Hello, everyone!
Welcome to the Waystation!
I know that we usually go on about how active of a month the previous one was.
This past September, however…was very busy.
But this is a special month.
This is the month of the OVERDRIVE!
Yes, our quarterly gathering! Please make time if you can, for all of us to meet, hang and practice together!
We also have a new media team, led by the inimitable Charme Chen! We have several new social media pages, that we recommend you follow:
· TikTok
· Youtube
And of course, our Facebook Group.
We’ll keep the activities that we have, but before I unload the whole calendar, some very specific new things you might want to know:
· As we have intimated last month, there’s a new book online!
An Ocean of White Lotus Flowers: A Rime prayer book is already available on Amazon. We will have a special launch party on the 29th, with a free and open empowerment of Avalokiteshvara.
-We are finalizing the teaching schedule of Guru Prawjal here in Buenos Aires. Stay tuned for more news!
-We will have open teachings with the Mexican sangha, but since they’ve been in retreat, we still haven’t finalized the dates. Stay tuned for confirmation!
Activities:
The following are ongoing activities and courses:
· P-2 C-1, now deep in the study of Vajrakilaya
· P-2 C-2, doing the practices of Vajrasattva
· If you’re new to Buddhism, P-1: Intro to Buddhism start on October 13th! Sign up here.
· Every Sunday at 8pm EST there’s CinemaDharma.
Special activities this month
· Sat 10/7 2pm EST: Why do Ganacakra?
· Ganacakra or Tsog offerings are one of the keystone of tantric practice. As a way to keep Samaya, to renew bonds and a general offering, Ganacakras are unbeatable. Lama Sherab will offer an introduction to their history, practice and a transmission on how to do them. This activity requires you to have a tantric empowerment from the higher tantra class.
· To sign up, please do so here
· Sat 10/14 2pm EST: NIRVANA OVERDRIVE!
· Want to hang out? To practice together? To have a good time?. WELCOME TO THE OVERDRIVE!. This is our quarterly gathering, focused on chatting and having some practices. This second NO will have the following teaching from our Lamas and senior students:
· Ericson will give a teaching about the Four Noble Truths.
· Lama Cele will give an introduction to Pranayama.
· Lama Jilly will talk about the importance of Danaparamita – the perfection of giving.
· Lama Sherab will transmit the prayer “Calling the Lama from Afar” from Dudjom Rinpoche and will teach on its uses.
· Finally, myself (Lama Fede) will teach an Alien meditation to practice for all beings, especially those beings in the Mushroom-Buddha planet.
· You don’t need to sign up for this. You can either come to the Zoom to hang with us (we’ll post the details on that day) or watch it via our Youtube Channel .
· Sat 10/21 2pm EST: A Bird does not Fall to the Ground – An explanation of Chapter 25 of the Prajñaparamita In 10.000 stanzas
· There’s no single concept (with the possible exception of Karma) that’s so singularly misunderstood as the Skillful Means in Mahayana Buddhism. Often taken as a carte blanche to engage in unconventional behavior, the Buddha lays down how to practice this Paramita in the 25th chapter of the Daśasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā.
· To sign up, please do so here
· Sat 10/28 2pm EST: Fundraiser II: FUNDRAISE HARDER, WITH A VENGANCE!!!
· This month, we’ll continue our fundraiser for Guru Prajwal’s trip to South America. Last month we covered the tickets, this month we’ll aim for the hotel costs. In order to raise money, we’ll ask everyone to pitch in and we’ll teach two healing deities: Sambhogakaya Medicine Buddha and Amrita Amitabha.
· We’ll send the fundraiser link mid-October to sign up.
· Fri 10/29 2pm EST: An Ocean of White Lotus Flowers book launch party!
· To celebrateAn Ocean of White Lotus Flowers: A Rime prayer book book launch we’ll do a brief explanation of the prayers and we will give a free and open Avalokiteshvara Empowerment.
· You don’t need to sign up for this. You can either come to the Zoom to hang with us (we’ll post the details on that day) or watch it via our Youtube Channel .
Tiers and support
For those of you who are new, what are those P-s and T-s that we’re talking about?
P-s are the different levels of Paths that we have. Those are:
· P-1 is Intro to Buddhism. If you’re new to the Buddhadharma or Tibetan Buddhism, you should start at this point.
· P-2 is general Vajrayana. You learn Three deities, the four activities and all the rituals that you will need, from Ganacakras to specific Pujas.
· P-3 is advanced Vajrayana. You focus on completion-stage practice and yogas like Tummo and Dream Yoga. After P-3, you can choose to specialize as a ritualist (ngapka/ma) or go beyond and get into Lama training.
We have a video outlining the Path structure here.
So when we say a workshop is P-2+, we mean that is for people who already have the basis of Buddhism down (i.e. people who completed P-1) and are working at a tantric level. Same with P-1+ or P-3+. Open for all means just that. Anyone can come.
T-s are Tiers of monthly support. Sadly, as we live in a capitalist system, it takes time, work, and money to keep producing teachings. The translation, formatting, Zoom, Otter.ai, webhosting et cetra are expenses that pile up constantly. So, in order to be able to keep this level of teachings going, we ask for your support in a variety of ways:
· T-1 is the full support. This allows us to produce everything that we do. Also, this enables you to take everything that we do in a given month (that you have the P-level for). Workshops, empowerments, activities, P-levels: it includes all. Usual cost is $108 a month.
· T-2 Is the partial support. This also enable us to produce teachings. This covers only the P-levels (which, to be honest, is still a lot of work and bang for your buck), but if you want to take something else, like a Workshop, you can get it at a very discounted price. Usual cost is $27 per month.
· T-3 is work study. Right now, all slots are taken, but we’ll let you know if one opens.
If you want to…
…support T-1 for this month, you can click here
…set an automatic support for T-1, click here
…or do so via our shop
…support T-2 for this month, click here
…set an automatic support for T-2, click here
…or do so via our shop, click here
So that’s the general state of October. Next month: Guru Prajwal’s teaching tour!
Sarva Mangalam!
-LF
Comments