Events

Acharya Lama Gursam Rinpoche Returns to STS for "Right View, Right Intention"

'Right View' and 'Right Intention' are two actions of the Noble Eightfold Path which leads to the cessation of suffering.

After achieving the awakening described as enlightenment, the Buddha's first teaching became known as "The Four Noble Truths". He identified these truths as (1) the truth of suffering (anxiety and dissatisfaction), (2) the truth of the origin of this suffering (a misunderstanding of the nature of reality), (3) the truth of cessation (the truth that this suffering can cease) and (4) the truth of the path which leads to the cessation of suffering. This 'fourth truth' describes methods that each of us can use to end our own suffering, and the suffering of others.

Lama Gursam will focus on "Right View" and "Right Intent (sometimes translated as 'Right Motivation'). These are two of the eight actions that, when practiced together, ARE the path to the cessation of suffering. These eight actions, practiced simultaneously, are called the Noble Eightfold path. Lama Gursam will offer us insights and methods that will help us out of our own dissatisfaction and anxieties. By taming and training our mind, our actions will follow our thoughts 'like the cart follows the oxen'. With his knowledge, his practice, and his cheerful manner, Lama Gursam inspires newcomers and experienced meditators alike.

Questions? Contact Us!

Attend by donation of ANY size, though a $10 minimum is suggested.

Special Audience to HH Sakya Trizin offered to Friends of Studio Time and Space

Our own, much loved, Khenpo Pema Wangdak is very excited to have put together a special day for his students, his Dharma friends, and their families.
Khenpo-la knows very well how special an opportunity it is to be with such an accomplished Lama, his own root teacher.

Born in Tibet in 1945, His Holiness Sakya Trizin has received training and teachings from the greatest masters of his time and ours. By the age of seven he had memorized many major and minor texts, comprising more than a thousand pages. By eight, his studies and practices "fulfilled the unparalleled spiritual activities of his predecessors". In 1959, when he was fourteen, in the presence of more than a thousand monks and many great Lamas, he was enthroned as the 41st head of the Sakya lineage. In that same year he and his entourage left Tibet for Sikkim, and later for India. His knowledge of the Buddhist teachings, augmented, and sustained since a very young age, make the opportunity of our audience with him especially auspicious. We will receive teachings with His Holiness in the morning of Sunday, June 23rd.

In the afternoon we are blessed with another rare opportunity. His Holiness' wife and daughter in law will be with attendees to offer comments and entertain questions. Each in their own right is an important voice of Tibetan Buddhism, with a rarefied view of the lineage masters.

There is a fee for attendance which includes lunch. Children are free. See the full announcement below.

Be in touch with if you would like to be included in carpooling plans...or if we can help with registration or questions of any kind.

For more resources, check out the Sakya Page

What is Sojong?

(from the www.sakyausa.org website)

Sojong is the act of following one day 'lay' precepts and is a purification ritual. Many Buddhists follow Sojong on holy days, and full, half and new moon days. The precepts are the same as monastic precepts, except instead of taking them for life, the lay practitioner takes them one day at a time. They are a very effective way to help train the body and speech of a lay practitioner, which will help with one's meditation practice.

More info on Lojong
http://www.dharmawheel.net/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=1092

Both Mahayana and Theravadin Buddhism has the tradition of taking the eight precepts for a full day (sunup to sunup) for laypeople. In the Theravadin tradition laypeople must take these precepts each time from a monk. In the Mahayana, the first time they take the eight precepts they take them from a monastic and then they can take the precepts on their own.

Taking the precepts accrues a great deal of merit making it a good practice for laypeople.
The precepts themselves are the five precepts - refrain from killing, stealing, harsh speech, alcohol and intoxicants (except medicine), and refraining from sexual activity and additionally refraining from singing and dancing (entertainments, so no TV, but also makeup and perfume), avoid high beds and high seats (this is a reduction in pride and exercise in humility but you can sleep in your normal bed), and avoiding eating after noon (and in some versions eating once and finishing eating before noon as well).

What is Lojong? If you are new to the points of Lojong mind training, the following 2 links offer a place to start. The points of Lojong mind trainingare extremely practical, and very helpful in daily life and practice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojong

An article by Pema Chodron: http://www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1562