Chanted Prayers

Daily, weekly and monthly prayers

Prayers are held daily, weekly and monthly at Uma KMC.

These are an important part of meditation practice and spiritual training. They help to calm our mind and to connect us to the enlightened beings so we can receive their blessings.

All prayers are free of charge and everyone is welcome.

“In general, prayers made by an assembly of many practitioners are very powerful and cannot be compared to the prayers of one or two people. The scriptures give the analogy of a broom. If we try to clean a floor with a few bristles we shall make little progress, but if we gather many bristles to make a broom we shall be successful.”

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

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Wishfulfilling Jewel

Prayers addressed to the Wisdom Buddha, Je Tsongkhapa, and the Dharma Protector, Dorje Shugden. Through this practice, we can purify our negativities, accumulate spiritual energy (or merit), receive inspiration, and attain powerful compassion, wisdom and spiritual power. We can also overcome obstacles to our spiritual progress and create the right conditions for our inner qualities to grow.

Duration: 1 hour

Daily

Offering to the Spiritual Guide

Prayers addressed to our Spiritual Guide, which contain all the essential practices of the stages of the path (Lamrim) and the training of the mind (Lojong) as well as the generation stage and the completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra. By relying on our Spiritual Guide as one with Je Tsongkhapa, our compassion, spiritual power and especially our wisdom will grow naturally.

Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes

On the 10th & 25th of each month

Tara Prayers

Prayers of request to the twenty-one manifestations of Tara, our Holy Mother. Tara is a female Buddha, the ultimate wisdom manifestation of all the Buddhas. Her name means ‘Rescuer’ because she frees us from all fears, external and internal. Just as a mother protects us from all inner and outer dangers, Tara brings together all the conditions necessary for our spiritual progress.

Duration: 1 hour

On the 8th of every month

Powa prayers for the deceased

When we practise transference of consciousness, or ‘powa’, with faith, compassion and concentration, we can transfer the consciousness of those who have recently died to a higher rebirth or to the Pure Land of a Buddha. The powa ceremony can be performed by a single person or a group of practitioners for the sake of one or more deceased people, as well as for the sake of countless people who have died recently. By performing this practice, we also create a vast collection of merit that will also lead us on the path to the Pure Land of a Buddha.

Duration: 1 hour

Once a month

Melodious Drum

Long prayers to the Dharma Protector, Dorje Shugden. A Dharma Protector always helps, guides and protects practitioners by granting blessings, increasing their wisdom, fulfilling their positive wishes and granting success in all their virtuous activities. This practice is usually done once a month at Kadampa Buddhist centres. We rely on the Dharma Protector, Dorje Shugden, who we recognise as inseparable from our Spiritual Guide and Buddha, to restore any commitments we may have broken or allowed to deteriorate.

Duration: 3 hours 15 minutes

On the 29th of each month

Mahayana Precepts

A special practice of moral discipline that is performed with the motivation of bodhichitta (the determination to attain the enlightened state of a Buddha in order to help living beings). The essence of this practice is to make eight commitments and try to keep them for a period of 24 hours. This practice helps us solve the problems of this life by avoiding the causes of suffering. It also creates the cause for future fortunate rebirths. We must first receive these precepts from a qualified preceptor, and then we can take them on our own as often as we wish.

Duration: 45 minutes

Once a month