Mindfulness Fair:

Saturday, 4/7/2018  10am-4pm

TRTCC Varjapani Empowerment and Vajrasattva Practice:  

Saturday & Sunday, 4/21,22/ 2018    10am-3pm

VESAK 2018:

Sunday, 4/29/2018      3-5pm

Vajrapani Empowerment and Practice

Saturday, April 21, 2018

10am – 3pm

Visiting teacher Venerable Lama Sonam will return to TRTCC to give a special empowerment and teaching on Vajrapani, the wrathful protective deity in Tibetan Buddhism who represents the Buddha’s power in overcoming obstacles and adverse conditions.

10am – 12pm  Vajrapani instruction and Empowerment
12pm – 1pm    Lunch break
1pm – 3pm    Vajrapani practice

On Sunday, Lama Sonam will be teaching on Vajrasattva, the preliminary practice of purifying the mind’s negative activities.

 

Venerable Lama Sonam is currently the Spiritual Director of Drikung Meditation center in Arlington, Massachusetts.  Originally from Drikung Katsal monastery, Tibet, Lama Sonam has been trained since young age in the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and has received teachings and transmissions from many lineage masters in monasteries in Tibet and India.

 

 

 

Vajrasattva Teaching

Sunday, April 22, 2018

10am – 3pm

10am – 12pm  Vajrasattva Instruction and teaching
12pm – 1pm    Lunch break
1pm – 3pm    Vajrasattva practice

 

 

ALL ARE WELCOME

Your donations to our center will help sustain TRTCC’s many teaching and cultural events year round.

Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center is located at: 7313 Florence Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15218

 

Workshops on Setting up a home shrine and
Ritual Instruments for Chöd practice

Saturday, February 24, 2018 and
Sunday, February 25, 2018
2:00-4:00pm

Venerable Lama Kalsang will offer two workshops this coming weekend:

Saturaday, Feb 24, 2-4pm

Lama Kalsang will provide guidance on setting up a home shrine, explaining the meaning of the objects that are on the shrine at the center and how we can create similar meaning with a home shrine. This workshop will also provide instruction in the offering mudra of yidam practice.

Sunday, Feb 25, 2-4pm

Lama Kalsang will do a workshop on the use of ritual instruments during practice, including the Bell and Damaru and also ritual instruments used for Chöd practice.

Please let us know if you plan to come to either or both of these workshops, so we can arrange the space to make sure there will be room for everyone. Email us at:
threeriverstibetancc2017@gmail.com. if you are planning to attend.

 

ALL ARE WELCOME

 

Suggested donation is $15 for each workshop.  Your donations will help sustain TRTCC’s many teaching and cultural events year round.  No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center is located at: 7313 Florence Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15218

 

Thirty-five Words of Heartfelt Advice of Rigdzin Choedrak (1595-1659)

February 11, 2018

Sunday, February 11,  10am – 3pm

Visiting teacher Venerable Lama Sonam will give a special teaching on the Thirty-five Words of Heartfelt Advice of Rigdzin Choedrak (1595-1659), who was the first H.H. Drikung Chungtsang Rinpoche of the Drikung Kagyu lineage.  The teaching is based on SARAHA, the great master of Mahamudra, and the teacher of Nagarjuna.

Ven. Lama Sonam is currently the Spiritual Director of Drigung Meditation center in Arlington, Massachusetts.  
Originally from Drigung Katsal monastery, Tibet, Lama Sonam has been trained since young age in the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism and has received teachings and transmissions from many lineage masters in monasteries in Tibet and India.

A simple vegetarian lunch will be provided.  Please email us at:
threeriverstibetancc2017@gmail.com.  if you are planning to attend.

 

 ALL ARE WELCOME

 

The teaching is free.  Your donations to our center to help with the costs will help sustain TRTCC’s many teaching and cultural events year round.

Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center  is located at: 7313 Florence Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15218

 

To download a flyer: Mandala flyer

 

CHENREZIG Sand Mandala

presented by Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center

at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

February 4-9, 2018

A Chenrezig sand mandala of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition will be constructed by TRTCC resident teacher Venerable Lama Kalsang and visiting teacher Venerable Lama Sonam from Sunday to Friday, February 4-9, 2018, with the opening ceremony on Sunday, February 4th, starting at 10am, and the dissolution ceremony on Friday, February 9th, 10am-noon. Pittsburgh Center for the Arts is located at 6300 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232

 

Pittsburgh Center For the Arts will open for this Sand Mandala event for these hours:
Sunday-Thursday
February 4-8, 10am-5pm;
Friday February 9, 10am-Noon.
Admissions are free.
Donations are welcome.

 

 

Lama Sonam and Lama Kalsang will work on the Sand Mandala everyday from 10AM – 3:30PM.
At 4PM, Lama Sonam will give a short teaching followed by a period of meditation.

The sand mandala being built here is the mandala of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit), the Buddha of Compassion. The outermost ring of the mandala is a ring of fire. Just inside that is a lotus ring. The central form is the dwelling place, with four gates, each representing a cardinal compass direction and each having its own iconographic significance. Banners fly from the corner ramparts, flanking auspicious parasols. Imagine it coming up into three dimensions. The lotus in the center represents the wisdom seat of the Buddha Chenrezig.

On Friday, February 9th, 2018, at 10AM, the mandala is dissolved to allow the blessings of its making to be shared through the sand from which it was built.  Some of the sand is given to those in attendance.  The remainder is released into a body of water so that the blessings of the mandala will be carried widely to all beings and bring peace to the world.  The sand from this mandala will be taken to the Point and released into the three rivers.  You are also invited to attend that ceremony.

Please help us to spread the words.  To download a flyer please click:  Mandala flyer

 

 ALL ARE WELCOME

 

Your donations to Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center will help sustain TRTCC’s many teaching and cultural events year round. Our heartfelt thanks to your continual supports to TRTCC!

Nyungnay Fasting Retreat at TRTCC

January 13-14, 2018

Saturday, January 13,  7-8:30pm
Sunday, January 14, 
10am-12:30pm
1:30-4pm

NYUNGNAY is a fasting silent retreat focusing on the cultivation of loving-kindness, compassion and Bodhicitta and purifying negative past actions. Participants of this retreat at Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center will observe eight vows in a 24-hour period, practicing meditation, visualization and mantra recitation of the Thousand-Armed Chenrezig.

This retreat will be led by our new resident teacher Venerable Lama Kalsang, who came to TRTCC from Nepal in November 2017.

On Saturday from 7-8:30pm, Lama Kalsang will give us instructions on how to observe the eight vows during the retreat. On Sunday, participants will observe the vows and start the fasting for a 24-hour period. TRTCC will provide fresh fruit and light yogurt in the morning and during lunch time. This practice is purposefully designed for lay people and is very popular in Tibet. The physical fasting helps to overcome obscurations of the body; the silence helps to purify obscurations of speech; the one-pointed concentration purifies obscurations of the mind.

We invite you to join us and participate in this special one-day retreat for the benefits of oneself and all.

To download a flyer: Nyungnay Retreat Jan13 2018 flyer

 

 ALL ARE WELCOME

 

As always, your donations to our center will help sustain TRTCC’s many teaching and cultural events year round.  Our heartfelt thanks to your continued supports to TRTCC!

Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center  is located at: 7313 Florence Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15218

 

Dakini Day Practice: Guru Rinpoche

led by Venerable Khenpo Choephel

 November 18, 2017,  7-8:30pm

Our monthly Dakini Day GURU RINPOCHE Practice will be this Tuesday, November 18, at 7pm.  Dakini Day is on the 10th day of each month of the Tibetan Lunar Calendar.

We will have opening prayers on bodhicitta and refuge prayers, and a special text on the practice of Guru Rinpoche.  Ven. Khenpo Choephel will guide us on the visualization, meditation, chanting of mantra, TSOK (food offering), and dedication of merits.  

 

 ALL ARE WELCOME

 

Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center  is located at: 7313 Florence Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15218

 

Wednesday Deity Practice: Manjushri

led by Venerable Khenpo Choephel

 November 15, 2017,  7-8:30pm

Our weekly Deity Practice is on Manjushri tonight.

Manjushri is the embodiment of Perfect Wisdom.

The iconography of Manjushri is often depicted as wielding a flaming sword in the right hand which cuts through ignorance and delusion, and holding in the left hand a lotus flower containing the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, the Sutra of the Perfection of (Transcendent) Wisdom.

How do we practice perfecting actions of our body, speech, and mind as guided by wisdom?  Our practice starts with opening prayers on bodhicitta, meditation on the nature of our mind, visualization, chanting of mantra, and finally, the dedication of merits to benefit all beings.

 

 ALL ARE WELCOME

 

Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center  is located at: 7313 Florence Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15218