In the 2024-02-04 class, we went through some introductory topics, and discussed introduction of a Tibetan language segment to teachings.

• the three types of suffering that permeate everything in samsara
  1. all pervasive suffering 
  2. suffering of change
  3. suffering of suffering
  • The root cause of all suffering is ignorance due to faulty view, all of our afflictive emotions come from this
• On finding an authentic and suitable teacher
• On practicing Dharma
  • hearing (or listening/reading the teachings), 
  • contemplating (analyzing and understanding the teachings, thinking of the benefit) 
  • meditating (applying the teachings through practice, find the truth of what you have heard, analyzing from all angles)
  • This is how you start to be able to transform your mind
• learning the Tibetan language to access and practice sacred higher tantric teachings, which  are traditionally preserved in Tibetan. Geshe la proposed a Tibetan language class aimed to enable students to read and understand tantric scriptures directly, thereby preserving the authenticity and integrity of the practices.

2024-02-04 Recording

In the 2024-01-28 class, we went through verse 84 of the Guru Puja, Reviewing the Stages of the Path.

• the importance of using intelligence and wisdom in conjunction with faith. The necessity of finding a qualified teacher is stressed, with advice on critically evaluating a teacher’s background and teachings.
• touches on the three scopes of Dharma practice: small, medium, and high, each focusing on different aspects of spiritual growth.
• The preciousness of human life, with emphasis on its rarity and potential for practicing Dharma and achieving enlightenment. It is urged to not to squander this opportunity of a human life.
• The importance of practicing generosity, patience, and ethical discipline, along with the need for dedication to these practices for a better rebirth.
• human capabilities in comparison to those of animals, underscoring the greater potential humans have beyond mere survival. Appreciate and utilize human life for spiritual practice, avoiding negative emotions and cultivating compassion, love, and tolerance.

2024-01-28 Recording

༄། །དད་ལྡན་མི་མང་ཡོངས་ལ་ཆེད་ཞུ། ད་ལམ་བོད་རྒྱལ་ལོ་༢༡༥༡ རབ་བྱུང་༡༧ པའི་ཤིང་ཕོ་འབྲུག་ལོའི་བོད་་ཟླ་དང་པོའི་ཚེས་གཅིག་དང་ཕྱི་ཟླ་(༢)ཚེས་(༡༠)ཉིན་སྔ་དྲོ་ཆུ་ཚོད་(༨)ནས་ཕྱི་དྲོ་(༦:༣༠)བར། བོད་ཟླ་དང་པོའི་ཚེས་གཉིས་དང་ཕྱི་ཚེས (༡༡) ཉིན་སྔ་དྲོ་ཆུ་ཚོད་(༡༠:༣༠)་ནས་ཕྱི་དྲོ་(༥)བར་བྱམས་བརྩེ་ཆོས་གླིང་ཆོས་ཚོགས་སུ་ལོ་གསར་པར་མཆོད་མཇལ་དང་སྐུ་མགྲོན་རྣམས་ལ་གསོལ་ཇ་དང་འབྲས་སིལ་འབུལ་རྒྱུ་བཅས། །དེ་དོན་དགོངས་མངའ་ཡོངས་བར་ཞུ། །

Warm greetings to all the Dharma friends. Please note that during Losar (lunar New Year) our temple will be open for visitors as follows:

1st day of Losar

Saturday, February 10, 2024: 8:00am to 6:30pm.

2nd day of Losar

Sunday, February 11, 2024: 10:30am to 5:00pm

Desi (auspicious sweet rice), tea and other refreshments will be served. You are welcome to join us in celebrating the wood dragon year.