Highlight - Puja, meditation and practice

Thursdays: 19:00- 20.30
with Ven Mary, Bob Smith or Bob Charlton

Most sessions will concentrate on the powerful Medicine Buddha Puja.

“Puja also means gathering. We gather together offerings and we gather
together practitioners in unison, to do the practice. We make an all-out effort to concentrate on the same space that stretches before our minds.
Understandably, individuals in group practice experience much stronger
inspirations than one can possibly feel while doing it all by oneself. In general, it has to be much better than just doing puja alone in our own rooms. “ : Lama Yeshe .

Everyone is welcome, Pujas are a community event. They are
energising and highly beneficial, so please come along.

Tsog and Lama Choepa (Guru Puja)

Twice a month, based on the lunar calendar, we do the Lama Chopa tsog.
Lama means Guru; Chopa means offering; and tsog means gathering or
party. The dates are published in the Jamyang programme. It starts at 7.00 in
the evening and lasts for under an hour and a half. We can each bring an
offering of some flowers or good quality food or non-alcoholic drink, which is
placed on the shrine. The food is distributed amongst the participants during
the ceremony, and can be eaten then, and/or taken home afterwards.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche describes it as a ceremony of prayer, chanting, music,
meditation and a ritual feast, directly appealing to our senses and emotions.
Lama Chopa provides an opportunity for those practising tantra to restore
and reaffirm their vows and pledges. But everyone is welcome to attend this
ceremony of making extensive offerings, actual and imagined, to the
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and particularly the Lama, and of accumulating
the positive energy needed to progress along the spiritual path.

The Lama Chopa text was composed by the first Panchen Lama, Losang
Chokyi Gyaltsen (1570-1662). It is said to bring together all the essential
practices of Lam Rim (stages of the path), Lojong (mind training) and Highest Yoga Tantra. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, according to Geshe Tashi, describes Lama Chopa as one of the main Highest Yoga Tantra practices, but traditionally as a group practice, it can be practised by anyone.