Dates: Wednesdays: February 7th to March 13th
Time: 7:30 pm, PT
Prerequisite: Any initiation or empowerment
Registration: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/6183206
On Zoom, Pre-recorded
The main practice in Vajrayana Buddhism consists of the generation stage and completion stage, and indispensable for their accomplishment is the Ngöndro (preliminaries). Our late founder, H.H. Jigdal Dagchen Dorje Chang, emphasized continual and diligent practice of the Ngöndro to succeed in Dharma practice. The Ngöndro consists of several practices and in this program, three of H.H. Jigdal Dagchen Dorje Chang’s eminent grandsons will bestow the complete explanation of all of them. They will guide members who have entered the Vajrayana path through the text Excellent Path of the Two Accumulations in detail, which is the contemporary manual of practice used at Sakya Monastery.
February 7th: Refuge & Bodhicitta
Teacher: H.E. Abhaya Vajra Rinpoche
In the first teaching, we will be taken on a guided tour of the Sakya “Refuge Tree” that is visualized as the basis for going for refuge with an explanation of its meaning and purpose. We will also learn how this is practiced with the arousing of the altruistic intent to attain enlightenment for the sake of all living beings.
February 14th: Purification
Teacher: H.E. Avikrita Vajra Rinpoche
In the second teaching, we will learn how prostrations as well as the laying open and laying aside of negativity are done to purify the blocks to awakening. The main practice we will learn is the meditation-recitation of Vajrasattva, relied upon in Tibetan Buddhism as the most effective and complete method of purification.
February 21st and 28th: Accumulating Merit
Teacher: H.E. Asanga Vajra Rinpoche
The most important means of accumulating merit for awakening is combining body, speech and mind in making mandala offerings. We will learn the physical ritual, the meaning of the words recited and the meditation done in this practice in which the universe is mentally purified, transformed and ceremonially offered in dedication of enlightenment.
March 6th: Completing the Accumulations
Teacher: H.E. Avikrita Vajra Rinpoche
Purification and the accumulation of merit and wisdom are completed through Guru Yoga. We will learn how this is done in meditation and its profound meaning for bringing the blessings of an unbroken lineage going back to the Buddha into our own mind-streams through our own spiritual guide.
March 13th: Answers to your Questions
Teachers: H.E. Avikrita Vajra Rinpoche and H.E. Asanga Vajra Rinpoche
The Rinpoches will answer questions about the Sakya Ngöndro that students submitted after the 5 earlier sessions.