Awakening the Heart

An Introductory Course to Buddhist Meditation

Saturday, May 25
1:00 – 2:30pm

$12 | Free for members

at the Kadampa Meditation Center NYC
127 W. 24th Street (between 6th & 7th Ave, entrance on street level)

Once a month we hold this introductory course designed especially for beginners. In this course you will learn meditation and the Buddhist approach to training the mind. Applying these methods in your everyday life will lead to happiness and a sense of purpose and harmony in your relationships. This is a beginner course open to everyone. Dress comfortably. Cushions and chairs are available. No pre-registration required. Everyone is welcome.

A Taste of Meditation

Saturday, June 1

Session times:
10:00am – 11:15am 11:45am – 1:00pm | 2:00pm – 3:15 pm
$6 per class | $15 for the day | Free for members

Kadampa Meditation Center NYC
127 West 24th Street, New York, NY
(Entrance on street-level, between 6th and 7th Ave.)

This workshop is like a ‘sampler’ dish. Each of three sessions will begin with a clear explanation on some facet of meditation practice, followed by a guided meditation. There will be plenty of time for questions and discussion. The course will leave you with a ‘taste’ of meditation, and will function as a starter kit to get you going on your meditation practice at home. Everyone welcome.

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Introduction to Buddhism

Pre-registration is essential for this series. It is only possible to attend the entire series.

2 Sunday evenings, June 2 & 9 | 5:30 – 7:00pm | $20 for two week series
Registration Open

Kadampa Meditation Center NYC
127 West 24th Street, New York, NY
(Entrance on street-level, between 6th and 7th Ave.)

This beginners’ course is an excellent primer for a newcomer to Buddhist meditation. Based on Geshe Kelsang‘s book, Transform Your Life, this 2-week course provides a practical foundation for beginning to meditate. We will learn what meditation is, how to practice it and how to use it to help us deal with the stresses and difficulties of life. Each class will begin with a brief guided meditation, followed by a teaching with some time for questions and answers and discussion. There will be another brief guided meditation at the end.

  • First week: Meditation and the Development of Happiness
  • Second week: Establishing a Meditation Practice

Avaloketishvara

The Empowerment of the Compassion Buddha

with Kadam Morten

Saturday–Sunday, June 15–16
Online Registration

at the Kadampa Meditation Center NYC
127 W. 24th Street (between 6th & 7th Ave, entrance on street level)

Avalokiteshvara is the Buddha of Enlightened Compassion. The empowerment is a blissful, guided meditation and special practice through which we connect with Avalokieshvara and receive powerful inspiring blessings.

We may think that too much focus on compassion will make us unhappy. However when experienced correctly, compassion is joyful mind and there is nothing more powerful than it. It joyfully motivates us to help others and consequently empowers us to change and improve ourselves. Compassion for our family and friends will heal our close relationships and make them strong and stable. The more we open our hearts to others, the more our empathy will grow. In this way we develop universal compassion, the most humane and beneficial mind of all, and the springboard from which enlightenment will arise.

Our present compassion, however limited at the moment, is our Buddha Nature, our seed of enlightenment, our limitless potential. Receiving the empowerment activates this seed. Learning to integrate the practice of the Avalokiteshvara into our daily life enables our life to become a joyful path to enlightenment and an enormous source of benefit and happiness to others.

Kadam Morten will grant the empowerment and give the commentary to the brief but powerful practice of Avalokiteshvara, emphasizing the practical application of these profound and heart opening methods to our lives. Everyone is welcome.

Saturday, June 15

  • 10:00am–12:30pm       Empowerment
  • 2:00–4:00pm                Commentary

Sunday, June 16

  • 10:30am–12:00pm      Further Commentary
  • 12:30–1:30pm              Concluding Meditation Session

Save the Date

Midsummer’s Eve Party

Tuesday, June 18

Details to follow

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Modern Buddhism Day-Retreats

ModernBuddhism

Three Guided Meditations on Cultivating Lasting Happiness Through Wisdom 

with Kadam Morten

Saturdays: May 18 | June 22

Session times:

10:00am – 11:15am 11:45am – 1:00pm | 2:00pm – 3:15 pm
$6 per class | $15 for the day | Free for members

Kadampa Meditation Center NYC
127 West 24th Street, New York, NY

(Entrance on street-level, between 6th and 7th Ave.)

Based on Geshe Kelsang Gyatso‘s explanation of the Four Noble Truths in Modern Buddhism, Kadam Morten will guide three meditations. In the first two meditations we will explore true origins. In particular we will learn to identify in our own experience how we relate to our self in a mistaken and limited way and how this gives rise to all our other delusions, such as our anger and attachment. Gaining a clear experience of this in meditation will profoundly alter our understanding of the source of our problems. In the third meditation we will explore true paths, in particular how to remove this source of suffering through applying the solution of wisdom. An intellectual understanding of these concepts is not enough. Meditation helps us to take these explanations to heart so that we actual experience an increase in wisdom and happiness. Each meditation session will focus on a different aspect of the teachings. Everyone is welcome.

Once a month we will hold a day-retreat, three guided meditations based on the Thursday evening Modern Buddhism classes.  This monthly retreat will give us the opportunity to take the teachings deeper into our heart, so that we can naturally integrate them into our daily lives.  It will help us to improve our meditation and strengthen our confidence with regard to our own practice.

The guided meditation sessions, and the break-times in between, will also give participants the chance to talk with Kadam Morten in a more informal setting, as well to get to know other members of the ‘sangha’, the community at the Center.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  This day retreat is essential for those participating in the Modern Buddhism classes as part of the Teacher Training Program.