Meditation for All – Every Sunday, Online and Onsite

Since October of last year, our resident teacher, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering, has offered guided meditation and short dharma teachings every Sunday at Karmapa Center 16, and friends in the area have been able to join us onsite.

As everyone is welcome, and no prior experience is needed, Acharya calls the Sunday sessions Meditation for All

We are delighted to announce that beginning January 14, 2024, Acharya’s teaching and the opportunity to practice together, will be offered online, so that Meditation for All will, indeed, be available to all! 

Please join us onsite or online! 

For online access, please register here for the Zoom link. The sessions begin at 10 am and finish at 11:30 am Central Standard Time. Please be sure to log onto Zoom a few minutes before we start. Below, you can find a few other guidelines that will help all of us practice together in the most beneficial way possible.

KC16’s resident teacher – Acharya Lhakpa Tshering. Photo Credit: Gloria Sherab Drolma

We aspire to follow in the footsteps of His Holiness the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa by offering Meditation for All to everyone and practicing together as he once expressed: 

“I will always exert myself in dharmic recitation, proclamations, and readings. In mind, I will not flutter back and forth like a young bird on a branch. Not getting absorbed in discursive thoughts of good and bad, I will meditate, cultivating forbearance and relying on my own perceptions, not those of others. I will reflect on how best to benefit the teachings and beings.” 


Karmapa Khyenno!

Joining Nalandabodhi’s Winter Retreat 2023 at KC16

Ignite the Courageous Heart of Compassion, Nalandabodhi’s annual Winter Retreat, will be held online via Zoom and onsite at Nalanda West in Seattle, from Thursday, December 28 to Monday, January 1.

Nalandabodhi is a global Buddhist community founded by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. Rinpoche was recognized, raised, and trained by His Holiness the 16th Karmapa, at Rumtek Monastery. He is a heart son of the Gyalwang Karmapa and serves as Advisor on our Karmapa Center 16 Board of Directors. 

During the retreat, our resident teacher, Acharya Lhakpa Tshering, will guide Mahamudra meditation from Karmapa Center 16’s shrine room this year. 

On a big screen, KC16 will join the other meditation sessions and teachings by Nalandabodhi Vice Chancellor Acharya Tashi Wangchuk, who will give teachings on Lojong Mind Training; Nalandabodhi senior teacher Mitra Mark Power, who will lead teachings on the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva; Nalandabodhi Karunikas Laura McRae & Ellen Balzé who will lead contemplative reflections; and there will be information about Mind Without Borders (MWB), a prison dharma-based program. 

You are welcome to join us at KC16 anytime, for one session, a day, or the entire retreat (see schedule below). 

KC16 will offer tea/coffee, lunch and (light) dinner. 

Registration
We kindly ask KC16 onsite participants to register for Nalandabodhi’s Winter Retreat here. Scholarships to join for a reduced price are available. If you don’t live near KC16, you can register for Nalandabodhi’s Winter Retreat via Zoom here.

Questions?
If you have questions about joining us at KC16, please send an email to communications@karmapacenter16.org. If you have questions about Nalandabodhi’s Winter Retreat in general or online participation, please email help@nalandabodhi.org

Please join
Please join Nalandabodhi’s Winter Retreat, Ignite the Courageous Heart of Compassion, to practice meditation and for teachings on Mind-Training (Lojong) and the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva.

Time (CST)Thu, Dec. 28Fri, Dec 29Sat, Dec 30Sun, Dec 31Mon, Jan 1
10.30-11.30MeditationMeditationMeditationMeditation
11.30-11.45BreakBreakBreakBreak
11.45-12.00Mitra Mark session 4
12.00-12.15MeditationMeditationMeditation
12.15-12.45Mitra Mark session 1Mitra Mark session 2Mitra Mark session 3
12.45-1 PMBreak
1 – 1.45 PMPoMA
1.45 – 2 PMMWB 
Story 1
MWB 
Story 2
Closing
2 – 2.15 PMEnd of retreat
2.15 – 4 PMLunch BreakLunch BreakLunch Break
4 – 5 PMMeditationMeditationMeditation
5 – 5.15 PMWelcomeBreakBreakBreak
5.15 – 5.30 PMStart online
5.30 – 6.15 PMOpeningAcharya Tashi session 1Acharya Tashi session 2Acharya Tashi session 3
6.15 – 7 PMIntention
7 – 8 PMDinner BreakDinner BreakDinner BreakDinner Break
8 – 9 PMAcharya Lhakpa: Mahamudra MeditationAcharya Lhakpa: Mahamudra MeditationAcharya Lhakpa: Mahamudra MeditationAspirations

Lama Rabten is our new trustee

Lama Rabten Tshering is the resident teacher and spiritual director of Nalandabodhi Canada. His dharma education started at a very young age and he spent his early years training at Rumtek Monastery, seat of Gyalwang Karmapa in Sikkim, India. In 1992, Lama Rabten served as Assistant Disciplinary Master of Rumtek Monastery, appointed by Kenting Tai Situ Rinpoche and Goshir Gyaltsap Rinpoche, and carried out this responsibility for five years.

In 1997, Lama Rabten entered a three-year retreat at Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche’s Pullahari Retreat Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal. While there he completed more training in meditation and tantra under the guidance of Drupon Khenpo Lodro Namgyal, Bokar Rinpoche, Tenga Rinpoche, and Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche.

To serve the Nalandabodhi community, Lama Rabten came to Canada in 2002 under the invitation of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche. He currently teaches regularly at Maitrivana, Nalandabodhi Canada’s headquarters in Vancouver; and travels to Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax to teach and guide students in their meditation practices.

Remembering Lama Phuntsok

On behalf of board members, staff, and volunteers, it is with deep sadness that Karmapa Center 16 announces the passing of our beloved friend, Phuntsok Bist, Founding Board Member, Vice President, and Treasurer. Lama Phuntsok passed away in the early morning hours of December 5th near Zion, Illinois, location of the parinirvana of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa. Lama Phuntsok dedicated his life to serving His Holiness Karmapa and the Karma Kagyu lineage, and kept his monastic vows from age 12 until the end of his life. His passing is a tremendous loss for us all.

After completing the monastic training at the Rumtek Monastery, he was appointed the junior chant master and soon became the teacher and administrator of Jamyang Khang, the monastery’s primary school. For many years, he served as Umdze and Chant Master at Dharma Chakra Center, Rumtek and also went into short retreats.

Due to a medical condition, in 1993 he took leave from the monastery and travelled to the United States for treatment. Lama Phuntsok worked as a volunteer teacher at the Karma Theksum Choling monastery until 2000, where he taught Tibetan language and literature, and monastic rituals. Also at this time, Lama Phuntsok was appointed the Dronyer Chenmo, Chief Public Relation Officer of His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa in exile in India, and served until 2011. In 2012, Lama Phuntsok semi-retired and settled in the United States of America. Since that time he has been continually serving the Karma Kagyu lineage in a variety of ways, including the establishment of Karmapa Center 16 in Wadsworth, Illinois. The vision of this project is to commemorate the life of His Holiness the 16th Karmapa with a stupa, memorial, meditation hall, retreat center, and a place to learn and study Buddhism, and the history of the Karmapa lineage.

Lama Phuntsok will be remembered as a dedicated and devoted individual who lived his life helping others with kindness, gentleness, and a robust sense of humor. Donations for the traditional end of life practices and in memory of his life can be made at www.karmapacenter16.org/donate. May all be auspicious!

Sincerely,

Dilyak Drupon Rinpoche

Founding Board Member & President
Karmapa Center 16

A Reminder to Myself

With your supreme intelligence, you realized the intention
Of the unsurpassable vehicle, the tradition of Padmakara.
Guru of unequalled kindness, I remember you from my heart.
I supplicate you—bless me with your compassion.
I, Pema Trinley Palzang, a performer of three activities,
From now on, will take control of my own discipline in thought and deed.
I make a firm commitment, as follows,
To avoid thoughtlessness and senselessness.

In physical conduct, I will not allow myself to be rootless and hurried,
Incapable of being still, carelessly following my every whim.
I will always hold my own space
And be adorned by the training in pure discipline.

In speech, whether spiritual or secular,
I will choose meaningful words
And shun unconnected talk of past events or boring discussions concerning any of the three times.
I will always exert myself in dharmic recitations, proclamations, and readings.

In mind, I will not flutter back and forth like a young bird on a branch.
Not getting absorbed in discursive thoughts of good and bad,
I will meditate, cultivating forbearance and relying on my own perceptions, not those of others.
I will reflect on how best to benefit the teachings and beings.

In particular, the vital essence of the thought of all victorious ones
Is the true nature—the uncontrived, innate dharmakaya.
Without ever lapsing, I will sustain it with one taste in equipoise and post-meditation.
In sum, I will hold myself to the sublime, dharmic conduct of the three gates,
Not falling under the influence of others.
Arrogance, haughtiness, or thoughts of self- aggrandizement—whatever of these arises,
I will not let them move me in the slightest.
I will remain dignified, and fearless, like a mountain.

Until this collection of elements has rotted away,
I will not waver from this way of being.
Of this way I will be a fearless warrior—that will be my quality.
This is my vow, like an image carved in stone.
May it be virtuous!
Gods and protectors, work to help this come to pass!
May the virtuous signs of auspiciousness excellently blaze!


Composed by the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the verses were selected by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and translated by Tyler Dewar under his guidance, from Heart Advice of the Karmapa.