COMPLETED – MAITREYA BUDDHA BLESSING in Upper Lake, CA
October 6, 2016 by bhockman
Filed under Completed Empowerments
There will be a Maitreya Festival in Upper Lake, California. Everyone is welcome.
The Maitreya festival will begin at 10:00 am on Saturday, November 5th at Tharpa Cho Ling. First, Ven. Lama Kunga Rinpoche will kindly bestow a Maitreya Empowerment blessing for which a donation will be requested.
The location in Upper Lake is about 2 1/2 hours by car from the Bay area. If you are interested in attending, please send an email to Ewam Choden for directions. SEE MORE DETAILS IN THE POST ABOVE in Special Events.
COMPLETED-NEW YEAR’S EVE with Ven. Lama Kunga Rinpoche on DEC 31, 2016
September 18, 2016 by bhockman
Filed under Completed Special Events
Pray for compassion, peace, and prosperity.
On Saturday, December 31st, starting at 10:30 p.m., there will be meditation and prayers, followed by celebrating the New Year with light refreshments, and wishes of peace and joy for all sentient beings. Everyone is welcome.
COMPLETED – LOSAR TIBETAN NEW YEAR Meditation and Prayers– Year of the FEMALE FIRE BIRD
September 18, 2016 by bhockman
Filed under Completed Special Events
༄༅།།ལོ་གསར་ལ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས་ཞུ། Losar La Tashi Delek New Year’s Greetings!
The year is 2144, the female fire bird.
Ven. Lama Kunga Thartse Rinpoche will lead the usual Chenrezig compassion meditation and, following tradition, there will be special recitations and prayers.
The year is 2144. Come to meditation at 10:00 a.m. as usual, receive Rinpoche’s blessing, greet everyone for New Year, and enjoy sweet rice, Tibetan tea, and some special Losar snacks.
Completed–EMPOWERMENT of BEGTSE by VEN.LAMA KUNGA RINPOCHE on Sunday, January 22, 2017 at 1:00 pm. at Ewam Choden
September 17, 2016 by bhockman
Filed under Completed Empowerments
VEN. LAMA KUNGA RINPOCHE will kindly bestow the Empowerment of Begtse on Sunday, January 22, 2017, at 1:00 pm. Everyone is welcome.
The requested donation is $30. Dana (offerings) to the Lama and monastics are separate. Please arrive early to register.
Begtse (Sanskrit, Prana Atma) is a fierce protector (dharmapala) of the Sakyapa, and later associated with Mongolia. Begtse wears the armor of a warrior and is surrounded by the flames of pristine awareness.
Completed–Annual Memorial Prayers (for all who have passed on), Tuesday, November 22, 2016, at 7:00 pm
September 15, 2016 by bhockman
Filed under Completed Special Events
Ven. Lama Kunga Rinpoche will conduct the annual Memorial Prayer service at Ewam Choden. This is a gathering to offer prayers for the benefit of all of our friends, relatives and countless sentient beings who have passed on in this year and in previous years. The event is open to everyone.
If you wish, you may bring a photo of a special person or animal to include, and you may bring tea candles or flowers to set up near the shrine. The gathering begins at 7 p.m. and lasts for about one and a half to two hours.
COMPLETED–The EMPOWERMENT of PALDEN LHAMO, will be given by VEN. LAMA KUNGA RINPOCHE on Sunday, September 25, 2016, at 1:00 pm
September 15, 2016 by bhockman
Filed under Completed Empowerments
Ven. Lama Kunga Thartse Rinpoche will kindly bestow the empowerment of Palden Lhamo at Ewam Choden on Sunday, Sept, 25th. The time is 1:00 p.m. The requested donation is $30.00. Dana (offerings to the Lama and monastic) is separate. This event is open to everyone. Please arrive early to register, and be considerate of neighbors when parking. Directions to Ewam Choden can be found elsewhere on this website.
Palden Lhamo (Shri Devi) is the only female among the Dharmapalas, defenders and protectors of the Buddhadharma and practitioners. It is a great blessing to receive the empowerment of this unique protector.
Completed KHENPO LAMA PEMA WANGDAK will teach at EC on Sunday, November 20, 2016 at 2:00 pm
September 14, 2016 by bhockman
Filed under Completed Special Events
Khenpo Lama Pema Wangdak returns to Ewam Choden for an afternoon of teaching on The First Paramita, generosity (in Tibetan, སབྱིན་པ sbyin-pa) and on The Third Paramita, patience (tolerance, acceptance, endurance) (in Tibetan, བཟོད་པ bzod-pa). The teaching may include meditative insight. Speaking in fluent English, Lama Pema is known to teach with a keen and incisive, and sometimes challenging, presentation.
The starting time is 2:00 p.m. There is a requested donation of $20.00. Everyone is welcome.
ABOUT KHENPO PEMA WANGDAK
Biography of Khenpo Pema Wangdak
Khenpo Pema Wangdak was born in Purang, Tibet in 1954, and escaped to India as a child in 1959. Having graduated from the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Benares, India, he received his Acharya (masters) degree from Sanskrit University in 1980, while studying with the highest Sakya Lamas.. In 1982, he was sent to the West by His Holiness Sakya Trizin, as the first of the younger generation of Tibetan teachers in America from the Sakya School.
In 1989 Lama Pema founded the Vikramasila Foundation which encompasses several Palden Sakya Centers in New York, three other states, and in some other countries. Lama Pema is the creator of “Bur Yig”–Tibetan Braille, and the founder of Pema Ts’al (English for Lotus Grove) Schools in Mundgod, India (for Tibetan lay children); Pokara, Nepal (monastic schools for boys); and Pema Ts’al School in New York City, with a curriculum modeled on that of Sakya College, India. The Pema Ts’al School in New York City provides a traditional Buddhist education of monastic training and study, in the format of Western university teaching.
Lama Pema was recognized with the title of “Khenpo” by His Holiness Sakya Trizin in 2007. He received the distinguished “Ellis Island Medal of Honor” award by the National Ethical Coalition of Organizations in May, 2009 at Ellis Island for his humanitarian work around the world. Lama Pema is the first Tibetan ever to have received such an award. Recently, Khenpo Pema has been doing translations of sadhanas for his Holiness Sakya Trizin, as well as, traveling to give teachings in various places. He maintains his focal Centers in New York.
Check out Khenpo Pema’s interesting website at http://www.vikramasila.org/ and find him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PaldenSakya
COMPLETED—ANNOUNCING VEN. LAMA KUNGA RINPOCHE’S BIRTHDAY PARTY, Sunday, July 24th, 2016
June 20, 2016 by bhockman
Filed under Completed Special Events
POTLUCK BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR VEN. LAMA KUNGA RINPOCHE.
We will honor Ven. Lama Kunga Thartse Rinpoche with a party and prayers and wishes for his continued healthy life.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME! BRING FOOD TO SHARE. Reminder: Lama Kunga Rinpoche doesn’t eat anything with sugar or any sweetener. Rinpoche says–No material gifts or food gifts, please. Donations$ are accepted.
WHEN: Sunday, July 24, 2016 TIME: from 12:30 pm to 4:00 pm WHERE: Arlington Park, 1120 Arlington Blvd., El Cerrito, CA HOW: Drive northward on Arlington Blvd. past where you turn for Ewam Choden. The park is on the right with plenty of street parking. See a map here. At the park, we’ll be at Site 1. See the location here.
LAMA KUNGA LOOKS FORWARD TO SEEING YOU THERE.
PRAYER CEREMONY For H. H. JIGDAL DAGCHEN SAKYA at EWAM CHODEN on Sunday, May 8, 2016 at 4:30 p.m
May 6, 2016 by bhockman
Filed under Completed Special Events
On behalf of the S.F.Bay area Sakya Tsechen Tsokba group, Ven. Lama Kunga Thartse Rinpoche will lead prayer offerings for H.H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya Rinpoche, head of the Sakya Phuntsok Phodrang, who passed into parinirvana on April 29, 2016 in Seattle, WA, USA. H.H. Dagchen Rinpoche remained in meditation until May 5th.
Everyone is welcome to attend.
A NEW CLASS–Introduction to the Uttaratantra or Sublime Continuum: Maitreya’s treatise on Buddha-nature–CONTINUES THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016 from 7pm to 9pm
April 3, 2016 by bhockman
Filed under Completed Special Events
NOTE New class members, who didn’t attend the first meeting, are welcome. Everyone should email the instructor for information and materials at jwp6@columbia.edu
CLASS
Introduction to the Uttaratantra or Sublime Continuum: Maitreya’s treatise on Buddha-nature led by John Whitney Pettit, scholar and practitioner. Six (or seven) classes on Thursday evenings, 7 to 9 pm. The start date is April 7. . Course materials will include excerpts of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s commentary on the Uttaratantra, and Pettit’s outline of the Uttaratantra, excerpted and translated from the Uttaratanttra commentary of Rongton Sheja Kunrig. Requested donation to EC of $25 ($100 for all six) per class. Open to all.
ABOUT THE TEACHER
John Whitney Pettit has been a student of many Tibetan and other Buddhist teachers, especially the first Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He holds advanced degrees in religion and Buddhist Studies from Harvard and Columbia University, and is the author of Mipham’s Beacon of Certainty (Wisdom, 1999). Since 2005, he has researched and translated Tibetan commentaries on the topic of Buddha-nature, which are the subject of a forthcoming volume to be published by the Institute of Tibetan Classics. He is currently in residence at Ewam Choden.
