New FPMT Pilot Program!

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​Exploring Buddhism:
Exploring Common Prayers & Practices

with Ven. Lozang Yönten and Don Handrick
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Saturday and Sunday, April 23/24, 2022
    9:00am – 10:00am PDT (Pacific Daylight Time)
    break
    10:15am – 11:30am PDT

Saturday and Sunday, May 7/8
    9:00am – 10:00am PDT
    break
    10:15am – 11:30am PDT

Wednesday, May 18
    6:30pm – 8:00pm PDT

Saturday and Sunday, May 21/22
    9:00am – 10:00am PDT
    break
    10:15am – 11:30am PDT

Wednesday, May 25
    6:30pm – 8:00pm PDT


We are using the Zoom video conferencing system for this course.  Please register below to receive your online access information.

In order to make progress on the spiritual path, we must support our practice of study, contemplation, and meditation with the practices of accumulation of merit and purification of negative karma. In this module of Exploring Buddhism, we will examine the need for prayers, dedications, as well as various other practices and pujas, and investigate how they are meant to affect the mind and bring about the realizations of the path to enlightenment. Teachings will be given on how to do the main prayers, practices, and pujas that are commonly performed by FPMT students on their own and also conducted in our centers.

Please note that, while this module does contain general instruction on some tantric pujas, students are not expected to have received a highest yoga tantra initiation, nor will they be taught the meaning of the pujas in terms of tantric practice.

If you combine listening to, reflecting on, and meditating on
The essence of the teachings of Victorious Lozang Dragpa into one,
Supported by effort in collecting merits and in purification,
Buddhahood will be at your fingertips.

– Gungthang Jampai Yang

Previous study of at least some modules of Discovering Buddhism, either in a center or online is highly recommended before enrolling in this program.

New students are welcome.  You do not have to have attended previous modules.

Exploring Buddhism is a new program currently being developed by FPMT to serve as a bridge between Discovering Buddhism and The Basic Program. It is designed to help students of Buddhism delve more deeply into a broad array of topics that form a solid foundation for furthering one’s study and practice.  The program will initially be run as a pilot program in FPMT centers to further test and refine the curriculum.  

Syllabus
Purpose: To show students how they can make progress on the path by supporting their practice of study, contemplation, and meditation with the practices of accumulation of merit and purification of negative karma. This module covers these subjects:

1. Common Prayers
To teach students how and why to do various kinds of prayers, including the following:
  • Taking refuge and generating bodhichitta
  • The four immeasurables
  • The seven-limb practice
  • The mandala offering
  • Requesting prayers
  • Common dedication prayers
  • Food offering prayers.

2. Common Sutra Practices
To teach students how and why to do various kinds of sutra practices, including the following:
  • The Method for Transforming a Suffering Life into Happiness (Including Enlightenment), with particular emphasis on how to do the practice of Blessing the Speech
  • Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga
  • King of Prayers
  • Concise Medicine Buddha Puja
  • Light Offering Practice

3. Common Tantra Practices
To teach students how and why to do various kinds of tantra practices, including the following:
  • Lama Chopa
  • Four Mandala Offering Puja to Tara

Please note that, while this module does contain general instruction on the above tantric pujas, students are not expected to have received a highest yoga tantra initiation, nor will they be taught the meaning of the pujas in terms of tantric practice.

Materials List

Please obtain these materials prior to the beginning of the module as it would be helpful if you could review the various practices mentioned below to see where you might have any questions.

General Prayers
  • FPMT Essential Prayer Book
    https://shop.fpmt.org/FPMT-Essential-Prayer-Book-PDF-_p_1365.html
    PLEASE NOTE: Although a number of earlier editions of this prayer book have been released, we will be using the 2021 edition since it contains several practices that will be taught in the module, including The Method to Transform a Suffering Life Into Happiness (Including Enlightenment), Blessing the Speech, Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, and King of Prayers.

Practice Texts

Ven. Lozang Yönten is an American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun in the Gelug Tibetan tradition who was ordained in 2003. Her (merely labeled) pronouns are she/her and she is a fully ordained Bhikshuni/Gelongma in the Dharmaguptaka tradition.

Buddhist since her teenage years, Ven. Yönten moved to Chenrezig Institute in QLD, Australia when she was 19 and studied intensively under Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Tashi Tsering (Lharampa Geshe from Sera Je Monastery and former Abbot of Gyü-me Tantric College) for seven years, completing their Buddhist Studies Program (including FPMT’s Basic Program as well as other advanced topics) and retreats.

​She then continued to study, retreat and offer service at Dharma Centers in India and Taiwan as well as Australia and New Zealand, becoming an In-Depth Registered Teacher within the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) in 2012.

Ven. Yönten was then the Resident Teacher of Kunsang Yeshe Retreat Centre in the Blue Mountains of NSW, Australia from 2012 – 2015 and then at Mahamudra Centre for Universal Unity in New Zealand until 2018. She continues to offer classes and retreats at both Centres annually (unless there is a global pandemic).

Ven. Yönten also offers Buddhist classes 4–5 months a year in Israel. With FPMT’s Shantideva Study Group and also, from a secular perspective, for a seven-year postgraduate program called Human Spirit which is a Buddhist Psychoanalytic Training Program.


​Don Handrick is a touring teacher for the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), sharing the Dharma with centers and study groups in North America and other parts of the world, both in-person and online.

Don's study of Buddhism began in 1993 after reading The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. Over the next two years he practiced with Sogyal Rinpoche's organization, until he began attending classes in 1996 with Venerable Robina Courtin at Tse Chen Ling in San Francisco.

Don left the Bay Area in 1998 to attend the FPMT's Masters Program of Buddhist Studies in Sutra and Tantra, a seven-year residential study program conducted at Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Tuscany, Italy, taught by the scholar and kind Spiritual Friend, Geshe Jampa Gyatso. He successfully completed all five subjects of this program in 2004, receiving an FPMT final certificate with high honors.


​Buddhism in a Nutshell 
& Meditation 101

​ 
Every Other Sunday 
​11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
In Person  

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Buddhism in a Nutshell and Meditation 101 are introductory courses that provides an overview of Tibetan Buddhist concepts and meditation. It is also suitable for people who have heard or read some Buddhist teachings but would like a more structured approach to understanding the path to enlightenment as taught by the Buddha.
​ It begins with an introduction to the life of Shakyamuni Buddha and then discusses the Buddha’s first teaching on The Four Noble Truths: the truths of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to the cessation of suffering. This teaching is common to all Buddhist traditions and forms the cornerstone for all the other teachings given by the Buddha.

It also provides an overview of Tibetan Buddhism based on the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment—renunciation, bodhichitta, and the right view of emptiness—as taught in the stages of the path teachings and based on the short text 'Foundation of All Good Qualities' by, Lama Tsong Khapa.  The course also provides the foundations of meditation practice and five guided meditations suitable for beginners.
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(Please register below if you are going to attend in person.)

Check calendar ​​​​
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Led by Trey Ligon
Center Director 
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New Discussion Group 
​Beginning Saturday, January 8, 2022 - 11am (online)

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An Open-Hearted Life: Transformative Methods for Compassionate Living from a Clinical Psychologist and a Buddhist Nun
Russell Kolts and Ven. Thubten Chodron
 
A life overflowing with compassion. It sounds wonderful in theory, but how do you do it? This guide provides practical methods to living with this wonderful quality, based on traditional Buddhist teachings and on methods from modern psychology--particularly a technique called Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT). The methods presented by the two authors--a psychotherapist and a Tibetan Buddhist nun--turn out to have a good deal in common. In fact, they complement each other in wonderful ways. Each of the 64 short chapters ends with a reflection or exercise for putting compassion into practice in various life situations.
 
We’d like to invite you to live one year with an open heart by putting the reflections at the end of each chapter into practice each day and getting together with this discussion group bi-weekly to share your experiences with living an open-hearted life. 

Guided Meditation Group

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Every Wednesday & Friday 
1:00 PM - 1:45 PM
(Online) 

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​Meditation is an effective, yet simple, way of dealing with many stresses in life. There is a growing body of scientific evidence of meditation being highly effective at reducing physical and mental stress.

Every week we focus on one topic on the Lam Rim using excellent meditations from Kathleen McDonalds' "How to Meditate" that are suitable for anyone interested in exploring and incorporating the benefits of meditation into their daily lives, regardless of whether you are a Buddhist practitioner or not. 


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​Led by Cyndy
Check calendar ​​​​


​Tonglen Meditation Practice Group

Every Monday 6:30-7:30

Hybrid (in Person & Online) 
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​The practice of Tonglen, taking and giving, encapsulates the practices of loving-kindness and compassion. Atisha wrote: “Because of the negative result of the faults of attachment and confusion, habituate the mind to exchanging self and other.” By engaging in this meditation practice we learn to think more about giving to others and less about our own selfish desires.

Join us for this amazing meditation practice and reap the benefits of learning how to generate loving kindness and compassion in your life.

​Led by Mary Powers 

(Please register below if you are going to attend in person.)
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Medicine Buddha Study Group  


​​Every other Saturday 
11:00 am-12:00 pm
Hybrid (Online)

This study group will explore the benefits of meditating on the Medicine Buddha.

​The first half of the hour will be spent reading and discussing Lama Zopa Rinpoche's masterful book, Ultimate Healing: The Power of Compassion. In the second half of the hour, we will engage in the Medicine Buddha Meditation.  

(Please register below if you are going to attend in person.)
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Led by Cyndy
Check calendar ​​​​​

​Dharmakaya Buddhist Center Membership

We want to make supporting our center simple. We are launching a new, single level of membership — $50 per month. This simplified structure provides members with access to all of Dharmakaya Buddhist Center's  programming. Consider joining now! All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

We want to be generous with our membership so everything is included with a minimum $50 per month membership: all classes, meditations, weekend retreats, Saturday workshops – everything! There is great merit in supporting the Dharma … please consider how you can help.

Whatever level you choose, every dollar is critical to the support of our teachers, our programs, our center, and our ability to grow and flourish in Northern Nevada. We are a 100% volunteer-run organization, so your offerings will be well utilized.  

As always, Dharmakaya Buddhist Center offers access to all programs for free to anyone who cannot afford to pay.

Calendar of Events

    Keep up to date on upcoming teachings and events and join our email.

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​Dharmakaya Center

6490 South McCarran Blvd. Building D2- Suite 41
Reno, Nevada 89519
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                           Affiliated with the 
Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition
More Information