Columbus Karma Thegsum Choling – Buddhist Meditation Center in Columbus, OH

Plans for the 2012 Columbus KTC calendar are well underway.  There will be several lama visits this year including a live web broadcast of Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche along with several practice retreats, community events and celebrations.  The schedule may change and evolve over time, so please check our website, www.columbusktc.org to confirm specific events.

January

1/1 First Light Ceremony/breakfast/Lama Kathy teaching
1/8 Board Retreat
1/14 1/16 Ultimate Bodhicitta weekend teaching presented by Lama Kathy
1/28 Refuge Workshop presented by Cathy Lhamo

February

2/4 Medicine Buddha Sadhanna make up class
2/10 Talk for Medicine Buddha Retreat
2/11 Medicine Buddha Retreat
2/12 Sangha Meeting and Board Elections
2/22 Losar Sacred Day Retreat
2/25 – 2/29 Hay River KTC Nynunge
2/26 Losar Celebration

March

3/8 Chotrul Dutchen Sacred  Day
3/11 Chotrul Dutchen Celebration
3/16 – 3/18  “ Loving Kindness and Compassion as the Path to Buddha Nature”  Live Broadcast presented by Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche
3/18 – Volunteer Appreciation Event

April

4/1 Family Dharma Talk and Potluck
4/20 – 4/22 King of Aspiration Prayers, Part 2 presented by Khenpo Ugyen

May

5/12 Columbus KTC Mani Retreat
5/25 – 5/27 Athens KTC Spring Retreat with Lama Kathy

June

5/12 Columbus KTC Mani Retreat
5/25 – 5/27 Athens KTC Spring Retreat with Lama Kathy

July

7/8 HH Dalai Lama’s birthday celebration
7/20 – 7/22 Art of Living workshop with Lama David Bole
7/22 Chokhor Duchen Celebration
7/23 Chokhor Duchen Sacred Day Retreat

August

September

9/1 Launch annual membership drive
9/21 – 9/23 Weekend teaching presented by Lama Karma Drodhul

October

10/12 – 10/14 Fall Retreat at Glen Helen

November

11/4 Lhabab Duchen Sunday Celebration
11/3 Lhabab Duchen Sacred Day Retreat
11/9 11/11 CKTC Nyungne with Lama Tsultrim Yeshe
Thank You for Giving Membership

December

12/25 Christmas program

Mark your calendars for Sunday, February 12th at 1 p.m. On this day, you are invited to the winter Sangha Meeting and board elections. During the Sangha Meeting, we’ll review key accomplishments in 2011 and highlight upcoming events and activities for 2012.  During the meeting, there will be plenty of opportunity for Q&A and discussion. At the end of the meeting, Full Members of Columbus KTC will vote for the Assistant Director, Treasurer and Member-at-Large board positions.

Here is a brief description of the qualifications for serving on the board, the nomination process and key responsibilities for each board position. If you have further questions, please contact Kim Miracle at director@columbusktc.org or other board members (current or past).

Qualifications for Board Positions:

According to KTC Bylaws, all board officers must be Full Members of a KTC.

Nomination process:
You may nominate yourself or another person for a board position; however, if you are nominating another person, make sure you have spoken to this person and they have agreed to throw their hat in the ring. Please send nominations to Rich Butchko at butchko1@columbus.rr.com.

Description of Board Positions and Length of Terms:

Assistant Director, (2 year position): The Assistant Director assists the Director, and may be independently responsible for the tasks delegated by the Executive Committee or the Director, and assumes the Director’s duties when the Director is absent. The Director and Assistant Director should consult regularly about the activities of the Center.

Treasurer, (2 year position): The treasurer is responsible for handling receipts and disbursements, keeping financial records and making financial reports in accordance with good financial practice, any requirements established by KTD, and any requirements for corporations as established by statute or regulation.

Member at Large, (1 year position): The Member-at-Large serves as liaison between the membership and the Board. Issues or complaints brought to the Member-at-Large will be brought to the board for resolution.

It’s been said by our teachers that working for a dharma center is as meritorious as dharma practice since serving the sangha enables our center to offer the teachings of the Buddha to everyone who enters our doors. May all beings benefit from the work of our KTC volunteers!

by Kim Miracle

With the blessing of Khenpo Karthar Rinoche, Columbus KTC was given permission to perform the Body, Speech, Mind ceremony for Lama Kathy. It was Lama Kathy’s first! The ceremony was conducted at the end of Lama Kathy’s weekend teaching on “Ultimate Bodhicitta.”

The ceremony consists of the entire sangha (community) chanting the Body, Speech, Mind text. It includes the following prayers: Refuge, the 4 Immeasureables, Seven Branch Prayer, Mandala, and then verses for making offerings of body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities. Names were chosen at random and six students, representing the sangha, each holding a precious substances, walked down the aisle to offer them to Lama Kathy. First Jay assisted with offering the Mandala, then Jake offered the Amitayus Buddha of Long Life (body), Marcus offered the White Tara Sadhana (speech), Bethany offered a Stupa (mind), Lorna offered a Precious Vase (qualities), and Pam offered the Double Dorje (activities). The ceremony’s purpose is to make symbolic offerings to one’s teacher and to aspire for their long life, for their dharma teachings become more powerful, for their mind to be stable, for qualities to increase and for activities to be stable. The students making these offerings accumulate merit for praying for the well wishes and gratitude to their teacher.

Thank you everyone. It was inspiring.

 by Cathy Lhamo Jackson

During the weekend of January 13^th,  Lama Kathy Wesley presented a teaching on “Ultimate Bodhicitta”.  Lama Kathy delivered five inspiring talks defining ultimate and relative bodhicitta and how to practice both. During each session, she left plenty of time for some extremely beneficial Q & A.  The teaching topic complemented the material we are reading in the current book study group. The book we are studying is “Vivid Awareness” written by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. The book also explores the topics of ultimate and relative bodhicitta.

As both Saturday and Sunday’s morning sessions were nearing their end, attendees were tempted by the sweet smells of the Sangha Cafe, where fellow sangha members were cheerfully preparing a delicious, affordable meal to be shared in the community room.  Lining one long table, our Columbus KTC family enjoyed the opportunity to break bread together, share stories, and make new friends.

Other highlights of the weekend included Saturday’s offering of Refuge Vows and Lay Precepts, and Sunday’s Bodhisattva Vow ceremony.  Per Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche’s suggestion, the weekend concluded with the Ku Sung Tuk, or Body, Speech, Mind offering presented by members of our Sangha, for the first time to Lama Kathy Wesley with aspirations for her long life and increased activity of teaching the dharma.

Many thanks to all the wonderful volunteers that helped to organize this remarkable teaching weekend. And a special thanks to Lama Kathy for presenting this inspiring teaching and wisdom!

By Adam Berner and Shruti Patel

During the weekend of  March 16^th, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche will present a teaching seminar on “Loving Kindness and Compassion as the Path to Buddha Nature.”  Loving kindness is the wish that all sentient beings experience happiness and the causes of happiness; compassion is the wish that suffering and the causes of suffering are alleviated. During this teaching, Rinpoche will discuss how cultivating these qualities allows us to realize our inherent Buddha nature.  Lama Yeshe Gymastso will translate.

Rinpoche will deliver the weekend teachings the  from our home monastery, Karma Triyana Dharmachakra, KTD.  Simultaneously, the presentations will be broadcasted to KTC’s around the country. At Columbus KTC, we will host the live web telecast  with Rinpoche in our main shrine room. After each teaching session, our resident teacher, Lama Kathy Wesley, will be at Columbus KTC and available to answer any questions from our local Sangha.

Here is the schedule of events:

Friday:
7:00 p.m. Teaching

Saturday:
10:00 a.m. Meditation
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Teaching
3:00 p.m. Meditation
3:30-5:00 p.m. Teaching

Sunday:
10:00 a.m. Meditation
10:30 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. Teaching
2:00 p.m. Meditation
2:30-4:00 p.m. Teaching

On Saturday and Sunday, our Sangha Café will be serving a light vegetarian lunch in our community room downstairs.  The cost for the lunch is $5/per person.

Information on how to register for this event will be available soon.

By Kim Miracle

Many people at Columbus KTC enjoy participating in KTC book study groups.  The current book study is special in a few ways.  This time, the book study is being led by Lama Kathy, who is teaching on Vivid Awareness, written by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche. This book presents the  precious teachings given by Khenpo Gangshar.  Each time we meet, Lama Kathy summarizes the key teachings from the book assignment and then leads a group discussion.

Last September, many of us had the good fortune to hear Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche present Khenpo Gangshar’s teachings. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and the author Kenchen Thrangu Rinpoche received these teachings from Khenpo Gangshar himself.  In 1958, armies invaded Kham in eastern Tibet, destroying monasteries and imprisoning monastics.  “…Khenpo Gangshar foresaw the difficulties that would soon fall upon Tibet and began teaching in a startling new way that enabled all those who heard him to use the coming difficulties as the path of Dharma Practice” (Vivid Awareness, back cover).

In Vivid Awareness, Thrangu Rinpoche tells us that Khenpo Gangshar’s teachings on Naturally Liberating Everything You Meet are called “mind instructions” because they do not involve analyzing external appearances, but rather, “look directly at the nature of our internal mind itself.  Mind instructions…are easy to practice and fit into any lifestyle” (p. 23).

Lama Kathy will guide us through this profound book during the remaining four Monday book study sessions.  We are meeting at KTC for these sessions but if you are unable to make it to the center, you can still join on the CKTC Book Study UStream channel (as long as technology cooperates!).  A donation of $5 per session, totaling $20 for the remaining sessions, is suggested; donations will cover security at the center for the evening sessions.

Find the UStream link and meeting information below, along with reading assignments for each book study session.  While sections of the book are assigned to each session, please feel free to come regardless of whether you have read them or even have the book–simply come and enjoy hearing Lama Kathy speak on these profound teachings!

Sessions are held at:

Columbus KTC,  231 S. Grubb St.  Columbus, OH 43215

Mondays, 7 – 9pm (dates below)

Live stream at:  http://www.ustream.tv/channel/maha-cam-test-3

by Adam Berner and Shruti Patel

Animals have the following order:

Elements have the following order:

2012 is the year of the Water Dragon.

On Wednesday, February 22^nd,  we’ll be organizing a sacred holiday retreat at Columbus KTC in honor of Losar.   The retreat will include special prayers, the lighting of 108 candles and an opportunity for open practice.  More details to follow soon.

On Sunday, February 26^th, we’ll celebrate Losar with our Sangha.   See list of planned activities below. Please note, with this celebration, there will be several changes to our Sunday schedule.

6:45 a.m. Offering 108 Lamps for World Peace

7 a.m. Green Tara sadhana

9 a.m. Medicine Buddha sadhana

10 a.m. Welcoming remarks and recognition of outgoing officers and swearing in of new officers.

10:15 a.m. Recitation of the 12 Deeds of Shakyamuni

10:30 a.m. Assembly makes offering of katas (silk scarves) to His Holiness’ throne and small gifts.

Afterward, light refreshments will be served.

We hope you can join us for both of these events!

by Kim Miracle

 Public Talk - February 10^th (Friday)

7:00 pm to 8:30 pm

Topic: Introduction to Medicine Buddha

Columbus KTC Shrine Room

Everyone Invited        Free

Day Retreat - February 11^th (Saturday)

9:00 am to 5:00 pm

Columbus KTC Shrine Room

Lunch break from 12pm-2pm

The practice of Medicine Buddha is done for the alleviation of suffering of body, speech, and mind of all sentient beings, including oneself.  Due to the vast aspirations made by Medicine Buddha, all are invited to attend. The retreat will be a group practice chanting prayers from the Medicine Buddha Sadhana, playing music, performing mudras and chanting mantras. Because of this being an all day retreat, we will have time to accumulate many mantras for the benefit of all.

The day will be broken up into four sessions: 9am-10:20pm; 10:40am to 12pm; 2pm-3:20pm and 3:40 to 5pm. You may join in or leave at anytime.

Lunch: vegetarian carryout from Tai Asian Bistro. Orders taken Saturday morning.

Fee: we are asking for $10 to cover the cost of heat and electric. If you are unable to pay, please come anyway. You presence is important for the retreat.

What to bring:  If you have a Medicine Buddha Sadhana, a Mala (prayer beads), Bell and Dorje, or Damaru, please bring. Sadhanas and musical instruments will also be provided for use.

Please also bring a blanket or shawl to stay warm and reuseable hot or cold water bottle.

Registration or Questions: please contact Cathy Lhamo Jackson at cathylhamo108@gmail.com.

Feb 10: Public talk from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. During this public talk Cathy Lhamo will provide an introduction to Medicine Buddha Sadhana practice. All are invited.

Feb 11: Medicine Buddha Retreat from 9 am to 5 pm. The retreat will be a group practice chanting prayers from the Medicine Buddha Sadhana, playing music, performing mudras and chanting mantras. All are invited to participate in some or all of the retreat.

Click here for details about each event.