Special Achi Practice with Ven. Lama Kalsang for LOSAR

Wednesday, 2/26/2020. 10am

On the third day of LOSAR we will have a special Achi practice at 10am.  The name Achi Chokyi Drolma means “Grandmother, Savior of the Dharma” in Tibetan. Being the great grandmother of Lord Jigten Sumgon, Achi is the great female protector of the Drikung Kagyu lineage and its practitioners. She is revered by many as an emanation of Vajrayogini, Tara, and the Wisdom Dakini of the Five Buddha families, who can display a limitless number of manifestations at different times and in different space dimensions for the benefits of all beings in samsara.

Our resident teacher, Ven. Lama Kalsang will lead this special practice for new blessings, protections, and the swift removal of all obstacles on our path for the new year.  Here is an image taken during our LOSAR celebration on Sunday, 2/23/2020, at our newly renovated altar room.  It is a labor of love from Lama Kalsang and many supporting sangha members.  Thank you to all who have contributed to this effort.   May it benefit all!

ALL ARE WELCOME

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

Tibetan New Year ལོ་གསར

Losar Celebration at TRTCC

Special Guru Yoga Practice with Tsok (Food Offering)

Sunday, February 23, 2020, 10am-noon

On Sunday, February 23rd, our resident teacher Ven. Lama Kalsang will be leading the Losar celebration with a Guru Yoga Practice followed by a new year lunch with traditional Tibetan festive food like Momos, Tibetan dumplings, Khapse, deep-fried twisted dough, and Dresil, sweet rice, for this special occasion.

Lama Kalsang has also been working on decorating the center with his colorful tormas, ceremonial butter cakes for offering.

The first day of Losar is on Monday, February 24, this year.  On the third day of the new year, Wednesday morning, February 26th, Lama Kalsang will lead the Achi Practice at 10 a.m. with a traditional smoke offering.

ALL ARE WELCOME

All sangha members and friends of TRTCC are welcome to join us on either day of these celebrations.  Please let us know if you are planning to attend the Sunday lunch so we can be more prepared to serve you.  Please continue to support Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center by making a donation.

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

The 7th U.S. Drikung Kagyu
Nga Choe Monlam

June 13-15, 2020

Guided By His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche

Entrance Free + Vegetarian Lunch

Venue:  Tibetan Community Center – Phuntsok Deshe
57-12 Tibet Way, 32nd Ave, Woodside, NY 11377

Garchen Buddhist Institute:

https://garchen.net/

For a listing of Garchen Rinpoche’s online teaching videos:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm_XG1NSjPoPc8ruERVlG2Q/videos

ALL ARE WELCOME

May the entire world enjoy abundant happiness and wealth!

May the causes of harm and violence throughout the world be swiftly pacified and vanquished from their very roots.

May the minds of all be filled with love for one another!

Happy New Year!

May the causes of harm and violence throughout the world be swiftly pacified and vanquished from their very roots.

May the minds of all be filled with love for one another!

TRTCC will remain open during the holidays through the New Year

We wish you wonderful celebrations during this winter holiday season.

Our resident teacher Lama Kalsang will continue to lead our regular practices during the winter holidays at Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center.

ALL ARE WELCOME

May the entire world enjoy abundant happiness and wealth!

BUDDHA AMITAYUS PRACTICE

Saturday and Sunday, December 14 & 15, 2019

with Ven. Lama Kalsang

Ven. Lama Kalsang will lead two special Buddha Amitayus practices on Saturday and Sunday morning, December 14 & 15, instead of our regular weekend practices.

The format of both practices on Saturday and Sunday will be the same, so you can either come on Saturday or Sunday, or both.  There will be a food offering ritual (TSOK) during the practice. If you wish to participate in the tsok offering you are welcome to bring some fruit or little cookies for the occasion.  The Amitayus Retreat text will be used for this practice.  No prerequisite or prior experience is required to participate.  Lama Kalsang also mentioned that if you have a ritual item “Datta” as shown in this picture you are welcome to bring it to the practice.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY, Dec 14 & 15
10:00am – 11:30am — Buddha Amitayus Practice with food offering

ALL ARE WELCOME

Please make a donation to support the continuation of TRTCC’s teaching programs and cultural events.  Thank you so much for your kindness!  May it benefit all.

No one will be turned away because of insufficient funds.

Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center is located at:

7313 Florence Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15218

Visiting Teacher Ven. Lama Sonam

Saturday & Sunday, November 16-17, 2019

Avalokiteshvara Empowerment and 35 Buddhas Purification Practice
Saturday, 11/16/2019
10:00am-12:00pm
2:00pm-4:00pm

Ven. Lama Sonam will give the empowerment of Avalokiteshvara (Chenrezig, the deity embodying the quality of loving kindness and compassion) Saturday morning, before his teaching on the 35 Buddhas and Purification Practice.  Based on the Sutra of the Three Heaps, this practice is for the benefit of purifying past negative actions, accumulating merits, removing emotional obstacles, and generating the power of regret, reliance, remediation and resolution to avert downfall regarding our broken vows, including Vinaya Vows, Bodhisattva Vows, and Tantric Samaya Vows.

Omniscient Rigdzin Choedrak’s Mind-Training
Sunday, 11/17/2019
10:00am-12:00pm
2:00pm-4:00pm

On Sunday morning and afternoon Lama Sonam will focus on Rigdzin Choedrak‘s special Mind-Training methods.  Rigdzin Choedrak (1595-1659) was the first H.H. Drikung Chungtsang Rinpoche of the Drikung Kagyu lineage.

Ven. Lama Sonam  has come to teach at TRTCC several times in recent years. He is currently the spiritual director of Drikung Meditation Center in Arlington, Massachusetts. Originally from Drikung Katsal monastery in Tibet, Lama Sonam began his training since young age in the Drikung Kagyu lineage, took full ordination at the age of 18,  and has received teachings and transmissions from many lineage masters in Tibet and India.

ALL ARE WELCOME

A vegetarian lunch will be offered by our sangha members on both days.  Suggested donation is $30 for each day, Saturday or Sunday, and $50 for the whole weekend.  Your donations will support TRTCC’s many teaching and cultural events year round. No one will be turned away from dharma teaching for insufficient funds.

To download a flyer of this event please click:  Lama Sonam Nov 16-17, 2019 flyer

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

Special Achi Chokyi Drolma practice with Ven. Lama Kalsang, a sangha sponsored vegetarian lunch, and our Annual General Meeting

Sunday, October 20, 2019

10am – 2:00pm

The name Achi Chokyi Drolma means “Grandmother, Savior of the Dharma” in Tibetan.  Being the great grandmother of Lord Jigten Sumgon, Achi is the great female protector of the Drikung Kagyu lineage and its practitioners.  She is revered by many as an emanation of Vajrayogini, Tara, and the Wisdom Dakini of the Five Buddha families, who can display a limitless number of manifestations at different times and in different space dimensions for the benefits of all beings in samsara.

Our practice on October 20th will be led by our resident teacher, Ven. Lama Kalsang.  It will include our regular opening and dedication prayers and the recitation of Achi’s special mantra for the swift removal of all obstacles on our path.

ALL ARE WELCOME

Sunday, October 20, 2019
10am – 12:00pm       Achi Chokyi Drolma practice
12pm – 1:00pm         Sangha offered vegetarian lunch
1:00pm – 2:00pm    TRTCC Annual General Meeting

Dear sangha friends,

Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center has been serving our Pittsburgh community as a dharma and cultural center for many years.  Originally as part of the Pittsburgh Friends of Tibet, we began using the name Three Rivers Dharma Center in January of 1994, when Ven. Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche first came to Pittsburgh to give teachings.  Our mission then and now was to provide an opportunity for the study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism in this region.  A highlight of those early years was when we sponsored the visit of H.H. Dalai Lama in November 1998.  His presence and teachings touched the hearts and minds of thousands of Pittsburghers.

With Ven. Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen Rinpoche as our original spiritual director, followed by Ven. Khenpo Choephel as our current spiritual director, and Ven. Lama Kalsang as our current resident teacher, we have since established our center’s affiliation with the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. Over the years, we continued to offer regular meditation practices in various locations as well as to invite many teachers and lamas to give special teachings.  Ven. Khenpo Choephel became our first resident lama in late 2011.  Relying on the kindness of our sangha friends, supporters and donors, Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center was incorporated as a charitable non-profit organization in 2013 and acquired our current property in Swissvale in 2015.  This has been 25 years in the making, and our work to spread the dharma and preserve the rich cultural heritage of Tibetan Buddhism will continue.

To commemorate the 25 years of multiple contributions from our sangha friends, supporters and donors and to share our joy with you having established this center for our practice in Pittsburgh, on Sunday, October 20th, we will have a special Achi Chokyi Drolma practice at 10 a.m. led by Ven. Lama Kalsang. A vegetarian lunch will be offered at noon, and our annual general meeting will start around 1 p.m. Our board members will share with you our recent progress and future plans for the center. We will also be open to hear from you whatever feedback and valuable suggestions that you may have for us.

All sangha members and friends of TRTCC are welcome to join us on October 20th for the Achi practice, our sangha sponsored lunch, and to participate in our general meeting.  Please continue to support Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center by making a donation.

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

Visiting Teacher Ven. Khenmo Konchog Nyima Drolma’s Teaching on

Engaging with the Dharma to Uproot Hatred and Bias and Reclaiming Joy

September 6-8, 2019

FRIDAY, September 6
7:00pm-9:00pm–A public teaching: What comes after the Shootings for Dharma Practitioners (at the Sixth Presbyterian Church)

Marches, memorials, and prayers… , then what? We do our own work on our own hearts and minds. We see clearly that we have an inner and outer responsibility as Dharma practitioners and bodhisattvas in training. We can use the teaching of Dharma to see where our own ignorance begins. Then, deconstructing the human heart/mind, we learn how to lift confusion wherever we find it.

SATURDAY, September 7 (at TRTCC )
10:00am-12:00pm; 2:00pm-4:00pm–Using the Dharma to uproot hatred and bias

Learn about the Buddhist understanding of bias as an integral part of how we perceive the samsaric world. The good news is that Buddhist philosophy’s very purpose is to uproot ignorance, and thus is directly applicable to understanding unconscious bias and its removal. Khenmo will present the Buddhist science of perception which dissects bias as it arises and the philosophy of the Three Marks of Existence: Impermanence, Suffering and Non-self as an antidote. Khenmo will teach a Loving kindness practice as a specific, subtle retraining of the heart/mind to overcome bias.

SUNDAY, September 8 (at TRTCC)
10:00am-12:00pm–Reclaiming Joy

Khenmo will continue teaching the Loving Kindness meditation with an emphasis on uncovering joy. Meditation leads to joy! And many of us have to teach ourselves what joy is, not knowing we have it within. Retraining our minds away from anger and desire to form a habit of joy is key to contributing to a more loving world.

Ven. Khenmo Konchog Nyima Drolma is the abbess of Vajra Dakini Nunnery in Maine, U.S.A. In 1997, she took her novice ordination with H.H. Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche and received many circles of Drikung empowerments and transmissions during her annual trips and solitary retreats to India. In 1999 she received monastic training at Gampo Abbey guided by Ven. Pema Chödrön in Nova Scotia, Canada. In 2002 she took full ordination as a Buddhist nun in Taiwan. In 2004 in Lumbini, Nepal, she was installed as a Khenmo (Abbess) in the Drikung lineage, becoming the first woman and first westerner in her lineage to officially hold this responsibility. Since then she has worked continuously to establish Vajra Dakini Nunnery and teach the Dharma internationally.

To download a flyer of this weekend event:  Khenmo Drolma Sept 2019 teaching flyer

ALL ARE WELCOME

Suggested donation is $40 for the whole weekend teaching. A simple potluck vegetarian lunch will be offered by our sangha members at noon on both Saturday and Sunday. There will be an informal social time after lunch on Sunday with Khenmo. Your generous donations will support TRTCC’s many teaching and cultural events year round. No one will be turned away from dharma teaching for insufficient funds.

The Sixth Presbyterian Church is located at:

1688 Murray Avenue,
Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center is located at:

7313 Florence Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15218

Nyungnay Fasting Retreat
with Ven. Lama Kalsang
August 24-25, 2019

Saturday, Aug 24, 7-8:30pm
Sunday, Aug 25, 10am-12:00pm
1:30-3:30pm

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 resident teacher Venerable Lama Kalsang, who first came to TRTCC from Drikung Kagyu Rinchen Ling Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, in November 2017, and came back again in April 2019.

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, light yogurt, or non-dairy yogurt in the morning and during lunch time. This practice is purposefully designed for lay people and is commonly adopted in Tibet. The physical fasting helps to overcome obscurations of the body; the silence helps to purify obscurations of the speech; the one-pointed concentration purifies obscurations of the mind.

We invite you to join us and participate in this special one-day retreat as a way to establish a firm commitment to observing the vows.  Suggested donation is $30 for the weekend.  Your donations will support TRTCC’s many teaching and cultural events year round. No one will be turned away from dharma teaching for insufficient funds.

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!

To download a flyer of this event: Nyungnay Retreat Aug 24-25 2019 flyer

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