By: Ben Coleman
Kadampa Center is a non-profit Buddhist organization based in Raleigh, North Carolina established by Don Brown in 1992, though only obtained its current building in 2007. It originated prior to that as a study group led by Mr. Brown. The center is based in the Gelugpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, particularly the teachings of Lama Thubten Yeshe and is affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, the FPMT, one of 162 such centers around the globe.
Kadampa Center describes Buddhism as a “mind-science” through which great wisdom and compassion can be achieved. It notes one of Buddhism’s greatest virtues to be its rationality, in that the Buddha encouraged skepticism of his teachings. These teachings are taught at Kadampa using the framework of lamrin, or “steps of the path” as described by Lama Tsongkhapa, the originator of the Gelugpa tradition, building upon the earlier work of Lama Atisha, who brought Buddhism to Tibet.
Lama Yeshe was born in 1935 in Tibet and entered the Sera Monastic University when he was six. He studied there until forced into exile by the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959. In 1967 he left India for Nepal and two years later founded Kopan Monastery with the aim of teaching Buddhism to Westerners. He began making yearly tours in the West in 1974, gradually creating the network of centers that would become the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. He passed away in 1984 and was reborn the next year to two of his Spanish students as Tenzin Ösel Hita Torres, recognized by the Dalai Lama in 1986.
The current spiritual director of Kadampa Center, and the entire FPMT, is Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Rinpoche was born in Nepal in 1946 and is the incarnation of the Lawudo Lama, Kunsang Yeshe of the Nyingma School. He studied in Tibet until the Chinese invasion forced him to flee to India, where he met Lama Yeshe, who became his main teacher. He accompanied Lama Yeshe on his trips to the West and continues his mission with the FPMT.
Kadampa Center also recognizes the authority of the Dalai Lama as Tibet’s spiritual leader, despite the fact he is not directly related to Kadampa’s lineage. He is, however, himself based in the Gelugpa tradition, and viewed as an excellent example of how a practitioner should seek to live and behave.
Kadampa Center has two resident teachers, Geshe Gelek and Geshe Sangpo. Both were born in Tibet and began their monastic studies at Sera Jey monastery as children, Geshe Gelek at the age of seven and Geshe Sangpo at the age of twelve. Geshe Gelek received the degree of Geshe Lharampa in 1997 and in 1999 came to Kadampa at the request of Lama Rinpoche, having further studied tantric rituals at Gyume Tantric College in the meantime. Lama Sangpa completed his Geshe degree in 2001 and specializes in Haya Griva and other forms of ritual practice. He relocated to Raleigh in 2008 and began teaching at Kadampa, becoming fully approved as a resident teacher by FPMT in 2014.
In addition to its resident teachers, Kadampa has five other FPMT registered teachers: four Caucasian Americans and one Indian-American. The founder, Don Brown, and his current successor as Director of the Center, Robbie Watkins, both studied under Lamas Yeshe and Rinpoche, while the others first encountered Buddhism either at Kadampa Center itself or other Buddhist centers elsewhere in the United States. Kadampa overall has a primarily Caucasian membership with a not insignificant Asian minority as well as a few African-American members, with seemingly most, if not all, members being converts to Buddhism.
One of these teachers, Venerable Lhundub Tendron, ordained as a nun after a few years of attending classes at Kadampa and further studied at a nun community in Australia. Three other members of Kadampa have also ordained, as Geshe Gelek’s teacher presided over an ordination ceremony at Kadampa in 2009, and one ordained with him the next year in India, living for a time in a nunnery there developed for Western nuns. Kadampa encourages making offerings to these nuns as a rare merit making opportunity it is able to offer compared to other Buddhist centers in the West.
Kadampa Center offers three main programs at the introductory, beginner, and intermediate levels of Buddhist practice. There are two introductory classes, each taught over a five week period on Tuesdays from 7 pm to 8:30 pm, with each course offered in its entirety before alternating with the next. These are “Buddhism In a Nutshell” and “Meditation 101”. The first teaches the basics of Buddhist philosophy, the Four Noble Truths, the different types of Buddhism, and some meditation. The other course focuses on different types of meditation, including breathing, mindfulness, visualization. There are also more advanced, but still introductory meditation classes held on the first Saturday of each month.
The beginner program is primarily “Discovering Buddhism,” a two-year course covering thirteen modules covering such topics as meditation, karma, taking refuge in the Three Jewels, death and rebirth, and how to practice. Courses are taught on Monday nights and modules need not be completed in order, though it is strongly encouraged that new students start at the beginning of a new module, which is generally the first Monday of every other month. The course includes a 14th module which is not taught at Kadampa Center, instead being a practicum involving two different retreats.
Students who have completed “Discovering Buddhism,” have a daily practice, and are committed to further study may register for the introductory program, called the “Basic Program”. This program is offered on Friday nights and is a roughly five-year study of nine texts important to Tibetan traditions designed by Lama Rinpoche. Some of these texts are Stages of the Path, the Heart Sutra, and Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds. The program culminates in a final exam and three-month retreat. Intermediate students can also attend Geshe Gelek’s teachings on Lamrim Chenmo, Lama Tsongkhapa’s explanation of Lama Atisha’s teachings that became the foundations of the Gelugpa tradition. Recordings of these lessons, as well as of many others offered at the center, are also made available on Kadampa Center’s website, so that prospective students can catch up with the teachings and join in person without being left behind.
For practitioners of all levels, there are also Sunday morning services. At 9 am there is group meditation, featuring both seated and walking meditation. This is followed by “Dharma for a Happy Life,” in which one of the resident teachers teaches how the Dharma can be applied to daily life, as well as answers questions asked by the community about anything regarding Buddhism. This service also includes some meditation and prayers.
In addition to teachings and meditation, Kadampa organizes pujas, prayer gatherings involving the recitation of prayers and mantras. each month, held primarily in English but some include some verses in Tibetan. There are three pujas offered, these being Medicine Budddha puja, Buddha Tara Puja, and Guru Puja. Additional Medicine Buddha pujas can also be scheduled for the benefit of the ill or deceased, in which case they are generally held on the seventh day after death and aid the deceased during the bardo. The Tara practice is meant for a more general removal of obstacles and fulfillment of wishes, and was translated by Geshe Gelek specifically for Kadampa Center. Each year 20,000 Tara mantras are recited and dedicated to Geshe Gelek for a long life, a request from one of his teachers.
To further practice, Kadampa also organizes single day and weekend retreats throughout the year, as well as a series of annual longer retreats, called the Light of the Path Retreats. This series ran from 2013 through 2017, led personally be Lama Rinpoche in the mountains of North Carolina for two weeks each, with 2017’s being four weeks. The retreats centered around the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment by Lama Atisha in the 11th Century, the foundational text for Tibetan Buddhist traditions that details how one should practice to achieve enlightenment in a single lifetime.
Kadampa offers all of its classes free of charge in the aim of keeping money, or lack thereof, from proving an impediment to one’s obtaining the Dharma. It operates almost exclusively on the dana of its members, of whom there are 101 monthly sustainers. More specific sponsorships are also encouraged, for things including pujas, retreats, and a statue of Lama Atisha that Kadampa obtained in 2017. The other most significant source of income is a bookstore it operates, selling both books on Buddhism and other ritual items like incense and prayer flags. It acknowledges that “‘selling’ the Dharma” is to be avoided, but that the manufacturing of these goods costs money in the modern world, and it cannot take on those costs without some reimbursement from consumers.
A number of members seek to put their compassion into practice through community engagement, particularly through the Kadampa Center Prison Project. The project began with a meditation class offered at Raleigh’s Central Prison in 1994, and has since grown to include five institutions with weekly meditation classes and a pen pal program with participants at those and other facilities. At least one volunteer heavily involved in the project is not a member of Kadampa, but of Durham Shambhala Center, though the two centers are otherwise completely unrelated, belonging to different schools of Tibetan practice.
Bibliography
The Kadampa Center. Kadampa Center. The Kadampa Center., 2017. Web. 4 Dec. 2017. <http://www.kadampa-center.org>
Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. FPMT. Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition., 2017. Web. 2 Dec. 2017. <https://fpmt.org/>