother sentient beings.
This year the Lha Bab Düchen falls on Friday, Nov 22, 2024. Our temple is holding a Tsog offering on that day at 6:30pm. As usual there is no charge to attend any of our events and it is open to anyone wishing to join us. At every Tsog Offering, it is good to bring some food offering to the Buddhas. They can be a few fruits or cookies.
Note that on this same week, the usual Wednesday session (Nov 20) will be cancelled.
