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Katrina Smith, Janis Dougherty, and Gary Mickey making offerings to the Twenty-one Taras at Kadampa Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, US, August 2019. Photo courtesy of Kadampa Center.
The Light of the Path, an annual retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche that began in 2009, is organized by Kadampa Center, the FPMT center in Raleigh, North Carolina, US. Donna Seese, spiritual program coordinator, shares the story about prayers and practices being done to create the causes for the next Light of the Path retreat with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, scheduled for August 23-September 20, 2020.
At Kadampa Center, we always look forward to the Light of the Path retreats when we have the opportunity to spend so much time with Lama Zopa Rinpoche and students from all over the world. Before each retreat Rinpoche kindly advises us about prayers and practices to do to remove obstacles and create the causes for the retreat. His advice for the next Light of the Path retreat includes reciting 100,000 “Praises to the Twenty-one Taras” and to organize our own members and others to do these recitations in support of the retreat.
Wow! This was a bit daunting, but we dived right in. We added reciting “Praises to the Twenty-one Taras” to our dedication prayers at Kadampa Center events and special Saturday practice days each month when we focus on reciting “Praises to the Twenty-one Taras.”
We quickly realized that, just like the Light of the Path retreat itself, creating the causes for the retreat is much bigger than Kadampa Center. So in the spring we sent word to our North American FPMT brothers and sisters, and to Rinpoche’s students all around the world who had attended earlier Light of the Path retreats, inviting them to participate in this amazing spiritual endeavor. Within days of sending our emails, the numbers on our website counter jumped by hundreds and then thousands. We also received emails of support from many of our Light of the Path friends!
In early August, with help from our friends around the world, we reached 25,000 recitations of “Praises to the Twenty-one Taras”!
Mini-Tara Retreat with Geshe Gelek Choda at Kadampa Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, US, August 2019. Photo courtesy of Kadampa Center.
One of the blessings of Rinpoche’s advice is that it has introduced Tara practice to newer students who might be unfamiliar with Tara. In April 2019 and again in August, we held a Tara mini-retreat. For those who want to deepen their Tara practice at home, Geshe Gelek Chodha, one of our FPMT resident geshes, taught us how to do retreat on our own. Many students who were new to Tara came and took part, not just with the prayers and recitations, but also pitching in to set up the altar and the offerings, and staying after the dedications to take it all down.
We will hold another two-day Tara mini-retreat October 19-20, 2019. Anyone who wants to join in from home can tune into the livestream.
We’re looking forward to seeing old friends and those new to our FPMT family at the 2020 Light of the Path retreat! Wow! Wow! Wow!
Visit the Kadampa Center’s webpage to contribute your recitations and check the running total of recitations:
https://kadampa-center.org/count-your-praises-21-Taras
For more information about Kadampa Center, visit their website:
https://kadampa-center.org/
FPMT.org and Mandala Publications brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings, and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects, and services around the globe. If you like what you read, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work.