Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

THANK YOU! From Our ANNUAL KTC MINNEAPOLIS MEDITATION-THON 31 JAN - 7 FEB 08

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

Thanks very much to the people who sat in meditation, the people who sponsored each minute and the people who did both - again this year - to make another successful MEDITATION-THON for KTC Minneapolis. We are grateful to be able to do this work in this place in this lifetime.

Each year just prior to Losar, the Tibetan Lunar New Year, our Center is open for sitting meditation for seven days straight, 24 hours a day, dedicating all of the meditation to relief from suffering for all sentient beings. KTC asks sangha, patrons & volunteers to sit in meditation during this time and raise sponsorship from friends, family, coworkers, businesses and others at the rate of a minimum of $1 for each minute of this peaceful, healing meditation.

Other than membership pledges, this event is our one major yearly source of funds to help defray our operating expenses, and equally importantly, it is a genuine blessing for all it touches. To balance our budget we need it to raise several thousand dollars, as it has historically done in the past. JOIN US. Fill out our Contact Form and send it back to us, including the time period(s) that you will be here to do your meditation. When you come to do your medition bring the money you have raised in pledges in an envelope with your name on it and put the envelope in the donation basket. Please note: We need valid contact information, including phone number and email address, on the Contact Form in order to confirm your participation with you.

We gratefully accept donations in support of this event from those who are unable to come to sit in meditation here but would like to be connected to this healing activity. Send donations in any amount to the Center. We will allocate your donation to support a meditator’s time. To capture the feeling of participating in this event you can read blog comments by 2006 meditation participants discussing their experience here.


2007 Meditation-Thon Experiences

Friday, February 9th, 2007

Share your Meditation-Thon Experience.

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2007 Meditation-Thon & Losar Celebration

Thursday, February 1st, 2007

Join us anytime from 8am February 10th to 8am February 17th for our fourth annual 24X7 Meditation-Thon, which is capped off on February 18th by the celebration of Losar, the Tibetan Lunar New Year. Sangha, Patrons and Volunteers sit in meditation for seven days straight, dedicated to relief from suffering for all sentient beings. KTC asks both individuals and businesses to sponsor each minute of this peaceful, healing meditation. To capture the feeling you can read blog comments by 2006 meditation participants discussing their experience here. We would be very happy to have you join us. Read the rest of the information in this post and then visit this link for more, important information about this event.

For those who would like to join us but do not know how to do Tibetan meditation or would like refresher instruction, there will be an open meditation lesson at the Center at 7pm on Friday, February 9th. Call the Center or use the contact form on the main page of this website to let us know you are planning to sit in meditation with us during the meditation-thon, and whether or not you will attend the open meditation lesson. We will contact you to sign you up for sitting time that fits your schedule.

For those who plan to come and sit with us and intend to find sponsors for their meditation contact us for sponsor’s materials.

For those who would like to dedicate and / or sponsor meditation time click here.

The schedule for the Meditation-Thon is: Meditation starting at 8am on February 10th - 8am on February 17th.
Karma Yoga from 10am -5pm on February 17th. Green Tara Sadhana orientation at 6pm on February 17th.

The schedule for Losar, February 18th is: 10am - Welcome followed by Green Tara Sadhana and Tsok. Lunch followed by a movie made in Tibet.

Click here next.

KTC First Light 2007

Monday, November 27th, 2006

KTC First Light Ceremony 6:30a.m. 1 January 2007

May the poison of malicious enmity
Never arise in the mind of any one of us.
With loving minds, like the meeting of mother and child,
May all the world be filled with peace and happiness.

From the closing lines of the First Light Prayers. Written by H.E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche.

KTC will be doing its 2nd annual First Light Ceremony on New Year’s Day, 1 January 2007, beginning at 6:30 a.m. First Light is a ceremony that originated at KTD, KTC’s parent monastery, where 108 lamps, carrying the collective prayers for peace and harmony of all those who have contributed to their lighting, have been lit every day since January 1, 2000.

The First Light ceremony is dedicated to bringing a world of peace. Everyone is welcome to attend, but we request that you make a donation for a butterlamp dedicated to world peace. You can sponsor a lamp even if you will not be at the ceremony. Each person participating in KTC’s First Light will receive a copy of the First Light prayers. which can be read every morning upon arising. Each day the KTC First Light lamps supporting your intention for world peace will be lit on KTC’s shrine.

The approximate schedule for First Light is as follows:

6:30 a.m. Chanting of the First Light Prayers. There are 3 short prayers done in a plain chant. Each prayer is chanted 3 times in Tibetan and 3 times in English.
7 a.m. Green Tara Puja with Tsok. You may chant or follow along silently. The puja is in Tibetan but is transliterated and translated into English. Chanting usually requires some practice. Green Tara puja, open to everyone, is done every Thursday morning from April - Dec at 5:45 a.m. at KTC. Check our online calendar for the odd exception to this schedule. If you want to practice, feel free to come to this group practice.
8 a.m. Closing prayers and dedication.
8:15 a.m. Tea and Treats.

First Light butterlamp donation amounts: $1.50 per day. $45 per month. $540 per year. Or other amount in multiples of $1.50.

Please RSVP your lamp donation amount, and whether you will join us to do the practice on 1 January, to Marva Bohen. To reduce spam here is her email address typed out: bohen001 at umn.edu. You should replace the word “at” with the “at sign” when you send your RSVP email. Materials need to be prepared for all participants.

KTC Sangha with Lama WuuFang teaching

Friday, April 21st, 2006

KTC Sangha members learning the Long Amitabha Sadhana with Lama WuuFang, April 2006.

Lama WuuFang at KTC Minneapolis

Friday, April 21st, 2006

Lama WuuFang leading the long Amitabha Puja Sunday, 9 April 2006.

Lama WuuFang Teaching

Friday, April 21st, 2006




Lama WuuFang Teaching

Originally uploaded by KtcMinneapolis.

Lama Wuufang teaching on the Long Amitabha Sadhana Saturday, 8 April 2006 at Karma Thegsum Choling Minneapolis.

Meditation-Thon Experience

Sunday, January 22nd, 2006

Share your Meditation-Thon Experience.

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First Light 2006

Friday, January 20th, 2006




FIRST LIGHT 2006

Originally uploaded by merjess.

Some of the KTC Sangha who performed the First Light Ceremony this year

KTC MEDITATION-THON 2006

Thursday, December 15th, 2005

We sit in silent meditation and do our respective daily practices 24X7 the week leading up to Losar, the Tibetan Lunar New Year. Our intention is: To relieve suffering for all sentient beings. The effect of this activity is real. The more people connected to it the stronger the effect is. We want many people to connect with us in support of this intention. We want to relieve suffering, and we can, all of us, do it.

KTC Minneapolis is dedicated to preventing the extinction of the practices of the Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The money raised by the Meditation-Thon goes into our general operations and into special projects. Click here to participate. Thank you.

First Light Ceremony 6AM 1 Jan 06

Friday, December 9th, 2005

May the poison of malicious enmity
Never arise in the mind of any one of us.
With loving minds, like the meeting of mother and child,
May all the world be filled with peace and happiness.
(From the closing lines of the First Light Prayers.)
Written by H.E. the 12th Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche

This year KTC will be doing a First Light Ceremony on New Year’s Day, January 1 beginning at 6:00 a.m. First Light is a ceremony that has been done at KTD, our parent monastery, and some KTCs worldwide since January of 2000. The ceremony is dedicated to bringing a world of peace. Everyone is welcome to attend, but we request that you make a donation for a butter lamp that will be dedicated to world peace. Butter lamps cost $1.00 per day, so for $30 you can have a butter lamp dedicated to peace on our shrine for a full month, and the prayers from our Sangha will include this intention. KTD has 108 butter lamps as a result of First Light practice. For our first ceremony, we will light lamps at the beginning of the ceremony. The approximate schedule is as follows:

6:00 a.m. Lamp lighting.
6:05 a.m. Chanting of the First Light prayers. There are 3 short prayers. We will chant each prayer 3 times in Tibetan and 3 times in English. This is a plain chant and everyone can participate.
6:30 a.m. Green Tara Puja (You may chant or follow along.)
7:30 a.m. Long life prayers and dedication.
7:45 a.m. Tea and treats

Please RSVP to Marva Bohen. bohen001@umn.edu. Materials need to be prepared for everyone.

Ven Bardor Tulku Rinpoche & Sherri

Wednesday, November 9th, 2005

KTC Sangha Member Sherri Page Nichols enjoys lunch with Ven Bardor Tulku Rinpoche during his visit to KTC in October 2005. Click here to read about the visit.

Garage Sale 2005

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

2005 Garage Sale: $1,567.23 Raised for KTC!

Thankyou for the donations, the sorting & pricing help, the advertising & sign making/putting up, the extra tables & clothing racks, the set up & sales help, and the clean up & recycle help.

It’s a long list of people who contributed significantly in the above mentioned ways to this year’s garage sale success. We would be bound to leave someone out if we try to name everyone, but we need to send a very special thank you to Carolyn Peterson who stepped in and managed the whole thing. All the work was spread over time without any ten hour days or late nights. No strained muscles from one person lifting too many boxes. No last minute rushing to get things done. Amazing! Thank you, Carolyn!

The quality of the donations this year was better than ever before. Lots of really nice things were donated, and we had several return customers who came to see what we had this year. Some people paid us more than we asked and said things like, “Are you sure that’s all this is? It’s for a good cause. Keep the extra.” And more than one person told us they were disappointed that we didn’t have more things than we did.
We want to say to eveyone reading this that we are happy in our Sangha’s heart to be able to raise the money that it takes to bring the Kagyu Lineage with its extraordinary methods, in the exact same form that they were practiced in Tibet, to Minnesota for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Thank you again to everyone who contributed to this year’s effort. We are now accepting donations for our Garage Sale 2006.

Making Offering Tormas for Tara Pujas

Saturday, August 6th, 2005

On Friday evening we had a delicious potluck while freshly made torma dough rested, and then we made 37 kartors to offer at White Tara and Green Tara pujas. 5 pounds of butter simmered while we worked, making almost pints of ghee by the time the tormas were finished.