Monday March 14   

Introduction to Buddhism with Ani Yeshe

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Introduction to Buddhism, taught by Ani Yeshe, is an on-going series. Each class will introduce a new topic as a way to provide newcomers a broad overview of Buddhism. The course is designed for those who are new or newly acquainted with the Center, to come and hear basic Buddhist teachings, ideas and concepts. Bring all your questions. It is fine to attend any class without having attended prior classes. All welcome!

Tuesday March 15   

Morning Meditation with Ven. Tsunma-la (Sue Macy)

6:30 am - 7:00 am

Start your day on the right foot by calming your mind, setting your day's purpose to be a meaningful one and remembering to just breathe! Resident nun Tsunma-la leads basic meditations that help stabilize the mind by learning to focus on the breath. By using these simple techniques, you can bring a sense of tranquility to your day. If you plan to join Tsunma-la in the meditation hall (gompa) at Kurukulla Center, please arrive a few minutes early. We will start promptly at 6:30 am. If you cannot make it into the Center, you are also welcome to participate from your home by listening on-line to the live broadcast.

Lama Chopa (Guru Puja)

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm 

The word puja means "to please" and has the connotation to please through offerings and practice. The Guru Puja lays the whole path to enlightenment on our mindstream, connects us more strongly to our teachers, allows us to accumulate skies of merit and purifies eons of negative karma. We chant the first 2/3rds of this puja in Tibetan and the last 1/3 we recite in English.

We always recommend bringing offerings of some sort, food, unscented tea lights, flowers, etc, as a way of earning merit. By making donations at, or sponsoring, a specific puja, you are strengthening and empowering the merit you receive in relationship to that puja, in this case the merit we receive by celebrating our gurus and the immeasurable benefit they have offered all sentient beings through their teachings. Generosity is the first of the six perfected qualities of a bodhisattva, planting the seeds to ensure that we will have all the material things necessary in future lives to continue our study of Dharma and working for the benefit of all beings, and this puja is a wonderful opportunity to practice generosity. This does not necessarily mean making more offerings, but rather making offerings that are of high value to you, that you find delightful and want to offer your gurus and all buddhas, quantity and quality being factors but not defining marks for an offering. Offerings are not an obligation but an opportunity, so we encourage you to make the most of it.

All are welcome. 

Note: There is no Yoga & Meditation with Wendy Cook and no Kurkulla South with Tsultrim Davis this week. Both will return next week. 

Wednesday March 16   

37 Practices of a Bodhisattva with Geshe Ngawang Tenley

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Geshe-la continues his explanation of The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva by Togme Sangpo (1245-1369.) Come and learn what a bodhisattva does. All are welcome. A copy of the text will be distributed in class and contemporary commentaries are available for purchase in our bookstore. If you cannot make it into the Center, you are also welcome to participate from your home by listening on-line to the live broadcast.

Thursday March 17 

Discovering Buddhism: All About Karma with Ven. Tsunma-la (Sue Macy)

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

This module, All About Karma, aims to introduce you to the Buddhist concept of karma, the law of cause and effect, and what it means to take personal responsibility. Using examples from everyday life we will analyze how actions determine their results and cause us to experience either happiness or suffering. We will explore purification practices and establish a daily meditation on karma.The course meets four consecutive Thursday evenings: March 17, 24 & 31 and April 7. It is recommended you attend all four sessions but it is not required. If you cannot make it into the Center, you are also welcome to participate from your home by listening on-line to the live broadcast.

Friday March 18  

Morning Meditation with Ven. Tsunma-la (Sue Macy)

6:30 am - 7:00 am

Resident nun Tsunma-la continues the Morning Meditation series on Fridays with a variation on the stabilizing meditations that have been offered earlier. The focus is now using our analytical mind to investigate core Buddhist concepts as a way to deepen our understanding of them. If you plan to join Tsunma-la in the meditation hall (gompa) at Kurukulla Center, please arrive a few minutes early. We will start promptly at 6:30 am. If you cannot make it into the Center, you are also welcome to participate from your home by listening on-line to the live broadcast.

Saturday March 19 

Buddhist Holiday: Day of Miracles  

5:45 am - 6:45 am 

The first full moon in the Tibetan lunar calendar is celebrated as the Day of Miracles, or Chotrul
Duchen, which commemorates the final day of miraculous display by the Buddha which lasted 15 days. The Buddha performed the miracles in response to a challenge from six rival teachers. These 15 days are merit-multiplying days in which any virtue created is magnified millions of times. The Day of Miracles is also the most special day of Monlam Chenmo, the Great Prayer Festival, where thousands of people, lay and ordained alike, pray, and make offerings of food, tea, lights or money to the Sangha. For this reason it is sometimes also known as Butter Lamp Festival, or Chunga Choepa. You can read more about the miraculous deeds of Buddha Shakyamuni here.

Join us as Geshe Ngawang Tenley offers the Eight Mahayana One-Day Precepts this morning. With an altruistic motivation, one takes eight vows before dawn (to abandon killing, stealing, sexual activity, lying, using intoxicants, eating at improper times, listening to music or wearing adornments, and sitting on a high bed or throne) and promises to keep them for twenty-four hours. Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the Spiritual Director of our mother organization the FPMT, encourages us to take precepts on these special Buddhist holidays such as today, since the karmic effects of both positive and negative actions are increased many times and the benefit we receive from keeping these vows is incredible. If you want to know more about this practice and the ceremony, please see the ceremony text and various commentaries at the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive.

Medicine Buddha Puja

8:00 am - 9:30 am 

Puja is a Sanskrit word that means pleasing by making offerings. Making offering prayers to the Medicine Buddhas is the same as offering to numberless buddhas and brings inconceivable merit like the limitless sky. The special mantra of the Medicine Buddha quickly actualizes prayers that the Medicine Buddhas made in the past: to bring happiness to all beings by showing them the causes of enlightenment, pacifying their problems, fulfilling their positive wishes and, especially, helping those afflicted by illness. The Medicine Buddha practice is extremely powerful and beneficial for the sick and dying, helps those who have already passed away, allows those practicing healing methods to benefit others more profoundly and helps bring success in general.

We always recommend bringing offerings of some sort, food, unscented tea lights, flowers, etc, as a way of earning merit. By making donations at, or sponsoring, a specific puja, you are strengthening and empowering the merit you receive in relationship to that puja, in this case the merit we receive by celebrating our gurus and the immeasurable benefit they have offered all sentient beings through their teachings. Generosity is the first of the six perfected qualities of a bodhisattva, planting the seeds to ensure that we will have all the material things necessary in future lives to continue our study of Dharma and working for the benefit of all beings, and this puja is a wonderful opportunity to practice generosity. This does not necessarily mean making more offerings, but rather making offerings that are of high value to you, that you find delightful and want to offer your gurus and all buddhas, quantity and quality being factors but not defining marks for an offering. Offerings are not an obligation but an opportunity, so we encourage you to make the most of it.

All are welcome.

Sunday March 20