Fortunately, Venerable Geshe-la has prepared a perfect manual for meditation. The  book is called The New Meditation Handbook. In this book you will find all the instructions you need for your practice. The essentials of how to begin your practice, how to set up a shrine, the background knowledge required for meditation and a list of the benefits of meditation.

In the Appendix at the back you will find the Prayers for Meditation which you can use as a preparation before you meditate to ensure that your mind is filled with positive energy, free from obstacles and blessed by inspiration. With these preparatory practices, meditation is easy. If you wish to listen to these prayers there is a recorded version on the CD Songs of Good Fortune.

Both The New Meditation Handbook and Songs of Good Fortune will be available at all our classes.

In summary, you can begin your practice in this way…

1. Consider how important your peace of mind is. Maintaining a peaceful mind during your day will benefit everyone you connect with. Friends, family, co-workers… everyone.

2. Make an intention to begin a regular meditation practice to cultivate and maintain a peaceful state of mind.

3. Read the preliminary sections of The New Meditation Handbook so you understand how to meditate.

4. Find a regular time during your day when you can unplug the phone, close the door and have some space to practice. Let your family know you will be concentrating so they will be mindful to avoid disturbing your meditation.

5. Recite the Prayers for Meditation and concentrate on the meaning of the blessed words.

6. Pause just after “Receiving Blessings” which follows “The Prayer of the Stages of the Path”. Read the contemplation section of one of the twenty-one meditations. Create a clear understanding of the object of meditation.

7. When you have reached a clear object of meditation, put the book down and spend time focusing single-pointedly on the special feeling or understanding that is arising in your mind.

8. Watch your mind with mindfulness and alertness to remain with the object for as long as possible. If you mind wanders away, bring it back gently but firmly to the object.

9. Try to meditation for at least 10min. Ideally meditation would be 20min. – 30min. to give your mind time to become familiar with the object. It is more important to have a regular short meditation then long periods of meditation done infrequently.

10. Finish reciting the Prayers for Meditation and dedicate your merit to the welfare of all living beings.

11. During the meditation break, continuously use mindfulness and alertness to keep your new understanding with you. Try practically to integrate your understanding into your life. For example, if you meditated on Cherishing Love, try to maintain a feeling of loving-kindness during your interactions with everyone.

12. Try to practice one stage of the twenty-one meditations each day. In this way you will become familiar with the entire path to enlightenment and see how each stage supports the others.

13. Come to meditation classes! The best way to receive continuous enthusiasm for practice is to meet with other practitioners.

These are some basic points to get you started. If you have been meditating for a while, you may wish to use the prayers Heart Jewel instead of the Prayers for Meditation to connect more deeply to the lineage blessings of the Kadampa Tradition.

If you have any questions or need personal advice, please email us at info@ModernBuddhist.ca

Good luck!

Foundation Program

Buddhism teaches that to find lasting happiness and meaning in our lives we need to follow a spiritual path. To follow this path it is important to have a close connection with a qualified Teacher who can give us personal advice and encouragement, to listen to pure Dharma teachings and to be a part of a strong spiritual community. In this way we are able to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning of Buddha’s teachings, maintain a daily meditation practice that is both focused and powerful, and make genuine spiritual progress.

A unique study program
Through regular teachings and meditation, systematic study, and group discussion, the Foundation Program offers the same training followed by spiritual practitioners in an unbroken lineage dating back to Buddha Shakayamuni. In this way we can gain authentic experience of the Dharma while still maintaining our contemporary lifestyle. By studying on this program we shall gain great confidence in meditation – from basic techniques for overcoming our everyday problems to practices leading to unsurpassed happiness and permanent inner peace. Warm friendships develop as students inspire each other, sharing insights and experiences of the spiritual path.

What is the structure?
The secret of the Foundation Program’s success lies in the manageable commitment made by the student and in the clear structure of study. Students sign up to study a book or part of a book, agree to attend every class, learn the material, and to take a test at the conclusion of the study. Class meets once a week for two and a half hours. There are two separate programs; one runs on Monday nights and the other on Wednesday nights. If for a suitable reason a student is not able to attend the class in person, he or she agrees to catch up by listening to a podcast of the class. There is also a commitment to participate in at least one chanted prayer session at the Center per month. Generally, the students take turns to putting up the shrine offerings and setting up the meditation room on the day of their class. In this way they learn about the rituals associated with Buddhist practice.

What happens at a class?
Prior to class, students study an assigned portion of the text, usually a few pages long, and memorize the essential points. The class begins with chanted prayers and guided meditation. The teacher then reads the assigned selection from the book while giving commentary to the text. The students then divide into pairs to discuss the material. The teacher and students conclude by deciding what to meditate on in the next class and how to practice during the coming week.

What books are studied?
The purpose of the Foundation Program is to provide a systematic presentation of particular subjects of Mahayana Buddhism to enable practitioners to deepen their knowledge and experience of Buddhism.

The program comprises the following five subjects, based on Buddha’s Sutra teachings and the corresponding commentaries by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso:

1. The Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, based on the commentary Joyful Path of Good Fortune
2. Training the Mind, based on the commentaries Universal Compassion and Eight Steps to Happiness
3. The Heart Sutra, based on the commentary Heart of Wisdom
4. Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, based on the commentary Meaningful to Behold
5. Types of Mind, based on the commentary Understanding the Mind

We are currently studying Joyful Path of Good Fortune. By studying and practicing Joyful Path of Good Fortune we gain the ability to put all Buddha’s teachings of both Sutra and Tantra into practice. We can easily make progress on and complete the stages of the path to the supreme happiness of enlightenment. From a practical point of view, the Stages of the Path is the main body of Buddha’s teachings, and the other teachings are like its limbs.

The Teacher
The Foundation Program is taught by our Resident Teacher Kelsang Yonten.

When is the class?
Class is on Sunday nights in two sessions. The first session is from 4 – 6pm and the second session is from 6:30 – 8:30pm. We have a half hour meal break between sessions when we share a potluck dinner.

How much will it cost?
The cost is $75 a month.

The Foundation Program includes free admission to General Program Classes at the Center and branches, weekend events and retreats at the Center and empowerments at half-price.

Everyone wants to experience happiness in their life. Since the cause of happiness is inner peace, it is important to understand our mind. The function of meditation is to develop a peaceful mind. Therefore, if we really want to be happy, meditation is the best method to fulfill our wish.

This event is suitable for beginners and regular practitioners. Everyone is welcome.

Date: Saturday, Sept. 11th
Time: 10:30am – 12:30pm
Location: Trilliam Healing Arts Centre, 235 9th Street East
Cost: Free of charge

To support the growing Centre activities, Aron Weir has graciously accepted to become the teacher in Cambridge and we will welcome Bonnie McCutcheon and Chris Peterson as new weekly teachers in September.

The Kalpa Bhadra web site has seen the best month of web activity in Kalpa Bhadra’s five year history. This month, the number of site visits jumped from a 877 average to a new peak of 1516! Our annual average of unique visitors of 405 was also surpassed by August reaching 617.

We are looking forward to carrying this momentum into the fall season. Kalpa Bhadra will be offering a free public talk in a brand new location: Owen Sound. We will also be hosting our Autumn Retreat Sept. 25-26. The Haliburton Hills will be alive with colour as a vibrant backdrop to a special retreat. We currently have 16 people registered and we have space for 21. If you wish to attend, please register as soon as possible.

Further in the season, we will be offering a Mahamudra weekend retreat. Mahamudra is a method which uses the mind itself as the object of meditation. In this way it makes it easier to achieve quiet and concentrated minds. This retreat will be held at Kalpa Bhadra. More details to follow.

We look forward to welcoming everyone this fall and working with you to continually improve the harmony and happiness in the community. Thank you to everyone for your love and support.

We should understand that the principal function of a Dharma Protector is to protect our Dharma practice, not help our mundane affairs. Bearing this in mind we should not become discouraged if we do not suddenly become very wealthy, for wealth does not necessarily help spiritual practice and can be a great distraction. If we rely sincerely upon our Protector, he will arrange the conditions that are most conducive for our Dharma practice but these will not necessarily be the ones that we ourself would have chosen! He will bless our minds to help us transform difficult situations into the spiritual path, and he will open the wisdom eyes of his faithful followers, enabling them always to make the right decisions. Although physically they may find themselves alone, inwardly those who put their trust in him will never be apart from a powerful ally and a wise and compassionate guide.

Also new in September, a new Meditation 101 series will be running weekly from Tuesday, Sept. 14th until Tuesday, Oct. 5th, from 7 – 8:30pm. Bonnie McCutcheon will be introducing the basic topics of meditation and giving practical advice to help you start your practice. These classes are $10 drop-in and $35 for a series pass of 5 classes (which can be used for any of Kalpa Bhadra’s class locations).

The supreme good heart

When we deeply think that others are important, and that their happiness and freedom are important, we are cherishing others. If we cherish others like this, we shall always have good relationships and live in harmony with others, and our daily life will be peaceful and happy. We can begin this practice with our family, friends and those around us, and then gradually we shall develop and maintain cherishing love for all living beings without exception.

In Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Shantideva says:

All the happiness there is in this world Arises from wishing others to be happy

If we think carefully about this, we shall realize that all our present and future happiness depends upon our cherishing others – upon our wanting others to be happy. In our past lives, because we cherished others, we practised virtuous actions such as refraining from killing or harming others and abandoning stealing from and cheating them. We gave them material help and protection, and practised patience. As a result of these virtuous actions, we have now obtained this precious human life with the opportunity to experience human enjoyments.

The immediate effect of cherishing others will be that many of our daily problems, such as those that arise from anger, jealousy and selfish behaviour, will disappear, and our mind will become calm and peaceful. Since we shall act in considerate ways, we shall please others and not become involved in quarrels or disputes. If we cherish others we shall be concerned to help rather than to harm them, so we shall naturally avoid non-virtuous actions. Instead, we shall practise virtuous actions, such as compassion, love, patience, and giving material help and protection, and thus create the cause to attain pure and everlasting happiness in the future.

In particular, if we cherish all other living beings as we cherish ourself we shall find their suffering hard to bear. Our feeling that it is hard to bear the suffering of all other living beings is universal compassion, and this will lead us quickly to the pure and everlasting happiness of enlightenment. Just like all the previous Buddhas, we shall be born an enlightened Buddha from the mother, universal compassion. This is why our cherishing all living beings will enable us to attain enlightenment very quickly.

Contemplating all these benefits, we think:

The precious mind that cherishes all living beings protects both myself and others from suffering, brings pure and everlasting happiness and fulfils the wishes of both myself and others. Therefore I must always cherish all living beings without exception.

We should meditate on this determination every day, and out of meditation put our determination into practice. This means that we should actually cherish each and every living being, including animals.

Avalokiteshvara, Buddha of Compassion

Kalpa Bhadra will be hosting a powa ceremony to offer prayers and dedications for Viola Murphy (Yonten’s grandmother) and little girl named Hannah (a friend of Bonnie McCutcheon).

A powa ceremony is a traditional prayer made for the deceased to help them accumulate merit, purify negativity and receive Buddha’s blessings. In particular, we make requests that Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, will protect them in the intermediate state and guide them to a fortunate rebirth.

Date: Wednesday, August 18th
Time: 7-9pm
Location: Kalpa Bhadra Buddhist Centre, 42 Quebec Street, Guelph

NOTE: several members of the community have been asking about attending the ceremony. Everyone is welcome and their prayers and support are appreciated. The prayer booklet “Powa Ceremony” will be provided for everyone. There will be offerings for the ceremony provided by the family of the deceased; there is no requirement to bring additional offerings. If the family has limited resources, Ven. Geshe-la encourages the Dharma Centre to help with the offering.

In future, if the members in the community would like to request a powa ceremony for a loved one, please contact us and we will try to make arrangements. It is very beneficial for the deceased because sincere prayers from family and friends will result in that person taking rebirth in a pure land, even if that person was not religious or had a difficult life. It is also beneficial for the family because everyone wants to express their love and support.  Prayers are a special way of directing this natural wish into something positive. The powa ceremony is healing and comforting for everyone.

Viola Murphy

Hannah Schuster-Laslo

When Geshe-la arrived in the West in 1977, he began to teach Western people and learn about their lifestyle. After three years, he returned to India and spoke with his Spiritual Guide Trijang Rinpoche about his experience. He explained that Western lifestyle and commitments were different then those of the Tibetan people and he wanted to present teachings that were suitable for us. How could he teach appropriately and remain true to the pure tradition he had been given? Trijang listened attentively and then replied, “There is no problem. My students are Tibetan. Your students are Western. You should arrange suitable teachings according to their lifestyle and understanding.” From this, Ven. Geshe-la realized that he had been given permission by his Spiritual Guide to present Buddhism in a modern form. This was the beginning of Modern Buddhism.

Over the last 30 years, Ven. Geshe-la has continued to arrange all the conditions for people to enter, progress along and complete the spiritual path. How wonderful that we have found a modern teacher with whom we can share the journey to enlightenment! This fall there will be a unique opportunity to meet Ven. Geshe-la and receive teaching directly from him. Please visit the Fall Festival website to learn more.

To read learn more about this precious new book please visit Modern Buddhism.

The location will be Little Boshkung Lake, Minden Hills. This picturesque and tranquil lake will present a quiet background for meditation and contemplation.

Everyone is welcome. The retreat will be comfortable for both new comers and regular practitioners. We will observe some periods of silence to enable people to remain focused, however most of the retreat will be open for normal discussion between sessions.

Schedule

Friday, September 24th

• 8:30 – 9:30pm Introduction to Retreat

Saturday, September 25th

• 8 – 9:30am Transforming Adversity
• 10 – 11:30am Connecting with others
• 4 – 5:30pm Learning to love
• 7:30 – 9pm Great compassion

Sunday, September 26th

• 8 – 9:30am The wisdom of emptiness
• 10 – 11:30am The union of appearance and emptiness
• 1:30 – 3:00pm Practicing in daily life

Retreat Reservation

Completing your registration

To complete your registration, you can mail a cheque to the Centre or pay in person at any of our class locations. Cheques can be made out to: Kalpa Bhadra Buddhist Centre

Centre mailing address:
33 Cardigan Street, Unit 707
Guelph, Ontario, N1H 3Z5

Current registration list

1. Nicole Francoeur
2. Victoria Lewis
3. Juta Perry
4. Rebecca Anstett
5. Glenn Elliott
6. Susan Fussell
7. Bruce Hamer
8. Brenda Page
9. Marie Ysselstein
10. Bonnie McCutcheon
11. Kelsang Yonten
12. Jean Maurice
13. Chris Salzman
14. Ryan Hayhurst
15. Emily Uffelman
16. Tammy Chapman