Upcoming Special Events | February 2023

The Deeper You Go, The Better it Gets

We are currently open for enrollment for our Foundation Program!

There is never any limit to the happiness & peace we can experience with Buddha’s teachings and meditation practices, Dharma. Through weekly teachings, discussion and meditation in a study and practice group setting, our Foundation Program supports students to go deeper in their meditation practice.

We warmly welcome you to a free talk, “Introduction to Foundation Program,” on Tuesday, February 7. If you have been enjoying our General Program classes for 3-6 months and are interested in the next level of Dharma understanding and experience, please feel welcome to attend this special introductory event. 

The following is an excerpt from a talk given by Venerable Geshe Kelsang in 1990, at the launch of the Foundation Program (FP) in England:

“With wisdom and Dharma experience we will also become our own doctors. Whether we are young or old, rich or poor, famous or of humble origins, without choice we all have to experience mental pain. Within one day we experience mental pain and discomfort many times, sometimes due to unpleasant circumstances and sometimes due to other people, even our friends. Sometimes for no apparent reason unhappiness, disappointment, dissatisfaction, or pain arise naturally due to the ripening of karmic imprints. We need a remedy for this pain. No one else can give us medicine that will relieve this type of pain, we have to become our own karma-doctor and cure ourselves through Dharma experience. By increasing our wisdom and Dharma experience we will gradually solve all our problems and eventually we will achieve the ultimate happiness of full enlightenment, the bliss of Buddhahood. This is how the Foundation Program can fulfill our own wishes.”

Registration details

This program is available at no charge! Please email [email protected] and let us know you are going to attend.

An Explanation of the Four Immeasurables

When there is harmony in our relationships and in society, things work. This mind unites people despite differences, prevents conflicts, and brings benefit to ourselves and others. The good news is that harmony is not a far-away wish, but an attainable option in today’s turbulent world. Buddha taught a very special practice that has potential to change who we are and how we view others and our world.

In this half day course, Gen Dorje will explain how we can use the four immeasurables of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity to make harmony a reality for ourselves and others. In this way, we can be the kind of person whose stable happiness, balanced perspective, and good heart creates positive relationships and is a source of inspiration wherever we go.

Everyone welcome.

Registration details

Cost: $20 through Feb. 4; $25 after. Free for members!

All Kadampa centers are dedicated to all living beings. They belong to them, remaining in their service for all time, and can never be taken over by individuals or organizations and used for other purposes.

For this reason, Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche says that these centers are very precious and that whenever we engage in an action to benefit a center we are in fact benefitting all living beings. Through such actions we accumulate vast merit, purify negativities, and receive powerful blessings.

We set aside time each month for an opportunity for people to come together and cherish our center and in this way benefit our local community practically. Everyone welcome!

If you are new, and wondering how to participate in Center Cherishing, send an e-mail to [email protected] or call us at (608) 661-3211. While different months may have a main focus such as preparing our meditation room for a large event, we always have a list of projects and tasks from yard work, to cleaning, organizing, and creating. There are many ways to help! Reach out with any questions you may have. 

Center Cherishing will take place February 18, March 18, April 22, and May 20.

Half-Day Course

Our lack of peace is coming from our strong grasping at a self and world that does not exist. We need to gain perfect knowledge that the “things we normally see do not exist”. This knowledge is Buddha’s most precious gift to the world. There is no other way to solve our problems permanently. Through this profound wisdom our unpleasant feelings will cease forever! 

“Outer and inner phenomena are like illusions, like dreams and like a reflection of the moon in a clear lake, although they appear they do not truly exist. You should know all phenomena in the same way.”

This half-day course is designed for beginner and experienced practitioners alike. Everyone welcome!

Registration details

Cost: $20 through Feb 18; $25 after. Free for members!