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Lectures

Eight verses for training the mind – lecture series by Lama Jigmé

Dear friends,

The Tibetan Buddhist center Phuntsok Chö Ling in Rotterdam is organizing a series of 8 lectures given by Lama Jigmé, beginning on 29 August. It is also possible to participate online.

 

Eight verses for training the mind

In this cycle of 8 lectures on Saturday mornings, Lama Jigmé Namgyal will explain the short text: ‘Eight verses for training the mind’. In addition to the explanation, he will also give practical instructions on how to integrate this into daily life.

This short text was paid high attention by many great masters throughout history. H.H. Jigme Phuntsok Rinpoche regarded this text as the principal instruction among all the Dharma teachings he imparted. 

The Eight Verses for Training the Mind can bring tremendous benefits to the practice of both Sutrayana teachings and Tantrayana teachings. The first seven verses of the Eight Verses for Training the Mind deal with the practices associated with cultivating the method aspect of the path such as compassion, altruism, aspiration to attain buddhahood. The last verse deals with the practices that are directed toward cultivating the wisdom aspect of the path.

During these eight Saturdays Lama Jigmé Namgyal will give us the opportunity to gain a thorough understanding with practical instructions to apply in our daily life.

Practical information
The lecture can also be followed online.

Prices: Non-members pay 24 euros per morning. Discounts are possible, see choices when registering.
Date: Beginning on 29 August 2020
Time: the room is open at 9 a.m. Lecture starts at 9.30 am
Location: Oostkousdijk 17b Rotterdam – Delfshaven.

More information: https://www.phuntsokcholing.org/agenda/detail/?oswsID=99

 

Categories
Centre Courses Uncategorized

Courses – Autumn 2020

We are pleased to announce that the registrations for the upcoming courses starting in September are open.
Please check the information about the courses here.

Given the current situation due to COVID-19, we cannot be sure when the Centre can physically reopen. Until then, courses will continue to take place online.

Please register by sending an e-mail to info@tibetculture.lu. We will send you a link to the course for which you registered upon receipt of your transfer.

Best wishes and be safe!
The CCT Team

Categories
Event Retreat

Chöd Summer study week – 10-19 July – in Rotterdam or online

The Tibetan Buddhist center Phuntsok Chö Ling is organizing a Chöd Summer study week in Rotterdam. It is also possible to participate online.

Dudjom Lingpa’s Chöd

Study Week Summer 2020
Friday 10th – Sunday 19th of July

After a period in which traveling was prohibited, we are delighted to welcome Lama Jigmé Namgyal back to our centre in Rotterdam.
 
During a 10-day Summer study week Lama Jigmé will be teaching about the practice of Chöd. Chöd is Tibetan and literally translates to ‘cutting through’. Chöd is practiced as a skillful means to cut through obstacles like our own disruptive emotions, also referred to as inner enemies.

Chöd contains the entirety of the Mahayana teachings, combining skilful means (bodhicitta) with wisdom (prajnaparamita), as well as tantric visualization and pure perception. Different forms of Chöd are practiced in Dzogchen, the great perfection. Successful practice allows the practitioner to abide in the natural state of rigpa, free from fear.

In the Dudjom Tersar Tröma Nagmo Chöd lineage, which started with the great master and treasure revealer Dudjom Lingpa, Lama Jigmé Namgyal is the fourth teacher. It’s a very short and unbroken lineage, as a result, Lama Jigmé’s teachings are straight from an authentic source.

The study week can be followed by anyone who has previously received Chöd instructions. If this is not the case, but you do have sufficient knowledge on the basic principles of Buddhist views, please contact us for consultation.

Questions or comments? Please contact: events@phuntsokcholing.org

Online and physically present attendees

Due to Corona virus regulations a maximum of 20 people are allowed at our centre. Therefore the study week can also be followed online via Zoom meetings. This option has reduced prices.

People who register to be present at the temple, are asked to also partially follow the study week online. Depending on the number of participants, we will inform you which days we ask you to follow the teachings online and which days you are welcome at the temple. On online days we ask you to not come to the temple as we cannot let you enter.
 
Exceptions are made for people of our event team that perform crucial tasks and for those who have not attended a Chöd study week before.

Practicalities

Date:   Friday 10th until Sunday 19th of July 2020 

Participation options: Weekend FRI – SUN;
Midweek MON – SUN; 
Full study week FRI – SUN.

Location:   Online via Zoom and/or:
Phuntsok Chö Ling
Oostkousdijk 17B
3024 CL Rotterdam
The Netherlands

Time:   Friday 10th of July: 19:30 – 21:30H;
Saturday 11th – Sunday 19th July: 10:00 to 13:00H.

Language:   English 

Other:   unlike previous study weeks, lunches will not be served
Prices:   Standard 10 day study week  € 240,- 
Webinar 10 day study week  € 180,- 
 
Discounts available for members of PCL and CCT, and students or people with low income. For weekend and midweek prices and more information, check the options when you click registration (= AANMELDEN in Dutch).
 
We look forward welcoming you to these profound teachings. 
 
Register now for your online or offline spot: https://www.phuntsokcholing.org/agenda/detail/?oswsID=95

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Event Uncategorized

Online weekend teachings – The Bardo of life and the Bardo of dying – 12-14 June

The Centre Culturel Tibétain is happy to announce an online weekend teaching by Lama Jigmé Namgyal on the bardo of life and the bardo of dying. The teaching will be given online, through webinar.

The Bardo of life and of dying
 
There is no distinction as to religious, cultural or social background, the truth is that everyone has a life and everyone will die one day. According to the wisdom of Buddha we can actually use our lives to prepare for death. In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole, where death is the beginning of another chapter of life. Death is a mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected. This view is central to the most ancient school of Tibetan Buddhism.
 
Bardo (Tib. བར་དོ་) is a Tibetan word that simply means a ‘transition’ or a gap between the completion of one situation and the onset of another. ‘Bar’ means ‘in between’ and ‘do’ means ‘suspended’ or ‘thrown’.
 
The word bardo is commonly used to denote the intermediate state between death and rebirth, but in reality, bardos are occurring continuously throughout both life and death, and are junctures when the possibility of liberation, or enlightenment, is heightened.
 
One of the central characteristics of the bardos is that they are periods of deep uncertainty. This uncertainty, which already pervades everything now, becomes even more intense, even more accentuated after we die.
 
During this weekend Lama Jigmé Namgyal will teach about the bardo of life and the bardo of dying.

Language: English. On Friday and Saturday Lama Jigme will be teaching in his mother language Tibetan, with translation to English by Dr. Dylan Esler.

Where: Online. You will receive a zoom link.

When:
Friday,     12 June: 19:30-21:30
Saturday, 13 June:  9:30-13:00
Sunday,    14 June: 9:30-13:00

Price:
Non-members: 60 €/weekend
Sustaining members of CCT: 54 €/weekend
Donating members of CCT and PCL: 45 €/weekend
Students, unemployed, retired: 30 €/weekend

Please pay by bank transfer to the Centre’s account:

IBAN: LU79 1111 2413 8246 0000 / BIC: CCPLLULL,
Centre Culturel Tibétain, Asbl
Reference: Bardo (and your name)

In Tibetan Buddhism, students traditionally make a donation to their teachers for special teachings. Such donations can be done directly to the Phuntsok Namgyal Ling Foundation, as it will be a contribution to Lama Jigmé’s project to buy a piece of land where practitioners can do serious retreats and studies.

Please register by sending an email to events@tibetculture.lu

Categories
Culture Uncategorized

A message from Lama Jigme on Saga Dawa

Saga Dawa
May 23rd – June 21st 2020

Saga Dawa, or the fourth month of the Tibetan calendar, starts on May 23rd and ends on June 21st in 2020. The main days of celebration in 2020 are May 29, the day that the Buddha was born, and June 5th, when Buddha reached enlightenment and passed away (parinirvana). Saga Dawa is the most sacred month of the year in Tibetan Buddhism, commemorating the birth, enlightenment and parinirvana (death) of the Buddha, and it is believed that all positive and negative actions are multiplied by 100 million as a result.
 
Therefore Saga Dawa is called the ‘month of merits’ for Tibetan Buddhists. Dawa means ‘month’ and Saga or Saka is the name of a star prominent in the sky during the fourth lunar month of the Tibetan calendar.
 
Traditionally, the holy day of Saga Dawa is observed through practice, generosity and the performance of meritorious deeds. So this month is especially dedicated to ‘making merit’. Merit is understood in many ways in Buddhism. We can think of it as the fruits of karma, especially when this brings us closer to enlightenment. The three grounds of meritorious actions are generosity, morality, and meditation, although there are many ways to make merit.

Sojin, the practice of life release, is commonly performed by purchasing animals that are destined to be killed (like worms, crickets or fish), and releasing them into their natural habitat with prayers and positive aspirations. The act of giving this way is believed to extend the practitioner’s lifespan and create positive circumstances.
 
The lighting of butter lamps is a common devotional practice. The lights are said to banish spiritual darkness as well as visual darkness. Donating oil lamp oil is another way to make merit, or giving to the poor. Another way to make merit is by not eating meat and not consuming alcohol.
 
I wish all of you a happy Saga Dawa, particularly now in this challenging time of Corona. You should do a lot of praying. Please respect everyone around you and the choices they make. It is a difficult time for all of us and we all have our personal wished, fears and challenges to deal with. Please keep respect, a calm mind and equanimity towards yourself and others. Next to that I would also like to kindly invite you to lessen or stop eating meat and consuming alcohol for one month, or for as long as you think you can handle. And please have extra respect for the environment you live in, for example less plastic and less pollution in general. Not only keep your mind clean from any garbage, but also your outer world.
 
Remember, Dharma practitioners should behave better than non-Dharma practitioners. Try to apply the teachings of the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva in your daily life. Recognize your faults, be humble, do not be selfish and be kind to others. Be a good human.
 
I wish you all the best this month. This means nonviolence, mental peace and to live a life more useful and meaningful.
 
Tashi delek!
 
Lama Jigmé Namgyal

Categories
Courses

Wednesday Class – Spring Term

Lama Jigmé is giving every Wednesday a very precious series of teachings about the preliminary practices – the Ngöndro. The teachings are translated by Dylan Esler, which makes it possible for Lama Jigmé to teach in Tibetan. 

On 13 May Lama Jigmé will start teaching a new preliminary practice – Vajrasattva.  These teachings will take place during the months of May, June and the first two weeks of July.
 
We are happy to announce that this new subject will be open for everyone. All members of CCT and PCL and non-members of whichever background are welcome to join the webinar. 

If you have not registered yet for the Wednesday Course but want to join the class now, please register by sending us an email (info@tibetculture.lu) and paying the fee applicable to the Centre’s account.

The course fee will be transferred to  Phuntsok Namgyal Ling Foundation, as it will be a contribution to Lama’s project to buy a piece of land where practitioners can do serious retreats and studies.

Where: Online (you will receive a link once you have registered)
When:   Wednesdays from 7 to 9 pm
               13, 20, 27 May
               3, 10, 17, 24 June
               1, 8 July
Price:    € 135 – non-members
               € 121,5 – sustaining members
               €  67,5 – students/unemployed/retired

Free participation for donating members.

Please pay by bank transfer to the Centre’s account:

IBAN: LU79 1111 2413 8246 0000 / BIC: CCPLLULL,
Centre Culturel Tibétain, Asbl
Reference: Vajrasattva 2020 (your name)

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Vajrasattva

Through the practice of Vajrasattva and the process of purification, we are acknowledging that we have knowingly and unknowingly done, said, and thought many things that were not beneficial and were often quite harmful. To maximize the potency of Vajrasattva practice, we rely on what are called the four opponent powers: support, regret, resolution and action. 

In the absolute sense there is nothing to be purified, no one purifying, and no act of purification. But since we cannot seem to leave it at that, the defilements and obscurations arise. In the illusory perception of our ego-clinging, we experience endless suffering. Since we feel a need for purification, we have this practice as a relative skillful means.

Categories
Event Lama Lectures

Online Public Lecture – Finding stability in times of change – 9 May

On Saturday May 9th, Lama Jigmé will give an online public lecture: “Finding stability in times of change” (10am CEST).

If you want to join the lecture please register by sending an email to info@phuntsoknamgyalling.org. 
 
If we are attentive to our own experience, we will see that everything is constantly changing: this holds true not only for the outer world, including the economic and political realities that shape society but also for our friends and family, and also for our emotions. Although we may not always realize this, sometimes change can be for the best. If we try to artificially stop change, we cause more suffering, because we are resisting the very nature of reality. The point is to learn to influence the causes and conditions that bring about both suffering and happiness, and to find inner stability in the midst of change.
 
This session is open to all, irrespective of religion, background or nationality.
 
Location: Online
When: Saturday May 9th 2020
Time: 10:00 – 12:00 CEST
Register: info@phuntsoknamgyalling.org (we will send you a link upon payment of the fee)
Price: 10,- (or more if you wish). It will be a contribution to Lama’s project to buy a piece of land where practitioners can do serious retreats and studies. 

Categories
Uncategorized

Second Online Facilitators’ Workshop 16 May 2020

Dear friends,

we invite you to take part in our online seminar:

HOW TO GUIDE COMMUNICATION PROCESSES BASED ON A PRACTICE OF MEDITATION

This seminar is open to everybody. No special preparation or certain level of practice is necessary.

When:   16 May 2020 from 10:00 to 14:00
Where:  online (we will send you an invitation link to Zoom)

More information here.

Categories
Event

Online Facilitators’ Workshop 11 April 2020

Dear friends,

we invite you to take part in our online seminar:

HOW TO GUIDE COMMUNICATION PROCESSES BASED ON A PRACTICE OF MEDITATION

This seminar is open to everybody. No special preparation or certain level of practice is necessary.

When:   11 April 2020 from 10:00 to 14:00
Where:  online (we will send you an invitation link to Zoom)

More information here.

Categories
Courses Meditation

Online Sunday Class (15, 22 and 29 March) at 18:00

Dear friends,

Due to the fact that Lama will be teaching online until the end of this term, we are happy to invite you to join the Sunday Meditation course online for the next three sessions.

Emotions in daily life and during meditation
What to do with emotions during meditation? Or during daily life? What are emotions actually? Where are they coming from? And where do they go to? Buddhism talks about antidotes. What are they and how to apply them? In three sessions Lama Jigmé Namgyal will explain what emotions are, what they are not, and how to deal with them in daily life and during meditation. These sessions are open to all, irrespective of religion, background or nationality.

If you wish to follow the class, then please register now by sending us an e-mail (info@tibetculture.lu) and pay directly on the following website www.phuntsoknamgyalling.org of the Phuntsok Namgyal Ling Foundation, as it will be a contribution to Lama’s project to buy a piece of land where practitioners can do serious retreats and studies. You will then receive a link. If you have already paid for the Sunday course to the CCT, there is no need to pay anything else.

When: Sunday 15, 22 and 29 March

Time: 18:00

Price: €45 (€40 for sustaining members, €22 for students/unemployed/retired, free participation to donating members), to be paid at https://phuntsoknamgyalling.org/en/donate/ stating “Sunday course” in MESSAGE)

Warm regards,
The CCT Team