enjoymeditation
The chanted prayers at Buddha Land Centre are a chance to help bring peace to this world though prayer and meditation.
Dedicated to world peace these chanted prayers are the perfect method to bring our meditation practice to life. By engaging in these prayers for the benefit of all we can pacify our inner obstacles, gather the necessary internal conditions for realizations and receive the inspiration of pure beings. In this way we can bring lasting peace to our troubled world.
Held 5 days a week – please consult puja timetable
(1 hour)
By engaging in the Guru Yoga practised in conjunction with Je Tsongkhapa we can purify negativity, accumulate merit, receive blessings, and attain a very special compassion, wisdom, and spiritual strength. By relying upon the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden we can overcome obstacles to our practice and create favourable conditions. These two practices are the very essence of Kadampa Buddhism. This puja includes a 15-minute silent meditation.
We use the prayer booklet, ‘Heart Jewel,’ for this puja. If you want to buy your own copy you can purchase it online; an electronic version of the booklet is available as well as the paper version – https://tharpa.com/uk/heart-jewel-booklet.html
Fridays at 7.30pm & Saturdays at 5pm
(1 hour)
Wishfulfilling Jewel is a slightly more extensive version of the Heart Jewel prayers, prayers to the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden.
On Fridays we engage in this practice with tsog offerings (offerings of food to enlightened beings; if you would like to make such an offering please bring vegetarian food) – a method for transforming our daily activities into a spiritual path.
We use the prayer booklet, ‘Wishfulfilling Jewel,’ for this puja. If you want to buy your own copy you can purchase it online; an electronic version of the booklet is available as well as the paper version – https://tharpa.com/uk/wishfulfilling-jewel-booklet-532.html
Held on the 10th and 25th of each month
(1 hour 35)
‘Offering to the Spiritual Guide’ puja is a special chanted prayer requesting our Spiritual Guide to increase our compassion, wisdom and spiritual power.
This practice includes a tsog offering. For tsog pujas, we gather together to pray and make special offerings. You are welcome to bring a vegetarian food offering if you wish.
We use the prayer booklet, ‘Offering to the Spiritual Guide,’ for this puja. If you want to buy your own copy you can purchase it online – https://tharpa.com/uk/offering-to-the-spiritual-guide-booklet.html
An electronic verson of the booklet is available as well as the paper version.
Held on 8th of each month
(50 minutes)
Tara is a female Buddha, a manifestation of the ultimate wisdom of all the Buddhas. Her name means “Rescuer” because she rescues us from all outer and inner fears. Ultimately she rescues us from all suffering and guides us to full enlightenment. Like a mother she protects us from all internal and external dangers; she provides us with all the necessary conditions for our spiritual training, and guides us and inspires us with her blessings as we progress along the spiritual path. These prayers include praises to the 21 manifestations of Tara.
We use the prayer booklet, ‘Liberation from Sorrow,’ for this puja. If you want to buy your own copy you can purchase it online – https://tharpa.com/uk/liberation-from-sorrow.html. An electronic verson of the booklet is available as well as the paper version. Also, the sadhana is included in ‘Modern Buddhism’ which is available as a free download.
Please see puja timetable for dates and times
(35 – 40 minutes)
Through practising transference of consciousness – known as ‘powa’ – with faith, compassion and concentration, we can transfer the consciousness of those recently deceased to a higher rebirth or to the Pure Land of a Buddha. The Powa Ceremony can be done either by a group of practitioners or individually on behalf of one or more deceased persons, or countless deceased beings. By engaging in this practice we also create a great collection of virtue, which will also lead us into the pathway to a Buddha’s Pure Land.
We use the prayer booklet, ‘Powa Ceremony,’ for this puja. If you want to buy your own copy you can purchase it online – https://tharpa.com/uk/powa-ceremony-booklet.html
An electronic verson of the booklet is available as well as the paper version.
Held on 15th of each month at 6.30am
(20 minutes)
The practice of taking and keeping the eight Mahayana precepts is a special practice of moral discipline that is performed with bodhichitta motivation – the supreme good heart.
The essence of the practice is to take eight precepts – promising to abstain for twenty-four hours from eight actions:
(1) killing,
(2) stealing,
(3) sexual activity,
(4) lying,
(5) taking intoxicants,
(6) eating after lunch,
(7) sitting on high or luxurious thrones or seats, and
(8) wearing ornaments, perfume, singing and dancing and so forth
– and to keep them purely for this period of time.
We use the prayer booklet, ‘A Pure Life,’ for this puja. If you want to buy your own copy you can purchase it online – https://tharpa.com/uk/a-pure-life-booklet.html
An electronic verson of the booklet is available as well as the paper version.
Held on 29th of each month
(3.5 hours)
This is a monthly practice of making offerings and requesting the Dharma Protector, Dorje Shugden, to remove obstacles and to gather all favourable conditions for our spiritual practice.
The long protector puja, ‘Melodious Drum,’ or ‘Kangso,’ includes a tsog offering. For tsog pujas, we gather together to pray and make special offerings. You are welcome to bring a vegetarian food offering if you wish.
The prayer booklet that we use for the practice can be bought online – https://tharpa.com/uk/melodious-drum-booklet.html. However, at present, there is no electronic version available for purchase.
Please see puja timetable for dates and times
(25 minutes)
Avalokiteshvara is an enlightened being who is a manifestation of all Buddhas’ compassion. By relying sincerely on Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, and reciting his mantra with strong faith, temporarily we will improve our realizations of all the stages of the path, especially our realization of great compassion, and ultimately we will attain supreme Buddhahood in Avalokiteshvara’s Pure Land.
We use the prayer booklet, ‘Avalokiteshvara Sadhana,’ for this puja. If you want to buy your own copy you can purchase it online – https://tharpa.com/uk/avalokiteshvara-sadhana-booklet.html
An electronic verson of the booklet is available as well as the paper version.
(1 hour – 1.5 hours)
Quick Path held on Wednesday each week at 7.30am (finishing just before 9am)
Blissful Path held on Thursday each week at 7.35am (finishing at 8.35am)
Dakini Yoga held on Friday each week at 8am (finishing just before 9am)
Blissful Path,
Dakini Yoga,
Quick Path to Great Bliss,
and Vajrayogini Self Initiation
are all practices associated with the female wisdom Buddha Vajrayogini.
In order to attend these practices, practitioners need first to have received, or have a strong intention to receive, Highest Yoga Tantra (HYT) empowerments.
If you have questions about these practices or would like information on receiving HYT empowerments, please ask.
To buy your own copy of the prayer booklet, please follow the appropriate link from the selection below:
https://tharpa.com/uk/quick-path-to-great-bliss-booklet.html
https://tharpa.com/uk/dakini-yoga-booklet.html
https://tharpa.com/uk/quick-path-to-great-bliss-booklet.html
https://tharpa.com/uk/feast-of-great-bliss-booklet.html
Tuesdays at 7.40am
(30 minutes)
In our previous lives, whilst under the influence of deluded minds, we created a great deal of negative karma, and we also transgressed our commitments and incurred root and secondary downfalls. As a result we now experience difficulties in developing faith and conviction in Dharma, and in making progress on the stages of the path to enlightenment. Since these transgressions and downfalls seriously obstruct our spiritual development, it is essential that we purify them.
One of the best methods for purifying downfalls is this one, ‘the Mahayana Sutra of the Three Superior Heaps,’ or ‘The Bodhisattva’s Confession of Moral Downfalls,’ in which we make physical and verbal prostrations to the 35 Confession Buddhas.
We use the prayer booklet, ‘The Bodhisattva’s Confession of Moral Downfalls,’ for this puja. If you want to buy your own copy you can purchase it online – https://tharpa.com/uk/the-bodhisattvas-confession-of-moral-downfalls.html
An electronic verson of the booklet is available as well as the paper version.
