Armidale Community Buddhist Centre

LAMA RIGZIN - ARMIDALE 14th - 16th December

Lama Rigzin was a Buddhist monk for 25 years from the age of 8 yrs old. He has been formally trained in Sakya monasteries in India and Nepal under many eminent teachers including HH Sakya Trizin.

He has been teaching and translating in Australia for the last 7 years and now lives with his wife, Ruth in Sydney, where he is highly valued and appreciated, by the Tibetan Community, and others as a spiritual guide. Lama Rigzin is a warm and accessible teacher.

Public talk - Becoming a Courageous Being

Rejoicing in the precious human life that one has and the opportunity for goodness.
Purifying unskilful habits. Holding a positive attitude. Being mindful.
Lama Rigzin will go through these topics step by step.

Friday - 14th December 2007 at Armidale Community Buddhist Centre
Start 7pm for 7.30pm
Suggested Donation: $5.00

Guarding Alertness

“Likewise it is not possible for me
To restrain the external course of things
But should I restrain this mind of mine
What would be the need to restrain all else”

Saturday - 15th December 2007 at Vajra Ling, Rocky River
9.30am - 4.00pm
Suggested Donation $50.00

This is a commentary based on the Fifth chapter from the classic Buddhist text, A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by Acharya Shantideva. We will be studying and contemplating this chapter which highlights the importance of guarding alertness to reach the desired state of Buddhahood to benefit each and every sentient being.

Lama Rigzin has been working steadily through this text each time he visits Armidale.

Vajrasattva Practice and Teachings

Vajrasattva is used for cleansing negative karma and purifying the mental continuum.

Sunday - 16th December 2007 at Vajra Ling, Rocky River
9.30am - 3.30pm
Suggested Donation $40.00

A requirement to do this practice is to have received the empowerment of Vajrasattva.

For more information contact Pedro 6771 3016 or email release@exemail.com.au

Lama Rigzin was a Buddhist monk for 25 years from the age of 8 yrs old. He has been formally trained in Sakya monasteries in India and Nepal under many eminent teachers including HH Sakya Trizin.

He has been teaching and translating in Australia for the last 7 years and now lives with his wife, Ruth in Sydney, where he is highly valued and appreciated, by the Tibetan Community, and others as a spiritual guide. Lama Rigzin is a warm and accessible teacher.

Public talk

Friday - 21st September 2007 at Armidale Community Buddhist Centre
Start 7pm for 7.30pm
Topic: Transformative Foundations for a Meaningful Life
Suggested Donation: $5.00

Mindfulness

Sunday - 23rd September 2007 at Vajraling, Rocky River
10am -4pm
Suggested Donation: $30.00

This is a commentary based on the Fourth chapter from the classic Buddhist text, A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life by Acharya Shantideva.
Lama Rigzin has been working steadily through this text each time he visits Armidale.

For more information contact Dianne Dianne.Thompson@dadhc.nsw.gov.au (02) 67726674
or Maxine maxineross1@bigpond.com.au (02) 67785038

Friday September 15th: Public Talk on ‘The Principles of Buddhism’
Time: 7.00pm - 9.00pm

Venue: CWA Hall, Rusden St (Next to Armidale Wholesale Fruit Market)

Suggested Donation: $5.00

Saturday September 16th: Teachings on the ‘Heart Sutra’ and the ‘Refuge Vows’
Time: 9.30am - 5pm

Venue: Vajra Ling, Rowbottoms Rd, Rocky River

Cost: $50.00 per day or $80.00 for both Saturday & Sunday

Bring a plate to share for lunch and a meditation cushion

September 17th: Four Armed Chenrezig Initiation
Time: 1pm - 5pm
Venue: Vajra Ling, Rowbottoms Rd, Rocky River

Cost: $50.00 per day or $80.00 for both Saturday & Sunday

Bring offering, meditation cushion, afternoon tea to share

Please note that spaces are limited for the teachings on Sat & Sun so bookings and a deposit are desirable

For further information and bookings please phone Dianne on (02) 6772 6674 or Jenny on 0421645103

About Geshe Dawa

Geshe Dawa has studied extensively in both Tibet and India since taking ordination at the age of nine. After leaving Tibet in 1959, Geshe-la, together with several hundred other monks, helped to establish a branch of Sera Monastery in south India. His academic accomplishments in Buddhist studies include the Acharya Degree from Varanasi University, which he completed in three years rather than the usual ten. He also holds a Lharampa Geshe Degree, the highest possible attainment in formal Buddhist philosophical studies, and a Tantric Geshe Degree.

Geshe-la has received many teachings and initiations from various Great Masters including his Holiness the Dalai Lama as well as his two tutors, Ling Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche. On the invitation of Lama Yeshe, Geshe Dawa moved to Melbourne to become the first resident Teacher at Tara House where he taught regularly for four years as well as twice yearly at Buddha House in Adelaide. Geshe-la then returned to India to teach at Sera Monastery. In 1991, having been requested by Lama Zopa Rinpoche many times, he took up the position of resident Teacher at Vajrayana Institute in Sydney where he taught for eight years.

Geshe Dawa is now semi-retired and lives in Bankstown. Geshe-la continues to give regular teachings and initiations to a devoted group of students.

Lama Rigzin trained as a Tibetan monk for almost 25 years under the guidance of many great Lamas. He speaks fluent English and is currently working as a translator in Sydney. Lama Rigzin has been teaching Buddhism in Australia for over five years.

His earthy lifestyle and happiness in sharing the precious and timely teachings of the Buddha makes his talks enjoyable and very pragmatic.

Friday 7^th July – Public Talk on “The Power of Forgiveness”

Learning to forgive is a profound spiritual practice. The grudges we hold poison our heart and keep us in a state of suffering, forgiveness is the road to peace.

“The weak can never forgive

Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong”

(Mahatma Gandhi)

Time: 7.00pm

Place: Armidale Community Buddhist Centre (next door to the Mandarin restaurant, white door, upstairs)

Cost: $5.00

There will be a light supper provided after the talk.

Saturday 8^th July – A Guide to the Bodhisattvas Way of Life, Chapt 3

On Saturday Lama Rigzin will be giving a commentary on the third chapter from Master Shantideva’s “A Guide to the Bodhisattvas Way of Life”. This chapter completes the preliminaries to generate Bodhimind, the altruistic aspiration to become a fully enlightened being in order to help others, then explains how to take Bodhisattva vows and what to do thereafter.

Time: 8.30am – 3.30pm

Place: Vajra Ling, Rocky River

Cost: $50.00 (includes morning tea, please bring own lunch or lunch to share)

For bookings and further information please call Dianne on 6772 6674 or Justine on 0429 729 466 or email justine.barratt@hotmail.com

Ngakpa Karma Lhundup Rinpoche was born in 1959 in upper Mustang in an area sacred to Guru Padmasambhava. Soon after his birth, Karma’s mother opened a sealed earthen jar of traditional “birth beer” and a blazing fire came out of the jar. This was understood to mean that the child could be a reincarnation of a powerful yogi. He is from the Nyingma school of Buddhism and is a master of Dzogchen and Chod.

Friday 23^rd June 2006
Public Talk on “Loving Kindness and Compassion”

When: 7.30pm
Where - ACBC, 211 Beardy St, Armidale (near Mandarin Restaurant, white door, up the stairs)
Cost: $5 donation

Saturday 24^th June – Dzogchen Teaching

Sunday 25^th June – Chod Practice

When: 10am – 5pm each day
Where: Vajra Ling, Rocky River
Cost: $80 for both days or $50 for one day

Bring lunch to share, morning and afternoon teas provided

**SPECIAL EVENT**

Pot Luck Dinner with Rinpoche.

Saturday Night at Vajra Ling

6 – 8pm, bring a plate to share

DZOGCHEN is the consummate practice of Tibetan Buddhism. It derives from the Maha Ati Tantra, and represents the nondual, or absolute/ultimate teaching of pure and total intrinsic awareness, innate wakefulness. Dzogchen is considered, in Tibet, an advanced and secret teaching. Today it is said by certain senior Tibetan lamas to be “a teaching for our time”, because it is direct, immediate, adaptable and profound: a naked awareness practice applicable to any circumstance or situation, and easily integrated into modern life.

CHOD: In the chöd practice we transform into the deity and cut our illusory body and offer it to all the enlightened and sentient beings. Offering our body in this way allows us to cut attachment to ego and cultivate generosity toward others. Through this practice we cut through our misunderstanding of our own real condition and reconnect to our own true nature. If one is practicing chod correctly, pride and arrogance lessen, attachment to compulsory attractions, worldliness, samsara and its eight worldly concerns decrease. As the eight worldly dharmas fall off, one is only thinking about dharma.

PLEASE BOOK IF YOU WISH TO COME TO RINPOCHE’S TEACHINGS.

Contact Ruth or Michael on 6772 1106 or Pedro 6771 3016 or Maxine 6778 5038 if you need directions to Vajra Ling or have any inquiries