Sangha Registration

His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be giving Teachings, Amitabha Initiation, and Medicine Buddha Initiation at the Long Beach Convention Center  

Free tickets are available to monks and nuns on a first-come first-served basis. Space is limited and registration is required for these Sangha members.

Download Sangha Application

To register for the event, fill out an application, 1 passport sized photo, a copy of your identification. Please also let us know if you will require any special assistance such as wheelchairs on the registration form.

Once the application and photo is received, an admission badge will be created for the Sangha member. 

Mail your completed Sangha application with photo, ID copy, and include a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

Geden Shoeling Center
Dalai Lama Sangha Registration
14041 Olive Street
Westminster, CA   92683 

If you have further questions you may contact gedenshoeling@hotmail.com. Please be patient while waiting for a reply as the event is being organized entirely by volunteers. Unfortunately, at this time the Center is not staffed to handle phone calls about the event, please send an email for further event information.

Dear Prospective Sangha Registrants:
 
Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm in His Holiness The Dalai Lama's teaching event hosted by our center this September 2009.  Sangha members will need to register for the event by filling out the registration form and specify which days or both to which you wish to attend and whether you will require any special assistance.  If you wish to volunteer, you will also have to fill out the volunteer form and send a passport-sized photograph of yourself.  Donations to sponsor free teaching and luncheon to monks and nuns and/or to support the general organization of this auspicious event are welcome and deeply appreciated.
The tickets are free and available on first-come first-served basis, but, at this time, are limited to maximum 3 per family.  Additional tickets for each registrant and family may be available and will be determined in the near future as we wish to give everyone equal opportunity to access and attend His Holiness The Dalai Lama's precious teaching.  Except for our honored guests, there will be no seating assignment as it will be general admission.  As expected with any organized teaching by His Holiness The Dalai Lama, there will be security check at the entrance prior to each session and there will be restrictions on certain items to be brought into the arena such as cameras, audio and video equipments, cell phones with camera and/or recording capability, etc, and ofcourse, any weapons and fire-hazard items. 
We are currently preparing a booklet to accompany the event with a brief description of the Four Noble Truths, the Medicine Buddha Initiation, and the Amitabha Buddha Permission Initiation.  But you can always read ahead of time on your own to prepare for these topics as you wish.
For any general questions, please refer to our website periodically as we are updating it regularly to respond to your questions and demands.  For tickets or any specific questions or concerns, please contact us by email at gedenshoeling@hotmail.com  As all our administrative and organizing duties are, at this time, assumed and human-powered by our center's own students, we would appreciate that you request for tickets only once so that your registration will not be processed more than once.
Thank you for your understanding, cooperation and support.
Tashi Delek.
Best wishes,
 

Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jamyang, 
Geshe Norbu Chophol and
all Dharma students at Geden Shoeling.

INITIATION OF THE MEDICINE BUDDHA
The Medicine Buddha (“Sangye Menla” in Tibetan) is one of the best-known deities of Mahayana (Large Vehicle) Buddhism, which developed in the Far East and in the Himalayas. In Tibet many practices are dedicated to him, in order to obtain cure for oneself and others. Traditional doctors invoke the Medicine Buddha specially to bless their medicine.

Generally represented by the blue color of lapis lazuli, the Medicine Buddha makes it possible to prevent diseases, supports healing by purifying habitual tendencies (karma) and negative emotions which are the source of the disease, and is a support for those who are approaching the end of their life span. The practice of the Medicine Buddha is beneficial for good health, necessary for both ordinary and spiritual life. Ultimately, it leads to the realisation of Enlightenment and the achievement of good for others.

According to a contemporary Tibetan Master, “the Medicine Buddha is more than a healer of the body or the mind. It is the very force of the indefatigable compassion that illuminates the whole world, the therapeutic energy of our most intimate being”. (quoted from the Dictionary of Buddhism, Philippe Cornu, Le Seuil, Paris).

The term “initiation” comes from the Tibetan word “wang”, which literally means “transmission of power”. On this subject, His Holiness the Dalai Lama explains: “To start, our fundamental nature, what is called “the Buddha nature”, the true nature of our mind, is present in us in a natural and fundamental way. The mind that is ours has been functioning since beginningless time; The same holds for the more subtle nature of our mind. Based on the continuity of this subtle nature is the possibility of attaining Enlightenment, the state of spontaneous freedom of all suffering. This potential is what one calls the seed of Enlightenment, the Buddha nature, the fundamental nature….

It is certain that in all of us resides this potential which enables us to attain the state of Buddhahood (...) and to recognize the nature of our mind. The process of initiation, or wang, brings out to some extent this potential, and allows the Buddha nature to appear more fully. When you receive an initiation, it is the nature of your own mind, the Buddha nature, which enables the initiation to mature inside of you”.

(Extract from a teaching given in Vincennes on October 7, 1982 during the transmission of Sangwa Gyachen, a treasure revealed by the 5th Dalai Lama).

An empowerment creates the necessary conditions for the development in us of the same qualities as the Medicine Buddha. This initiation is open to all, and can also be received by non-Buddhists as a blessing. 

LONGLIFE CEREMONY FOR AND WITH THE PRESENCE OF HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA (TENSHUG)
The practice of Tenshug has existed for a long time in the Buddhist tradition. It consists of a religious offering destined to request a spiritual Master to live for a long time, so that he can work for the welfare of all beings as long as possible. This ceremony realized by the Tibetan communities of Switzerland and Europe are a great occasion to pray for the long live of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and at the same time are a unique opportunity for each practitioner to strengthen their connexion with His Holiness. The Tibetans who participate in the Tenshug aspire to develop a pure motivation and compromise, reciting as many Long life prayers as possible for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It is a ceremony open to everyone.