News & Upcoming Events
Dear Friends,
We are delighted to announce that we will reopen Monday 29th June, albeit in a limited capacity, in line with the current recommendations. We have made some adjustments to our schedule and access to the Centre and ask that you are patient with us as we navigate the new way of doing things.
- The Centre will reopen Monday 29th June for Meditation at 6.30pm, and will be open Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesday evenings, and Saturday mornings. As we can only accomodate 8 people in the Shrine, please register your attendance in advance by calling 01 4537427, if we reach capacity we will have to turn you away! – see our Regular Programme page for exact details of schedule.
- The Centre will only be open for practice – our Shop and Library will remain closed for now (if you need something from the shop, incense etc please let us know and we will organise it for you – if we have it!) and we are unable to facilitate ‘tea and chat’ for now, so please arrive in time for the practice and leave promptly afterwards. This is to protect our volunteers and community.
- Please use the hand sanitiser we have provided on arrival, and avoid bringing large bags to the Centre
- We request that you wear a face covering in the Shrine Room – chanting/singing are considered ‘at risk’ activities! This is to protect our volunteers and community
- The Shrine Room will have clearly-designated, socially-distanced places for seating – please sit only in these locations
- Please cooperate with our facilitators and provide your name and contact details on the days you attend – this is to facilitate contact tracing should it be necessary – details will only be used for this purpose.
- If you are in any way unwell – temperature, cough or other symptoms – please stay away until you have recovered. And while you are in the Centre please be kind and observe good health etiquette for the safety of others.
If you are not ready to come back to the Centre just yet you can still continue to participate online with our virtual Sangha – all sessions are broadcast via our Facebook page @buddhismdublin.
Looking forward to seeing you all very soon…in a socially distanced fashion!
His Holiness Karmapa recently addressed the ongoing Pandemic, please see the transcript of his talk. And beginning on Saturday 18th April, His Holiness will lead a week-long prayer vigil to for the Pandemic to subside, please see our Events page for details of the daily prayers, links to platform to participate and also to download the prayer e-book.
Dear Friends, we would like to share with you the transcript of the Karmapa’s address of 14th April 2020 on the Coronavirus pandemic….and beginning tomorrow Saturday 18th at 3pm Irish time, a week-long prayer vigil led by His Holiness…details to follow….
I would like to wish everyone Tashi Delek.
At this time when, as you all know, the coronavirus pandemic has spread throughout the world, creating an inconceivable crisis, I have been staying in retreat, keeping some distance from society. But I am unable to bear the feeling, and would like to say a few words today.
From the time this epidemic began to spread, it has severely impacted the daily lives and health of everyone on the entire earth. We worry anxiously about what will happen in the future.
The Bhagavan Buddha said that everything composite is impermanent. No matter what situation we face in our lives, it always changes, not staying still for even an instant. We are able to deal with a great deal of change, but merely knowing that is no substitute. When sometimes there are changes in a direction that we want or when positive changes exceed our expectations, we have the hope that there will even more or greater changes. But when it is the opposite and there are incomprehensible changes for the bad, we get afraid and do not know what we should do.
So when we are confronted by such great impermanence as now, we must do what we can not to panic and instead look inside ourselves. For example, many things we ordinarily take for granted are actually incredibly precious. We should relax and think about our normal good health and what a great happiness it is to have people who are dear to us. Then we can use this crisis to improve ourselves and learn something new. I think that trying to do this will be very beneficial.
This present pandemic does not discriminate between male and female, between races and nationalities, between those with wealth and power and those without. Even developed countries such as America, Spain, Italy, and the UK face great difficulties. Many developing and poor countries will face even greater hardships. Even if a country has only one coronavirus patient, the danger to the entire world is such that it is crucially important all of us on the earth must work together to face and overcome this crisis.
Every day, the number of the sick increases. When we see the number of deaths increasing past the hundreds and thousands, we can be left numb. In actuality, each one of them is a living, breathing person. In particular, doctors and medical professionals are caring for the sick and making great sacrifices to fight this battle. It is very important that we all express our appreciation, support, and praise for them.
Thus to show how we Buddhists support everyone during this current epidemic, starting from next Saturday, we have an hour-long prayer session on the internet every day for a week. We can all pray together for world peace and for the epidemic to be quelled. The time will be announced later. So I would like to ask everyone to pray together for everyone in the world to be happy and for this pandemic to quickly pass.
IMPORTANT NEWS RE CORONAVIRUS COVID 19!!!!
It with great regret and sadness we announce that for the first time ever, we have decided to close the Centre for the protection of the Samye Dzong Community and all who attend, due to the current situation. The Centre will be closed from Monday 16th March,we will monitor the guidance from the HSE and government to know when we can safely reopen.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. In this time of social distancing, remember we are more connected and interdependent than ever, please stay well and safe all of you. And we look forward to seeing you all again very soon.
And we are very fortunate that Emile, our umzi, has offered to facilitate an online retreat from his home shrine, which has now become the KSDD annex. The sessions can be accessed via our Facebook page and will be broadcast on Facebook Live (connectivity allowing!). The schedule is as below, and will hopefully help bring moments of calm and structure in these unsettled times. You can do as many sessions as you like. This schedule remains in place until Friday 15th May, and will be reviewed after that date.
8am White Tara Puja
8:45am Green Tara Puja
10:30 Medicine Buddha Puja
12pm Shinay Meditation (30mins)
4pm Gong Meditation (45mins)
5:15pm Shinay Meditation (30mins)
6:30pm Chenrezi Puja
May all beings benefit, EMAHO!
Dear Friends,
Welcome to 2020, the year of the Male Metal Rodent – many Tashi Delegs to you all, may it be filled with blessings and may all beings benefit.
‘There is a limit to how much Mother Earth can sustain us…’
“In the past, people in most parts of the world had a very straighforward relationship with the environment. They used the resources provided by nature as needed and due to the simplicity of their lives, rarely did damage to the Earth. However, this has changed considerably in more recent times. Not only are our lives no longer simple, our relationship with the environment is much more complicated and we now have tremendous power to do harm.” “Our lifestyle in the 21st century makes huge demands on the environment. We used more and more resources like fossil fuels, timber and water without an understanding of what the outcomes will be. We think we need all sorts of gadgets, toys and machines without stopping to think if these are really important and useful to us. Sometimes there seems to be no natural limit to human desires. But there is a limit to how much Mother Earth can sustain us and we cannot afford to indulge in our desires unthinkingly”
From the Forward to ‘Environmental Guidlines for Karma Kagyu Buddhist Monasteries, Centres and Communities’
We have some amazing events this year, including visits from Gelong Thubten in January (and hopefully later in the year), retreats with Clive Holmes in April and September, teachings from Ringu Tulku Rinpoche in June, and Lucid Dreaming expert Charlie Morley for two workshops and Mindfulness teacher Karma Choden in November, as well as other special events during the year. Details can be found on our Events page as they are confirmed buddhism.ie/events
For upcoming events in the Centre please see our events page http://buddhism.ie/events/ – this changes all the time so check back regularly! And below are details of the regular weekly events in the Centre – check the Regular Programme page for more details and any changes due to other events.
Introduction to Buddhism Evenings – The first Tuesday of every month. This introductory evening covers aspects of Buddhism such as the life story of the Lord Buddha, the teachings of the Buddha and the spread of Buddhism througout Asia and now throughout the Western World, and explaining the differences (or similarities!) between the different aspects of Buddhism – Tibetan, Zen etc. Talks are facilitated by the practitioners of Kagyu Samye Dzong and all are welcome to attend.
Meditation Instruction for Beginners – to ensure that you get off to the best possible start in your practice of Meditation, we offer instruction in the traditional Buddhist practice of Meditation on a Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm – 8.45pm and Saturday mornings from 10.30am – 12pm (with a short meditation session from 12pm – 12.30pm, this is followed by a further ‘accepting where we are’ session from 12.30pm-1.30pm) Learning the correct posture and techniques are vital to ensure that you get the most benefit from your practice, and it is also important to receive these instructions from a qualified and authorised teacher. In KSD Dublin these instructions are given by Emile, umzi (practice leader in Kagyu Samye Dzong Dublin), an experienced meditator and practitioner who has been authorised by Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche to do so.
Iyengar Yoga classes for all levels! New Year New You! Yoga works on each individual for their growth and betterment – physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Through the practice of physical postures (called asanas) one develops strength, mobility and stability, and makes the body a firm foundation for the practice of meditation. Classes take place on Tuesdays at 6pm-7.15 and Thursdays 7.30pm-8.45pm. See our events page for more info http://buddhism.ie/events/
Check our Events page regularly, as events are confirmed we will get them on the web!
Following the instruction of our Abbott and Director, Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche, we are expanding Kagyu Samye Dzong Dublin to help us bring the Dharma to an even greater number of people and build the first Tibetan Temple in Dublin.
We hope that you will all join with us on this journey. The growth of the Centre was the dream of our Founder, Akong Tulku Rinpoche, and on his last visit to Dublin in April 2013, he told us that this was what we have to make happen. This will require effort and support, both financial and physical, from the whole community of Kagyu Samye Dzong Dublin, to realise his dream of a bigger Centre for Dublin.
To enable us to achieve this goal we are looking for people to become ‘Supporters of Kagyu Samye Dzong Dublin’ – we are looking for 108 participants – who will agree to commit to contributing just €5 per month (or more if you can manage it). This will provide us with a regular income stream to allow us to meet repayments. If you are in the lucky position to be able to make a more significant financial commitment to the Centre – either in the form of a once-off donation or an interest-free loan, please let us know. Contact us by phone 01 4537427 or by email info@buddhism.ie to find out how you can donate. You can also download a Membership form and Membership leaflet, print it off, fill in and send it to your bank, or use the details to set up a standing order online
Looking forward to seeing you in the Centre soon!!!
