2022 Event Gallery

Concise Offering of the Body

From the Root Text of the Heart Accomplishment of the Guru Tukdrup, the Essential Manual of Oral Instructions

Saturday, August 27, 2022
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT

This special teaching is offered at DDSC & ONLINE via Zoom

Vietnamese & Chinese translation provided on Zoom.
* Please join Zoom 15 minutes early.

Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche will give the commentary for transforming self grasping, allowing the wisdom of natural luminosity to effortlessly arise.

 

Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche, DDSC’s Spiritual Director, was born in Kham in the Nangchen region of Eastern Tibet, and  is a long time student of H. E. Garchen Rinpoche. When he was seven years old, he received the vows of Refuge from Garchen Rinpoche, and at the age of twelve, he became ordained as a monk.

He studied the philosophy of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism under numerous masters, such as the revered Dzogchen Master Khenpo Munsel and revered Nyingma Master Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok. Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche taught for five years at Kagyu College at Jangchubling Monastery in Dehra Dun, India.

Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche has written several books such as Learning Buddhism: The Source of Temporary and Permanent Happiness; Stages of Meditation: Awakening the Mind; Clarifying the Central Thoughts of the Single Intention: a Commentary on Jigten Sumgon’s Gongchig, one of the significant philosophical texts of the Kagyu Lineage; Supplication to the Ultimate Illustrious Tara: a Commentary on Jigten Sumgon’s Seven Verses to Tara; and Essence of the Mahayana Teachings: a Commentary on Jigten Sumgon’s Lam Rim text.

Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche has a wonderfully open mind that takes in all contemporary western thought and effortlessly points out the relationships to eastern thought.

  • A $25 donation is respectfully suggested for this retreat.
  • Donations of any amount are gratefully appreciated.
  • No one turned away for a lack of funds.
  • Please maintain pandemic courtesies.


For more information please contact:
drikungdharmasurya@gmail.com

GUIDED MEDITATION RETREAT – SHAMATHA (CALM ABIDING)

Led by Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche

Saturday, August 20 – Sunday, August 21, 2022
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT
2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. EDT

IN PERSON at DDSC & ONLINE via Zoom

Vietnamese & Chinese translation provided on Zoom.
* Please join Zoom 15 minutes prior to each session.
* Chinese translation will be available Sat & Sun from 10 AM – 12 PM EDT.

This program is well-suited for the general public from all walks of life as well as Buddhist practitioners of all levels.

Please download text here:
Shamatha Meditation Instructions, Stages of Meditation

“Shamatha is the method of meditation where we develop single-pointed concentration so the mind does not follow our discursive conceptual thoughts, but just relaxes in a state of stillness and ease…When we develop shamatha, we develop inner peace and happiness. The mind becomes happy and relaxed…”
~ Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche, Learning Buddhism


All meditation must begin with arousing deep compassion. Whatever one does must emerge from an attitude of love and benefiting others.
~ Milarepa


Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche, DDSC’s Spiritual Director, was born in Kham in the Nangchen region of Eastern Tibet, and  is a long time student of H. E. Garchen Rinpoche. When he was seven years old, he received the vows of Refuge from Garchen Rinpoche, and at the age of twelve, he became ordained as a monk.

He studied the philosophy of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism under numerous masters, such as the revered Dzogchen Master Khenpo Munsel and revered Nyingma Master Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok. Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche taught for five years at Kagyu College at Jangchubling Monastery in Dehra Dun, India.

Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche has written several books such as Learning Buddhism: The Source of Temporary and Permanent Happiness; Stages of Meditation: Awakening the Mind; Clarifying the Central Thoughts of the Single Intention: a Commentary on Jigten Sumgon’s Gongchig, one of the significant philosophical texts of the Kagyu Lineage; Supplication to the Ultimate Illustrious Tara: a Commentary on Jigten Sumgon’s Seven Verses to Tara; and Essence of the Mahayana Teachings: a Commentary on Jigten Sumgon’s Lam Rim text.

Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche has a wonderfully open mind that takes in all contemporary western thought and effortlessly points out the relationships to eastern thought.

2nd ANNUAL KANGYUR RECITATION

Led by Venerable Khenpo Thupsang

 

July 18, 2022 to August 14, 2022 

Weekdays, Monday – Friday
8:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. EDT
1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. EDT

Weekends, Saturday – Sunday 
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EDT
2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. EDT

Join us in person at Drikung Dharma Surya Center, or from your location around the world via Zoom, to participate in this very special Kangyur recitation led by Venerable Khenpo Thupsang.

Khenpo Konchok Thupsang was born in Tibet and had his early training at the Gar Monastery in eastern Tibet. He later had nine years of Dharma education at Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro Institute in Chauntra, India. Khenpo Thupsang entered the Kagyu Monastery in Tibet at the age of 15 and he further studied sutra and tantra in the Dzongsar Buddhist College. Since then, Khenpo has been abbot and teacher at the Lhagon Jangchub Choling Buddhist Cultural Society in India for several years.

Since coming to the USA to teach Dharma in H.E. Garchen Rinpoche’s sanghas, Khenpo Thupsang has so kindly recited prayers and the Kangyur texts while at Drikung Dharma Surya Center, benefiting so many beings.

Kangyur, or “translated words,” consists of works in about 100 volumes, said to have been spoken by the Buddha himself. Khenpo Konchok Thupsang will lead the recitation of the sacred Kangyur text in the DDSC shrine room, where everyone is welcome to participate by reciting, listening, and/or contemplating.

Per Garchen Rinpoche’s guidance, DDSC continues to organize the 2nd Annual Kangyur Recitation for the dedication of:

  • Good health and long life of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
  • Good health and long life of all the Lineage Holders and all the Gurus of All Traditions.
  • Well-being, peace and happiness in the world.

By contributing to the recitation of the Kangyur, you create a vast amount of merit and there is an immense purification of negative karma, especially to overcome many obstacles such as war, disease, and natural calamities as well as to offer dedications for those who have passed away.

When carrying out this effort with sincere motivation, unfavorable circumstances that bring problems can be changed. It is said that recitation prayers performed by ordained ones are particularly powerful and effective as they are done on the basis of pure morality.

  • Donations are gratefully welcome.
  • No one turned away for a lack of funds.
  • Please maintain pandemic courtesies.

HEART SUTRA THE PERFECTION OF WISDOM BESTOWED BY H.E. GARCHEN RINPOCHE FROM ARIZONA

Hosted by Drikung Dharma Surya Center


Saturday, July 16th, 2022

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EDT

We offer language translation in Vietnamese, Chinese, and Spanish, all available on DDSC’s Zoom Webinar.

Join us in person at Drikung Dharma Surya Center, or from your location around the world, to receive this very special and profound teaching streamed live as H.E. Garchen Rinpoche bestows the Heart Sutra from Arizona.

Drikung Kagyu Prayer Book, The Sutra of the Heart of the Glorious Lady Prajñāpāramitā (p. 36)

“Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness. In the same way feeling, discrimination, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Śāriputra, all phenomena are emptiness, without characteristics, without arising, without ceasing, without stain, not without stain, without decrease, and without increase…”

~ Noble Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, to venerable Śāriputra (Heart Sutra)

Three Long-Life Buddha Practices in Honor of H.H. the Dalai Lama’s 87th Birthday
Led by Khenpo Choephel Rinpoche

Sunday, July 03 – Sunday, July 10, 2022

In person at Drikung Dharma Surya Center and
Online with the global Sangha via Zoom.

PLEASE NOTE
The Buddha Amitayus Empowerment will be bestowed only in person at Drikung Dharma Surya Center. This session will Not be streamed via Zoom.

Everyone at Drikung Dharma Surya Center welcomes you to join this special event!


Khenpo Choephel Rinpoche is the Abbot of Drikung Kagyu Rinchen Ling Monastery and the Spiritual Director of Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center.

Khenpo Choephel Rinpoche is originally from Drigung Thil Monastery, the head-monastery of the Drikung Kagyu lineage. While at Drikung Thil, he received many teachings and instructions, first from Pachung Rinpoche and later from Pachung Rinpoche’s successor, Gelong Rinpoche, Vajradhara Tenzin Nyima.

Aside from having received extensive teachings in Mahamudra from these two great masters, he is also a master in the ritual-traditions of Drikung Thil Monastery and has received training in debate and philosophy at Drepung Monastery in Tibet. Before he left Drikung Thil for Nepal, Khenpo Choephel served as the chant master of the monastery. In 2007, he was appointed “Khenpo” by Drikung Thil Monastery.

Khenpo Choephel Rinpoche served as one of the three spiritual directors at the Tibetan Meditation Center in Frederick, Maryland until 2011, and now is the Spiritual Director of the Three Rivers Tibetan Cultural Center in Pittsburgh, PA. In 2018, he was invited back to Drikung Kagyu Rinchen Ling in Nepal to serve as the abbot and teacher there.

Event Schedule:

Sunday July 3, 2022
10 AM – 12 PM EDT
2 PM – 4 PM EDT
Essence of Mahayana

Wednesday July 6, 2022
10 AM – 12 PM EDT
White Tara Practice & Achi Chokyi Drolma Puja

Friday July 8, 2022  (In person at DDSC only)
7 PM – 9 PM EDT
Buddha Amitayus Empowerment

The empowerment will be bestowed in person at Drikung Dharma Surya Center. This session will not be streamed via Zoom.

Saturday July 9, 2022
10 AM – 12 PM EDT
3 Long-Life Buddhas Mantra Accumulation,
Puja & Practice in honor of
H.H. Dalai Lama’s 87th Birthday

2 PM – 4 PM EDT
Essence of Mahayana

Sunday July 10, 2022
10 AM – 12 PM EDT
2 PM – 4 PM EDT
35 Confession Buddhas Teaching & Practices

Event Texts:

~ Essence of the Mahayana Teachings, Lord Jigten Sumgon’s Root Text Excerpt
This excerpt was extracted from, Essence of the Mahayana Teachings: A commentary on Jigten Sumgön’s Lam Rim Text by Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche.

To order this book from the bookstore, please email DDSC at drikungdharmasurya@gmail.com.

The Kindle edition is found at this link:
Essence of the Mahayana Teachings: A commentary on Jigten Sumgön’s Lam Rim Text by Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche

~ Jubilee Book

Event Details

  • A $25 donation is respectfully suggested to help with the costs of this program. We are able to offer these Dharma programs due to the generosity of the Sangha. Please know that this is only a suggestion and donations of any size are gratefully accepted. Your donations are deeply and gratefully appreciated, as they help us to operate and sustain the Center for the benefit of all beings and they benefit the Sangha as a whole. Anyone with a wish to participate is welcome to attend, and no one is turned away due to a lack of funds.
  • We kindly remind you that all on-site attendants must be vaccinated and are encouraged to wear masks for the safety of all others. Also, if you have had contact with someone who was sick or you are not feeling well, please rest at home and consult with your doctor immediately.

“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive. I have a precious human life. I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others. I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”

~ H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama

Full Moon Saga Dawa Celebration

led by Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche
and co-organized with the Capital Area Tibetan Association

Tuesday, June 14th

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. EDT
Meditation, Prayers, and Deity Practice

11:00 a.m. EDT
Buddha Shakyamuni Empowerment

6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. EDT
Saga Dawa Prayers and Puja

In person at Drikung Dharma Surya Center and Online with the global Sangha via Zoom.

With great joy, we welcome you to join this year’s Buddha Shakyamuni Empowerment and Saga Dawa Prayers and Puja!

The Saga Dawa Duchen commemorates the birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana of Buddha Shakyamuni.

Saga Dawa is the month of merits multiplied by a hundred thousand times. We say prayers and do pujas in order to accumulate greater virtuous merits and to purify our negative karmas, to pray for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all of the Holy Gurus of all traditions, and to pray for the well-being, peace, happiness, and enlightenment of all sentient beings.

“Namo Guru Shakyamuniye!
Supreme teacher, bhagavan, tathagata, arhat, complete and perfect Buddha, glorious conqueror, Shakyamuni Buddha, to you I pay homage! To you I make offerings! In you I take refuge!”

Texts

Event Details

  • We kindly remind you that all on-site attendants must be vaccinated and are encouraged to wear masks for the safety of all others. Also, if you have had contact with someone who was sick or you are not feeling well, please rest at home and consult with your doctor immediately.
  • Your Donations are deeply and gratefully appreciated, as they will be used to help operate and sustain the Center for the benefit of all beings. Anyone with a wish to participate is welcome to attend, and no one is turned away due to a lack of funds. 

MANI RETREAT AND AVALOKITESHVARA EMPOWERMENT

Led by Drupon Tsering Rinpoche

Thursday May 12 – Sunday May 15, 2022

9am – 6pm EDT

Avalokiteshvara Empowerment – May 12 at 7pm EDT

The retreat will be held in person at Drikung Dharma Surya Center as well as virtually via Zoom. Everyone at Drikung Dharma Surya Center welcomes you to join this special event!

Venerable Drupon Tsering Rinpoche is the resident Lama of the Drikung Garchen Institute of the Drikung Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism located in Munich, Germany. His life has been devoted to the Dharma from a very young age. His profound and inspiring biography is found at the Drikung Garchen Institut e.V. Center for Buddhist Studies and Meditation webpage.

The Mani Retreat is centered on the boundless love, compassion, and wisdom of Avalokiteshvara, whose mantra is OM MANI PADME HUNG HRI.

When we recite OM MANI PADME HUNG with the mind to benefit all beings, we are engaging in a profound method that transforms our impure body, speech, and mind to a pure state of body, speech, and mind. Reciting each syllable of the Mani mantra with a mind of bodhicitta closes the doors to the six realms of samsara and frees sentient beings from suffering.

“The more Mani mantras we recite, the more love will increase in the minds of sentient beings, the more hatred will decrease. The minds of beings will become peaceful and happy, which will also help one’s country. If the minds of humans become peaceful and happy, then also the minds of spirits will become peaceful and happy. The Mani mantra practice is supreme in order to bring about peace and happiness.”
~ H.E. Garchen Rinpoche

Event Details

  • The Mani Retreat will start each day at 9 AM and end at 6 PM EDT, with daily teachings and practices at the DDSC Shrine Hall.
  • Practice books and lunches will be provided.
  • You are welcome to attend the retreat as your schedule allows.
  • Your Donations are deeply and gratefully appreciated, as they will be used to help operate and sustain the Center for the benefit of all beings. Anyone with a wish to participate is welcome to attend, and no one is turned away due to a lack of funds.

Practice Texts

Approximate Schedule for Practice Sessions:

9:00am – 10:30am
Tea break
11:00am – 12:00pm
Lunch break
2:00pm – 3:30pm
Tea break
4:00pm – 5:30pm

We kindly remind you that all on-site attendants must be vaccinated and are encouraged to wear masks for the safety of all others.  Also, if you have had contact with someone who was sick or you are not feeling well, please rest at home and consult with your doctor immediately.

 

CELEBRATING LOSAR 2022, YEAR OF THE TIGER WITH DRIKUNG DHARMA SURYA, WITH
HIS HOLINESS THE 37TH DRIKUNG KYABGON CHETSANG and KHENPO SAMDUP RINPOCHE

  • 03 – 04 March 2022:  Buddha Sakyamuni – Medicine Buddha Puja & Smoke Offerings with Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche
    9:30 AM – 11:30AM EDT
  • 05 March 2022:  Medicine Buddha Blessings – Prayer Flags Raising – Prayer for World Peace with His Holiness the 37th Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang
    9:30 AM – 11:30AM EDT
  • ON-SITE @ DDSC TEMPLE: Due to on-going COVID-19 Pandemic, WEARING MASKS WITH SOCIAL DISTANCE OF 6 FEET is REQUIRED

Celebrating Lunar New Year 2022, Year of the Tiger with Drikung Dharma Surya and Khenpo Samdup Rinpoche

  • Buddha Sakyamuni – Medicine Buddha Puja & Smoke Offerings:  01 February, 9:30 AM – 12 PM EDT
  • New Year Blessings:  01- 03 February, 10AM – 2PM EDT