Compassion in Action—Taking and Giving

Introduction to Tantra

Medicine Buddha Empowerment this February

Meaningful Gift Ideas for Christmas

A Buddhist Guide to Universal Love

Christmas Party at the Centre

Beyond the Breathing Meditation

Schedule of Pujas October-December 2018

Giving Up the Illusion of Immortality

Centre Cherishing Day

Centre Cherishing Day (CCD) is a time-old tradition in Kadampa Centers around the world which is held once a month. On this day members of the centre are given the opportunity to do volunteer work to benefit people coming to the classes or attending the pujas. No skill or experience is necessary as there are variety of work to be done such as cleaning the center’s office, meditation area, library, etc.; organising center’s supplies, decoration items, furniture; washing offering bowls. Volunteers don’t need to come for the entire duration of the cleaning. For those who are not in a position to do manual work, they can bring refreshments.

CCD is also a good time to meet the other members of the centre outside of the classes and pujas.

MKBC will now start its own CCD starting on October 21, Sunday from 2 to 4pm. Refreshments are provided. Everybody welcome.

Buddhism 101

Attached is the latest series of classes on Buddhism, Buddhism 101,  to be conducted on the first 3 Mondays of November this year. This is to give people a chance to deepen their understanding of the basic teachings of Buddha. The teachings will be based on the book Modern Buddhism by Venerable Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche. Everyone is welcome. 

This is not a free drop-in class. Prior registration is required and enrolment fee is P500.00 for the entire series.   Enroll here.

Staying Positive in the midst of Negativities

Schedule of Pujas for October & November

Recipe for a Meaningful Life

Harnessing the Power of Your Mind

Staying Positive in the Midst of Negativities

Learn to Meditate

August 19 Teaching and Meditation

What is Emptiness?

How's Your Meditation Going?

May Teachings and Meditations

A Beginner’s Guide to Buddhism

 This series of classes is intended for those who wish to learn more about Buddhism and gain a deeper understanding of it. This Sunday, April 22, the topic is Samsara and Nirvana.

Benefiting Others

“Just as the only way to solve our own problems is to find inner peace, so the only way to help others to solve theirs is to encourage them to engage in spiritual practice and discover their own inner peace. This way of benefiting others is by far the best. If through training our mind we succeed in pacifying – or even completely eliminating – our own anger, for example, we can certainly help others to control theirs. Then our advice will not be mere words, but will have behind it the power of personal experience.”

Excerpt From: Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. “How to Transform Your Life.” iBooks.

Blessing Empowerment of Buddha Shakyamuni and Commentary to the Liberating Prayer with Gen Kelsang Tonglam

Blessing Empowerment of Buddha Shakyamuni and Commentary to the Liberating Prayer with Gen Kelsang Tonglam

We are pleased to announce that for the first time in the history of Manila Kadampa Buddhist Centre, it will hold its first empowerment in the Philippines. The Blessing Empowerment of Buddha Shakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, will be held on April 7, 2018 which is also the founding day of the New Kadampa Tradition.

Buddha Shakyamuni is the founder of Buddhism. For thousands of years Buddha’s teachings have touched the hearts of many transforming their life into one of great meaning and benefit. 

On April 6-8, we have the opportunity to receive the blessing empowerment of Buddha Shakyamuni which is a beautiful guided meditation that helps us to make a special connection with Buddha and receive his powerful blessings so that we can experience supreme inner peace. 

After the empowerment, Gen Tonglam will give a commentary to the Liberating Prayer – Praise to Buddha Shakyamuni, through which we will understand how Buddha’s love for all beings without exception can protect us from our inner problems such as anger, and is the source of all happiness. By relying upon this supreme unchanging friend, our life will become a truly blissful and meaningful journey.

Please see details in the attached e-poster. Booking is now open. Visit our website at www.meditationmanila.org. Rooms are limited so please book as early as possible.

Why We Get Angry

Love, Attachment & Desire

Delusion of Attachment

“Our problems do not exist outside our mind. The real nature of our problems is our unpleasant feelings, which are part of our mind. When our car, for example, has a problem we often say, “I have a problem,” but in reality it is not our problem but the car’s problem. Our problems develop only when we experience unpleasant feelings. The car’s problems exist outside the mind, whereas our problems are inside our mind. By differentiating between animate and inanimate problems like this, we can understand that the real nature of our problems is our own feelings, which are part of our mind.

All our problems—our unpleasant feelings—come from our delusions of attachment and self-grasping ignorance, therefore these delusions are the main causes of our problems. We have strong attachment to the fulfillment of our own wishes and for this aim we work very hard throughout our life, experiencing many difficulties and problems. When our wishes are not fulfilled we experience unhappiness and depression, which often causes us to become angry, creating more problems for both ourself and others. When we lose our friends, job, status or reputation and so forth, we experience pain and many difficulties. This is because of our strong attachment to these things. If we did not have such attachment, there would be no basis for experiencing suffering and problems at their loss.”

Excerpt From: Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. “How to Solve Our Human Problems.” iBooks.

We Need to Change Our Mind

“Throughout history human beings have sought to improve their external situation, yet despite all our efforts we are no happier. It is true that from the point of view of material development many countries are making progress. Technology is becoming more and more sophisticated, and worldly knowledge has increased dramatically. We know so many things we did not know before and can do things we never even dreamt of. Superficially it looks as if our world is improving, but if we look a little more deeply we shall see that there are now many problems that never existed before. Terrifying weapons have been invented, our environment is being poisoned, and new diseases are appearing. Even simple pleasures like eating or lying in the sun are becoming more dangerous.

The result of an unbridled pursuit of happiness from external sources is that our planet is being destroyed and our lives are becoming more complicated and dissatisfying. It is time we sought happiness from a different source. Happiness is a state of mind, so the real source of happiness must lie within the mind, not in external conditions. “If our mind is pure and peaceful we shall be happy, regardless of our external circumstances, but if it is impure and unpeaceful we can never be truly happy, no matter how hard we try to change our external conditions. We could change our home or our partner countless times, but until we change our restless, discontented mind we shall never find true happiness.

If we have to walk across rough and thorny ground, one way of protecting our feet is to cover the whole ground with leather, but this is not very practical. We can achieve the same result in a much simpler way – by covering our feet. Similarly, if we wish to protect ourself from suffering we can either try to change the whole world to make it conform to our wishes, or we can change our mind. Until now we have been trying to change the world, but this clearly has not worked. Now we need to change our mind.”

Excerpt From: Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. “Eight Steps to Happiness.” iBooks.

Meditations for Relaxation

Meditations for Kind Heart

Transforming Our Mind

“When things go wrong in our life and we encounter difficult situations, we tend to regard the situation itself as our problem, but in reality whatever problems we experience come from the side of the mind. If we were to respond to difficult situations with a positive or peaceful mind they would not be problems for us; indeed, we may even come to regard them as challenges or opportunities for growth and development. Problems arise only if we respond to difficulties with a negative state of mind. Therefore, if we want to be free from problems, we must transform our mind.”

Excerpt From: Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. “Modern Buddhism 1: Sutra.” iBooks. 

Modern Buddhism