Cleveland Programs November – December 2015
Lama Chopa Tsoh in honor of Je Tsongkhapa, Losang Drakpa
This year Saturday, December 5 is Ganden Ngam Chu, the day Tibetans commemorate the life and enlightening activities of Je Rimpoche, often known as Je Tsongkhapa. On this evening, thousands of butter lamps are offered in Tibetan communities throughout the world.
At Jewel Heart Cleveland, we will offer a traditional Lama Chopa offering ceremony (with at least 108 light offerings!), reciting in a combination of English and Tibetan, with copies of the practice available at the center. All are welcome to participate. Please bring an offering of food such as bread, cake or fruit, which participants may share after the ceremony. Vajrayana students, please bring your ritual implements.
Saturday, Dec. 5, 5:00-7:00 pm
NOTE EARLIER TIME: Since this event falls on a weekend, we are trying out an earlier time for this event, to give people a chance to go out afterward if they want. Please let us know what you think.
Vajrayana Salons
NEW! We are going to try posting suggested topics for each session in advance – let’s see how it goes! You can give proposed topics to Susan, Anne or Sarah. As always, feedback is welcomed!
These informal discussion groups are for those with Highest Yoga Tantra initiation only. It is a chance for us to relax and discuss our practice with its difficulties and delights along with whatever other topics we choose in a group of supportive sangha friends.
Sunday, Nov. 8, 1-2:30 Suggested topic: Emptiness point person: Anne Warren
Sunday, Dec. 13, 1-2:30 pm Suggested topic: Death and dying and/or Yamantaka point person: James Jorah
Holiday Sangha Gathering and Potluck, Sunday, Dec. 27, 1 pm to 3ish
Come enjoy a delicious meal and spend some quality time with other sangha members. Bring a dish to share – the usual hot drinks, plates, napkins, and cutlery will be provided.
Don’t cook? Don’t worry! Bread and cheese, fruit or purchased salads are always welcome – not to mention holiday left-overs! Everyone is welcome, new or old – even if you have never been to JH before, come check us out
We invite everyone to also bring ideas, requests, aspirations and dreams for what you would like to see happening in Jewel Heart Cleveland over the next few years. Sarah Ralston, our president, along with others will describe some of the ways we can go about bringing such ideas into actuality.
Sunday, Dec. 27, 1pm-3ish
Vajrayogini Self-Initiation Practice
All who have completed a Vajrayogini mantra retreat and fire puja are invited to join group practice of the self-initiation and tsoh on the first Sunday each month from 1-5 pm. These sessions will be in addition to our twice monthly tsohs.
Sunday Nov. 1, 1pm-4pm
NOTE No practice on Dec. 6
Sunday Jan. 3, 1pm-4pm
Monthly Lama Chopa and Vajrayogini Tsohs
Our Cleveland sangha is now offering tsoh around the 10th and 25th days of each Tibetan month. On the 10th (or Heruka) days we will do a Lama Chopa tsoh, which is open to all, and on the 25th a Vajrayogini long sadhana with tsoh, which is restricted to those with Mother Tantra initiation. You are invited to bring an offering of fruit, bread or pastries.
Friday, Nov. 6, 7-8:30 pm Vajrayogini tsoh for those with this initiation.
Sunday, Nov. 22, 1-2pm Lama Chopa tsoh, open to all
Saturday, Dec. 5, 5-7pm Lama Chopa tsoh for Je Tsongkhapa Day, open to all
Sunday, Dec. 20, 1-2 pm Lama Chopa tsoh, open to all
Heruka Yab-Yum Great Bliss Festival (aka Compulsory Tsohs)
January 4 and January 19 are the two Tsoh practice dates in 2014 that are mandatory for everyone who has taken a Heruka or other Mother Tantra initiation into Highest Yoga tantra.
Watch for email updates on when these will be held.
Sangha Council Exec Committee meetings
At these bi-monthly (6 times a year) meetings, the nuts and bolts of making Jewel Heart Cleveland’s activities happen are managed. These meetings are also the place we organize material for our newsletter. Our officers (president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, store manager, etc., as well as dharma coordinators and instructors) attend most meetings, but other sangha members (this means you!) are also invited to observe meetings and/or submit matters for the agenda to Sarah Ralston, our prez. Our next meeting will be held after the potluck/gathering on Dec. 27.
Jewel Heart Study Program
Continuing class:
Guru Devotion: The Uncommon Teachings
This class is restricted to those with Highest Yoga Tantra initiation.
Required transcript: Gelek Rimpoche’s transcript Guru Devotion: How to Integrate the Primordial Enlightened Mind, The Uncommon Teachings
Instructors: Anne Warren, Susan Kirchner and other JH Cleveland instructors
Continuing on Tuesdays, 7-8:30 pm
Dates: November 3, 10, 17, Dec. 1, 8, 15, Jan. 5, 12 NO CLASS NOV 24, DEC 22, 29
Concentrated meditation practice evenings
This free weekly practice session offers Q&A or brief meditation instruction at 7:30 pm and two silent sittings from 7:30-8:30 pm. Beginners are welcome.
Led by Mike Sherman and others
Thursdays, 7:30-8:30pm NO PRACTICE ON THANKSGIVING, Dec. 24 or 31
Reading Group adjourned until March
The JH Cleveland reading group will meet again in March. The selected book is Ethics for a New Millennium by HH the Dalai Lama.
Webcast Talks on Contemporary Tibet, Nov. 19 and 20
On November 19 and 20, join Dr. Robert Barnett via webinar for two informative and compelling evenings at Jewel Heart New York! Professor Barnett, the founder and director of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University, will speak on “Film and TV Dramas in Tibet and the Emergence of a Tibetan Perspective” at 7:00pm on Thursday, November 19 and on “Talks About No Talks: Will Chinese-Tibetan Negotiations Ever Happen?” at 7:00pm on Friday, November 20. Registration is required for the webinar as well as for attendance in New York See the Jewel Heart website for details.
Cleveland Programs September – October 2015
Lama Chopa Tsoh with Ganden monks – all are welcome!
Please join us to celebrate a traditional Lama Chopa Tsoh with the Ganden monks who are currently visiting Cleveland. This is a great chance to meet and practice with ordained sangha, and would be of interest for Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike. Bring an offering of fruit, bread or cookies if you like. The offerings will be distributed to participants after the ceremony is complete.
Monday, Sept. 21, 7-9 pm
Jewel Heart Study Program
New Class:
Guru Devotion: The Uncommon Teachings
The Lama Chopa, though often recited by all levels of practitioner, is in fact a Vajrayana practice which includes meditations on sutra and tantra, as well as extensive offerings, purification and other practices to build merit merit and wisdom merit. Rimpoche’s extensive transcript contains tremendous amounts of practical advice for Vajrayana practitioners, including aspects of the practices of Yamantaka, Heruka and Guhyasamaja..
This class is restricted to those with Highest Yoga Tantra initiation.
Required transcript: Gelek Rimpoche’s transcript Guru Devotion: How to Integrate the Primordial Enlightened Mind, The Uncommon Teachings
Instructors: Anne Warren, Susan Kirchner and other JH Cleveland instructors
Tuesday evenings, beginning Aug. 15, 7-8:30 pm
Concentrated meditation practice evenings
This free weekly practice session offers Q&A or brief meditation instruction at 7:30 pm and two silent sittings from 7:30-8:30 pm. Beginners are welcome.
Led by Mike Sherman and others
Thursdays, 7:30-8:30pm
Vajrayogini Self-Initiation Workshop and Practice
This workshop is restricted to those who have completed a Vajrayogini mantra retreat with fire puja. Please bring your lunch, self-initiation sadhana, note taking materials, ritual implements, and offerings for tsoh.
Instructor: James Jorah
Requested donation: $10 up to whatever you wish to donate
Saturday, Sept. 26, 10:30 am to about 4:30 pm
Vajrayogini Self-Initiation practice with tsoh
Restricted to those with completed Vajrayogini mantra retreat
First Sundays, Oct. 4, Nov. 1. 1 pm to 4:30 pm
Regular Tsoh dates
Wednesday, Sept. 23, 7 pm: Lama Chopa – open to all
Wednesday, Oct. 7, 7 pm: Vajrayogini
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 7 pm: Lama Chopa – open to all
Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe
Aryadeva’s 400 Stanzas On the Middle Way
Jewel Heart International
1129 Oak Valley Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
Also available via Webinar.
NOTE: The Cleveland center will not be open for this webcast teaching.
Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe is a professor of Mool Shastra (Indian Tradition of Buddhist Philosophy) at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, the only Tibetan university in India, and is regarded as one of the most eminent scholars of both the Madhyamaka tradition and Indian Buddhist studies. As one of the greatest learned scholars of Drepung Loseling Monastery, he facilitated the completion of numerous research works, including a complete translation of Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lam Rim Chen Mo or Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.
SCHEDULE
Friday, September 18, 7:30 – 9pm
Saturday, September 19, 10am – 12; 2 – 5pm
Sunday, September 20, 2 – 4pm
Registration is only available online. Visit the Ann Arbor programs page for the link to registration.
Webinar registration closes September 16.
$50 -‐ 75 sliding scale