Want to Begin Your Buddhist Path? Refuge Ceremony Sunday July 30!

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In response to requests, we’ve set up a Refuge Ceremony for formal entry into the Buddhist path for 1 PM Sunday, July 30 in the KTC Shrine Room.

Led by Lama Kathy, the one-hour ceremony will include the formal giving of the Vow of Refuge, in which one takes the Buddha as teacher, the dharma as path, and the sangha as community.

Want to get on the list for this and future ceremonies? Email Lama Kathy at lamakathy@columbusktc.org

LAMA KARMA Teaching and WATCH PARTY THIS SATURDAY at KTC! 

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We’re so excited for the upcoming virtual teaching on Saturday, July 22 by Lama Karma Drodhul on “The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva” that we have decided to add an in-person watch party to the event!
KTC will be open from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM Saturday, July 22 for folks to come in, and watch Lama Karma’s zoom teaching on the big screen in our shrine room.
Morning session will be 10 AM to 12 noon; afternoon session will be 2 to 4 PM
Bring your sack lunch, enjoy the teaching, and be ready for a group recitation of the 37 Practices after lunch.
In addition, all in attendance at the Watch Party will receive a tiny copy of the 37 Practices text to take home for their own study.
Stupa

Create Blessings at the Stupa Offering Ceremony Sunday June 4

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Four times a year the KTC observes for special holidays, that honor events in the life of the Buddha.
By honoring the Buddha on these special days, we accumulate virtue, and develop the qualities within ourselves that are exemplified in the life of the Buddha.
Our next observance will be at 1 PM Sunday, June 4.
We will meet in the front vestibule, go outdoors to make offerings around the KTC‘s sacred reliquary Stupa. We th n will recite special offering prayers as we make aspirations in front of the stupa.
It is said that making aspirations in front of a sacred reliquary Stupa is like making the aspirations in front of the Buddha himself; we invite you to bring your aspirations and join us.
The ceremony will take approximately 45 minutes and be followed by a light snack of veggies and cheese.

Visit the KTC Library!

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On your next visit to KTC be sure to check out the new titles in the KTC a Manjushri Library. Here, KTC Library Volunteer Clare enjoys some “quality time” in our “Khenpo’s Corner” book nook. See you in the library!

Special Chenrezig Puja in honor of Art Chambers, 1 PM Sunday April 2, 2023

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Longtime KTC friend Arthur (“Art”) Chambers passed away unexpectedly March 10, 2023 after a short illness.
The KTC community will remember Art in a special Chenrezig Chant at 1 PM Sunday April 2, 2023, in the main KTC shrine room.
Art joined the KTC soon after it formed in the late 1970s, and traveled to our “home” monastery, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in 1980 to meet His Holiness the 16th Karmapa.
He will be remembered for his steadfast devotion to Green Tara and his championing of those in difficulty.  He is survived by his wife Jean and son Collier, as well as by his dharma friends at KTC.
Please join us in remembering Art and praying for his auspicious rebirth in Dewachen. May all beings benefit!

KTC Unveils Erlewine Archive at the Manjushri Library

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It’s been a long time in the works, and KTC Columbus is proud to announce the opening of The
Michael and Margaret Erlewine Archive of Tibetan Buddhism at the KTC Manjurshi Library.
The archive, full of amazing books and a wide array of Buddhist recordings, art, and media, was
dedicated in a ceremony on Losar Sunday, Feb. 26, 2023.

More than two dozen boxes of valuable books, dozens of cases of valuable recordings from great
masters, gorgeous shrine offerings, handsome Tibetan Buddhist art objects and pictures, plus an
archive of Karma Kagyu teachings that rivals any in the United States were gifted to Columbus KTC
in 2022 by Michael and Margaret Erlewine of the Heart Center KTC in Big Rapids MI.
Michael and Margaret’s contributions to Tibetan Buddhism in general and the Karma Kagyu Lineage
in particular are difficult to quantify in words.

Early students of the Venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, Margaret and Michael blazed a trail for
Dharma Center development, scholarship, and interdisciplinary work that produced the archive KTC
has the honor of hosting.

The Erlewines’ devotion to Khenpo Rinpoché and their enthusiasm for learning and sharing what
they have learned gave Dharma students in the United States the earliest recording archive of
Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s teachings, as well as KTD Dharma Goods, the dharma book and sacred
object retailer that preceded today’s Namse Bangdzo bookstore.

Our small Manjushri Library at Columbus KTC cannot contain all the treasures the Erlewines have
shared; we will be placing their art treasures throughout our building, and their shrine objects will go
into use in our shrines.

In this small way, we hope to honor the Erlewines for their many contributions to the Dharma in
general and our Sangha community in particular.

The next time you are at KTC, be sure to take a look inside the Manjushri library to see the plaque
honoring the Erlewines, and take a good look at the archive, which we hope to share in an
expanding way with KTC members over the coming months. – Lama Kathy Wesley

 

 

Join the Can-paign! Practice Generosity and Help KTC

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On Losar Sunday, we began a fundraiser with a lofty goal – find 100 people to put 25 cents a day into decorated coin banks on their shrines in order to raise $9,000 for Columbus KTC’s Operating Fund!
Our longtime friend Paul Volker designed and decorated 100 cans with auspicious symbols and mantras and coin slots on top as part of a year-old fundraiser.
“It is said that to give without attachment is the perfection of generosity,” he writes. “The purpose [of the can-paign] is to make it easy to practice a little generosity each day, without attachment, and still help fo financiall support the Dharma in Central Ohio.”
By placing the bank on your shrine and depositing 25 cents a day into the bank, you can practice dharma generosity every day in a small way that won’t hurt an average person’s pocketbook. Plus, in a year the bank will contain about $90 for KTC.
We are asking $5 for each bank, and are instantly rebating the donor 25 cents to place into their bank right away.
You can pick up your can anytime by visiting the “Can-paign” shelf in the Community Room. Please deposite $5 in the Shrine Room donation box and feel welcome to take a quater with you to start your generosity practice on the spot. May all beings benefit!

HAPPY LOSAR from All of Us at KTC!

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Tashi Delek (Auspicious Good Wishes) to one and all for the Year of the Rabbit – Losar 2023!

Lama Kathy recommends that we try to spend some extra time practicing mantra or meditation of offerings on the Losar holiday (Tuesday Feb. 21) because of the old Tibetan saying, “What you do on Losar, you will do all year long.”

Adding some extra practice on Losar Day will help you get the year off to a good start and help you connect with sentient beings in an auspicious way!

Want to start with an outdoor incense offering of your own? Check out the Short Lojong Smoke Offering Practice here: https://www.dropbox.com/home/SANG%20AND%20SUR%20PUJAS/LHASANG%20SMOKE%20OFFERING%20CLASS%20HANDOUTS

And remember that the first 15 Days of the New Year correspond to the 15 Days of Miracles performed by the Buddha during a debate he engaged in with non-Buddhist scholars. During these 15 days, the positive and negative effects of actions are particularly magnified, so it’s a good time to do lots of virtue and refrain from non-virtue 🙂

THIS coming Saturday Feb. 25 Lama Kathy and Lama Tom will preside over a Bodhisattva Vow Ceremony at 11:30 AM. It will be preceded at 10 AM by a one-hour class on the Bodhisattva Vow and a NEWLY ADDED Refuge Ceremony at 9 AM! There is no need to register for the Refuge Ceremony, but you can sign up for the Bodhisattva Vow class here:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/taking-the-bodhisattva-vow-teaching-and-ceremony-with-ktc-lamas-tickets-522291567137

The 15 Days of Miracles will culminate at KTC with a 9 AM Morning prayer service on Tuesday March 7, the “official” day to celebrate Chötrul Duchen, the Great Occasion of the Buddha’s Miracles.

May all beings benefit!

“Rescued” KTC Tapes Come Home

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KTC Library Team Lead Tom Turpen (left) is assisted by library volunteers Clare (center) and Austin (right) as they review several dozen cassette tapes brought to KTC this past week.
After KTC’s previous building was heavily damaged in an arson fire on Jan. 31, 2016, quick-thinking volunteers rescued the library tapes before the building was demolished.
The rescued tapes are now back at the library, where they will be reviewed and checked for damage before being sent for digitizing.
It is hoped these teachings, many by distinguished Tibetan teachers, will eventually be available to KTC library patrons online.  May all beings benefit!

Tibetan Buddhist Holidays and Auspicious Days 2023

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As Losar, the Tibetan Buddhist New Year, approaches, we at KTC wish you a blessed holiday. As Lama Kathy mentioned in her Dharma Talk a few weeks ago, the first two weeks of the Tibetan New Year are called “The Month of Miracles” because of their association with an event in the Buddha’s life – when he performed a miracle every day for 15 days as part of a debate with non-Buddhist scholars. (He won the debate, by the way.)
As such, the first two weeks – from Losar Day Feb. 21 to the Miracles holiday celebrated on Tuesday March 7 – are considered a particularly auspicious time to make offerings, perform dharma practice, and practice virtue of all kinds.
But there are other auspicious times of the year, as well. You can read a short list here; https://www.dropbox.com/s/4k4a1s1nu2v1yuv/Tibetan%20Buddhist%20Calendar%20-%20General%20Information.2023.pdf?dl=0
Did you miss the Dharma Talk and want to catch up? You can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/live/3XRIkxKoUYc?feature=share
Here is wishing you an auspicious new year full of great dharma practice!