A Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies & Meditation
Dear Dharma friends,
Mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life. There is more than one way to practice mindfulness, but the goal of any mindfulness technique is to achieve a state of alert, focused relaxation by paying attention to thoughts and sensations without judgment. This allows the mind to refocus on the present moment. Mindfulness involves both concentration (a form of meditation) and openness.
It takes practice to become comfortable with mindfulness techniques. Research suggests that mindfulness meditation may improve mood, decrease stress, and boost immune function.
Geshe-la will leads all meditations.
All are welcome.
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Silence, sound and breathing Meditation with Geshe Jampa
When the mind finds silence, we find ourselves touching the moment of this moment. The outer world makes much more sense when we have a big inner world of silence. Inner quietude is our anchor for a life overcoming the noise.
One specific method for practicing mindfulness of body sensations is to focus your attention on sounds. Sounds, like everything else, arise and pass away. Just by listening, you can experience the insight of impermanence, an understanding the Buddha's teaching as crucial for the development of wisdom.
Breathing meditation is one of the most popular forms of meditation because of its ease and simplicity, as well as its convenience (breathing is always occurring, so it's a convenient anchor for meditation). Concentration on the breath is a doorway to deeper meditative practices. By meditating on your breathing, you can enhance your calmness, improve your health, and clear your consciousness of extraneous thoughts and concerns.
Geshe-la will lead the meditation.
All are welcome.
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SEVEN POINT MIND TRAINING (LOJONG )
Geshe Jampa will offer a teaching on the Seven Point Mind Training, Lojong. The practice of mind training is based on the essential Mahayana teachings of impermanence, compassion, and the exchange of self and other that the eleventh-century master Atisha brought to Tibet from India. The Lojong teachings are a source of inspiration and guidance shared by masters of all Tibetan traditions.
Wisdom and compassion are equally essential in the pursuit of genuine happiness. The practice of lojong or “mind training” enables us to fully develop both of these qualities, to awaken our mind and to open our heart.
Using master Chekawa’s classic text, the Seven-Point Mind Training, this teaching will present methods for cultivating both wisdom (ultimate bodhicitta) and compassion (conventional bodhicitta). In addition, this course will also focus on how to transform problems into opportunities for spiritual awakening and how to integrate all the various practices into our daily life along with extensive practical advice.
Tsok /Guru Puja
with Geshe Jampa
The Tsok is a gathering of spiritual practitioners coming together to look to the Dakas and Dakinis who are high level practitioners of the completion stage practices, for help in attaining the high spiritual qualities within ourselves that they have already achieved. According to the lunar calendar, the Dakas and Dakinis are coming together to practice on certain holy days and so we also come together on these days to reach them.
During the tsok, we make offerings of food and drink to the Buddhas and the deities of the various levels, the masters of the lineage, the dakas and dakinis and to all mother sentient beings. We also recite the Guru Puja where we’ll go through a very detailed version of the 7 limb prayer and hold a visualization of the lineage masters all the way back to Buddha Shakyamuni. The Guru Puja also involves revision of all of the steps in the Lam Rim (Stages on the Path to Enlightenment).
The ceremony is an excellent method of accumulating merit, purifying negativity, and giving and receiving blessings. The Tsok offering is important for renewing commitments and averting obstacles.
The Center has arranged all the required edible items in offering for the tsok prayer. However, individually, you may also bring in cookies, fruits, flowers, etc irrespective of quantity as a contribution and involvement on your behalf towards the tsok prayer ceremony.
All are welcome.
Thank you
www.phendeshedrubling.org
Ph: 480 787 8726
"The stages and Techniques of Meditation"
Dear Dharma friends,
We are happy to announce that Geshe Jampa will teach on the below topic on June
20th. Meditations with Geshe Jampa Every Tuesday starting July 14th, 2015 from 7:00pm - 8:00pm
(Mindfulness Meditation, Love and Compassion Meditation, Wisdom Meditation, and Bodhicitta Meditations will be available each week in rotation).
Mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life. There is more than one way to practice mindfulness, but the goal of any mindfulness technique is to achieve a state of alert, focused relaxation by paying attention to thoughts and sensations without judgment. This allows the mind to refocus on the present moment. Mindfulness involves both concentration (a form of meditation) and openness.
It takes practice to become comfortable with mindfulness techniques. Research suggests that mindfulness meditation may improve mood, decrease stress, and boost immune function. Geshe -la will lead the meditation.
Mindfulness is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life. There is more than one way to practice mindfulness, but the goal of any mindfulness technique is to achieve a state of alert, focused relaxation by paying attention to thoughts and sensations without judgment. This allows the mind to refocus on the present moment. Mindfulness involves both concentration (a form of meditation) and openness.
It takes practice to become comfortable with mindfulness techniques. Research suggests that mindfulness meditation may improve mood, decrease stress, and boost immune function. Geshe -la will lead the meditation.
All are welcome.
Love and Compassion Meditation
with Geshe Jampa
Love and compassion meditation is a practice of cultivating understanding, love, and
compassion by looking deeply, first for ourselves and then for others. Once we love and take care of ourselves, we can be much more helpful to others. Metta (love) meditation can be practiced in part or in full. Just saying one line of the metta meditation will already bring more compassion and healing into the world.
To love is, first of all, to accept ourselves as we actually are. That is why in this love meditation, “Know thyself” is the first practice of love. When we practice this, we see the conditions that have caused us to be the way we are. This makes it easy for us to accept ourselves, including our suffering and our happiness at the same time.
We all have the seeds of love and compassion in our minds, and we can develop these fine and wonderful sources of energy. Geshe-la will lead the meditation.
All are welcome.
Buddha Nature (Tathagatagarbha )
Geshe Jampa
Geshe Jampa will offer a teaching on the Buddha Nature , known also as the Tathagatagarbha.
All sentient beings without exception have buddha nature—the inherent purity and perfection of the
mind, untouched by changing mental states. Thus there is neither any reason for conceit in deeming
oneself better than others nor any reason for self-contempt, thinking of oneself as inferior and unable to
reach enlightenment. This seeing is obscured by veils which are removable and do not touch the
inherent purity and perfection of the nature of the mind as such.
Although we are in samsara, we can still see proof of the existence of buddha nature permeating all
living beings. [One] way in which we can discern whether beings have buddha nature is rik (Tib) , in
other words the quality we perceive in one who possesses this buddha nature. [...] All beings have
buddha nature because all beings have within themselves what we call the essence of the Buddha, this
ju (Skt. hetu), this seed, which can blossom into a buddha and which constitutes our potential for
enlightenment.
All are welcome
Phende Shedrub Ling