Below you can find the program of the Tibetan Buddhist Center Phuntsok Chö Ling, in case you want to follow Lama Jigmé’s teachings online or at the Temple in the Netherlands.
Below are all upcoming events. Click here for the link to the full calendar.
19 to 21 AUG 2022
Monlam to commemorate the death anniversary Akyong Siddhi Tulku
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
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
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
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)
The Centre Culturel Tibétain wishes you a happy Losar, the Tibetan New Year!
The year of the male Iron Mouse or Rat.
The Centre Culturel Tibétain is happy to announce that it is organizing a special cinema event on Friday, 28 February 2020, in Ciné Utopia.
“Kalachakra – l’éveil” is a documentary feature film directed by Natalie Fuchs and it was released in September 2017.
Immersed in the colorful and vibrant setting of Dharamsala, India, the woman and 3 other individuals from very different backgrounds come together to face their deepest fears as they approach the transformational power of the Kalachakra initiation. Through this film, we enter and discover an ancient and yet unknown dimension where death meets life, a dimension which changes someone forever.
The Centre Culturel Tibétain is happy to invite you once again to a Thangka painting workshop led by Tharpen Lingtsang, the son of Gega Lama, on 1 March 2020.
For more information, please visit the page of the event here.
Dear friends,
We are pleased to announce that the registrations for the upcoming courses starting in January are open.
Please check the information about the courses here.
This winter term, we will be offering group meditation practice throughout the month of January, as Lama Jigme will be abroad this month. Lama will resume teaching in February.
We welcome everyone to the center for group practice (including study and meditation sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays) on the days he will not be teaching.
Please read her e about our new membership system for 2020.
For organizational reasons, please register for the courses by sending us an e-mail at info@tibetculture.lu.
We wish you a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
Warm regards,
The CCT Team
The Centre Culturel Tibétain is happy to invite you once again to a Thangka painting workshop led by Tharpen Lingtsang, the son of Gega Lama, on 6 October 2019.
For more information, please visit the page of the event here.