No preregistration needed - just come to the first class.

Geshe-la resumes the classic Guide with Chapter 7 on Developing Joyful Effort. This text by Master Shantideva covers the amazing mind of bodhcitta - how and why to develop it, how to strengthen it and how to practice once you've developed it. The scope of the work is vast covering the activities of a bodhisattva (the Six Perfections) but it is also incredibly practical in it's daily application within our lives. Geshe-la will start the chapter on Joyful Effort which is certain to be inspiring and useful. Class is open to all levels and it doesn't matter if you've attended the previous classes.

Suggested Donation: $135/3 month term, $50/month term, $15/class; Member Discounts apply, free for sangha; no one turned away for lack of funds.

Schedule: Wednesday evenings 7-9pm through the end of the year.

ALL LEVELS (geared towards Beginner/Intermediate)

Geshe-la gives talks to inspire your week and help you understand the basics of Buddhism in tasty bites. Sometimes Sunday mornings cover short but pithy texts, sometimes basic practices, sometimes stories, and always are filled with something we can all use in our daily lives. This series is perfect for people brand new to Buddhism, or just to Tse Chen Ling. It's also great for beginning students wanting to connect with Geshe-la, and of course intermediate and advanced students as well.

Geshe Ngawang Dakpa is our resident teacher at Tse Chen Ling. Although immensely humble, his life story is tremendously inspiring.

In 1953, he traveled to the capital of Lhasa and entered Sera, one of the three great monastic universities in Tibet, and home to 7,200 monks. It was the Junior Tutor of the Dalai Lama who fully ordained him as a monk. His contemporaries at Sera were Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa, founders of Tse Chen Ling.

In 1959, during the Cultural Revolution, Chinese troops shelled Sera. When he learned that the Dalai Lama had fled, Geshe-la decided to follow and escaped to India. He continued his studies at the Sanskrit University in Benares (Varanasi), where he earned an M.A. with honors. Invited by the Queen of Sikkim to teach Tibetan at the University of Sikkim, he ended up staying for 20 years before returning to Sera Je monastery in South India to gain his Geshe degree. He has been our resident teacher for more than 10 years.

Class fee: by donation; no one turned away for lack of funds.

ALL LEVELS (geared towards Beginner/Intermediate)

Learn the methods to generate loving kindness, compassion and the powerful mind of bodhicitta.

Bodhicitta, the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of others, is considered to be the heart of Buddha's teachings. As the great Bodhisattva Shantideva said, "If you churn the 84,000 teachings of the Buddha, their essence is bodhicitta." They are the cream of Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings and without this brave mind, one cannot attain enlightenment itself.

This class explores this mind and the techniques used to generate it ourselves. Each class includes time for presentation, discussion and meditation. Clear instruction is provided to enable students to develop the qualities of loving kindness and compassion.
Separate Retreat Day to be held Sat Oct 23. Final class day will be Thur Oct 28.

Developing Bodhicitta is part of the Discovering Buddhism Program, a 2-year program designed with the beginning student in mind. For information on the teacher, click on Lobsang Chokyi. Please click on Discovering Program for more information on current and upcoming courses.

Is this course right for you? This class is open to anyone including those with no background as well as those with a few classes under their belt. New students are welcome as your schedule permits - please join us!

Suggested Donation: $99 per term/member discount applies

ALL LEVELS (geared towards Beginner/Intermediate)

It's never too late to learn to meditate and never too late to start over! We offer two hour-long weekly drop in meditations that include some instruction and time for questions on Saturday mornings and Thursday evenings along with a mid-day meditation on Thursdays at noon that lasts a half hour. All our meditations are designed for students of all levels. Various techniques are presented, including visualization, stabilization, and guided analytical, with some time for instruction, practice and questions.

Our drop in meditations are perfect for those with no meditation experience at all and as a kick start for the more experienced who want to develop a regular practice.  It’s also a way to discover differences between the meditation styles of different traditions and to understand the purpose of meditation. 

Is this course right for you? Because our hour-long meditations allow lots of time for questions about Buddhism in general, the center and, of course, meditation, this is a great place to start at Tse Chen Ling! 

By Donation, no one turned away for lack of funds.

ALL LEVELS (geared towards Beginner/Intermediate)

We have two Holy Days coming up this Fall - Lha Bab Duchen which commemorates the Buddha's decent from the Heaven of 33 to come to earth to teach us again and Lama Tsong Kapa Day which commemorates the life of the founder of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Lha Bab Duchen is celebrated on October 29 this year- this day is in celebration of one of the four auspicious days on the Buddhist calendar. On this day we honor the Buddha's descent from the Heaven of Thirty-Three, commemorating Buddha Shakyamuni's return to earth from the celestial realm where his mother had been reborn. To repay her kindness and liberate her, and to benefit the beings there, the Buddha spent three months teaching in Tushita before returning to the human realm. On this auspicious day, the potential of all our actions are greatly multiplied so we try to provide many ways to create merit!

Lama Tsong Kapa Day is celebrated on November 30 this year - join us on the anniversary of Lama Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Known to many as a great scholar, Je Tsongkapa was an inspiring yogi as well. On this day it is traditional to make many light offerings which symbolizes wisdom.

Stay tuned for more details!

ALL LEVELS

This is an informal, interactive way to enhance our practice, and is restricted to those with a Highest Yoga Tantra Empowerment who are doing Six Session Guru Yoga daily. The group will focus on studying Six Session Guru Yoga together, learning the vows, reviewing some commentaries on the practice, and learning Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Brief Self Initiation if there is interest.

We are currently working our way through Lama Yeshe's amazing Introduction to Tantra, discussing it chapter by chapter.

By Donation; no one turned away for lack of funds

INTERMEDIATE

This group is focusing on mastering the alphabet, vowels, all components of a Tibetan syllable and basic grammar rules. We will also practice our colloquial Tibetan in a group and pairs. Because this group has been meeting for a couple of months, new students are limited to those who already know the Tibetan alphabet. We do a lot of review, so please don't hesitate to come check it out. Contact Charles our Spiritual Program Coordinator if you have questions or want to join.

By Donation. No one turned away for lack of funds.

BEGINNING LEVEL