Announcement for Attending Bhiksuni Group of the 29th Kagyu Monlam Chenmo

Objectives:

1. Spread the seeds of love and compassion, set the power of love and compassion in motion, and let true happiness and peace pervade in the world.

2. Share and take responsibility for establishing the bhiksuni sangha in Tibetan Buddhism in the future.

3. By demonstrating the reverence-inspiring bearing of a bhiksuni, show the Buddhist community the importance of bhiksunis’ presence in the sangha.

4. Give the bhiksunis in Tibetan Buddhism courage and confidence in establishing the bhiksuni sangha.
    

Time: March 1 – 8, 2012
Place: Bodh Gaya, India (The Vajra Seat)
Leading Master: The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa and Rinpoches in the lineage

Program:

1. Chanting: Daily Morning Prayers, Purification Prayer, Realization Prayer, Medicine Buddha Sadhana, Gangyur, Ashokbya Buddha Ritual, Ashokbya Buddha Sutra , Sixteen Arhat Sadhana , Offerings to Gurus Sadhana.

2. Teaching: receive the teachings from HH Karmapa on <Teachings on the Pure Realms to the East and West>*, meditation instructions, and commentaries of monlam prayers.

3. Special Activities: Kangyur procession, alms procession, the Lamp Prayer ceremony, Akshobha empowerment, Ashokbya Buddha Ritual and fire puja to bless the deceased.

* His Holiness’ teachings at the Monlam on <Teachings on the Pure Realms to the East and West> will have simultaneous translations into various languages. Please bring your own FM Radio and earphone for reception. To avoid radio interference, please do not use your mobile phone for this purpose.   

 Qualifications for Participation: it is required,

1. To have received the complete bhiksuni precepts with correct understanding and view

2. To wear the robes of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition

3. To obey the rules of the Kagyu Monlam, and follow the instructions of the Bhiksuni Chotrimpa, and to act in accordance with the demeanor of a bhiksuni.

Rules for Bhiksuni Participants:

1. Once you have enrolled, please respect and follow the procedures during the Kagyu Monlam. Please do not arrive later or depart earlier than scheduled for the assembly; please conform rather than follow your own point of view.

2. If you are unwell, you should get permission to be absent from the Bhiksuni Disciplinarian. Leave of absence will not be given except when you are unwell.

3. If you absent yourself without good reason or being warned more than three times, you will be asked to leave and will lose your allotted seat.  If you are too sick to sit consistently in the Bhiksuni group, you can sit with the International Sangha groups, which include bhiksunis.

4. Seating is according to the date of Bhiksuni ordination. You can not change your seat at liberty.

5. Hold the reverence-inspiring bearing of a bhiksuni at all times. Do not laugh loudly or nod one’s head repeatedly, and do not talk during prayer chanting, or during tea breaks.

6. Wear your name card at all times.

7. Please bring your tea bowl, Kagyu Monlam Prayer text, Dingwa, Chogo, Namjar and Dagam to every session, unless advised otherwise.

8. Please bring two 2-inch passport photos, a photocopy of your ordination certificate and passport with you for checking the registration in Bodh Gaya prior to commencement of Kagyu Monlam.

9. Please make yourself familiar with the “New Codes of Discipline for Kagyu Monlam” addressed by His Holiness. On-line link: http://www.kagyumonlam.org/English/Lectures/2004_HHK_Kagyu_Monlam_Diccipline.html

10. You must memorize the dharani recited before receiving any offerings: “namo baghawati sumeru kalpa rajya tathagataya aryate samyak sambudhaya, tyatha om kalpe kalpe maha kalpe kalpepari shodhani swaha” for purification of the offerings.
     

Registration Deadline: February 20, 2012 
Email: gelungma@kagyumonlam.org
Contact Person: Tsulthrim Droma
Download: 29th Kagyu Monlam Gelongma Application Form

Karma Kagyu Gelongma Group