Meditation Practices at Jamchen
Saturday Sadhana Practice
Participation in some of the Sakya Sadhana practices on Saturday might require a prior formal initiation or empowerment. These sadhana's might include for example the Green Tara, Vajrapani, Medicine Buddha, Uncommon White Tara and Chenrezig practices.
An initiation is a formal ceremony performed by a qualified Tibetan Buddhist teacher (Lama or Rinpoche). It usually involves a commitment to maintain the connection with that deity, for example by chanting daily the mantra belonging to the meditational deity or doing a regular sadhana practice. This type of initiation usually only occurs after one has formally taken "refuge" in Buddhism. Taking refuge in the Buddha's teachings and path involves certain moral and ethical commitments which are explained by the teacher at the time of the ceremony (see the "taking refuge" webpage page).
Sadhana (in Tibetan "sgrub thabs") is best translated as 'Means of accomplishment' .A sadhana is a ritual text presenting the means to accomplish one or several deities, who in essence are the ultimate state of a buddha. There are differences between the Mahayana and various Vajrayana Sadhana's, but in essence the typical sadhana structure involves a preliminary part including the taking of refuge and arousing bodhichitta, a main part involving visualization of a buddha or deity and recitation of the specific mantra, and a concluding part with dedication of merit to all sentient beings
His Eminence Zimwock Rinpoche conduct initiations into several Deity and sadhana practices on a regular basis at various centres around Australia and New Zealand.
More complex puja's (like the annual 3 day Mahakala Puja conducted by Zimwock Tulku) or certain higher sadhana practices (e.g. Vajrayogini and Hevajra) might require a major initiation which could be more elaborate, and might even take place over several days. These higher initiations usually will require a more significant commitment from participants, for example to perform a sadhana on a daily basis or perform a retreat over a number of days or weeks. Often these higher mpowerments require other prior initiations from participants before receiving the new higher empowerments. On some occasions retreat commitments of several months or even years might be a part of these more advanced (major) initiations.
In some circumstances people might have received an initiation into the sadhana practices from a different Tibetan tradition (i.e. not Sakya). In this case the person would need to discuss this with their teacher to see if this would qualify them to do the specific Sakya sadhana's or attend initiations.
On some occasions people might be able to sit in on a sadhana practice (but without reading the sadhana). this might be for example in order for that person to create a connection with a specific deity, and then be able to recite the mantra as part of their personal meditation practise (but again this would need to be discussed their teacher).
For information on the Saturday morning Meditation Program (including the meditation session based on historical Nagarjuna and Shantideva methods), please see saturday_meditation_program.html
Calm Abiding Meditation Sessions (CAM), Courses, and Retreats
The Calm Abiding Meditation classes and practice sessions conducted at JBC are secular events, and as such are not strictly Buddhist and so do not require a prior initiation (or being a Buddhist practitioner). Anyone who has received some prior basic training and instruction is free to attend our weekly "sitting practice" on Sundays (make sure you contact the Centre in advance to confirm event time and location), or the Monday evening sessions with John Julian (please contact John directly by email before attending).
The annual CAM introductory classes are also open to anyone with an interest in meditation and formal buddhist requirements are not necessary to take part. For the regular yearly retreats please enquire directly prior to the event, some retreats are secular and others are Buddhist events for advanced training.
Further Calm Abiding Meditation course info see calm_abiding_meditation_courses_2011.html and cam_weekly_practice_sessions_2011.html
Public Puja’s: Green Tara or 16 Arhat Puja
The Buddhist Sadhana practice should be distinguished from some of the public Pujas which are traditionally conducted as public events in Tibetan Buddhist culture, and these are usually open for all people to attend. They do not always require a prior initiation (for example Green Tara, Sixteen Arhat, and some others), but you can enquire before a specific event if you are not certain. At Jamchen Buddhist Centre the Green Tara Pujas are conducted on full moon days and the Sixteen Arhat Puja is conducted on holy days in the Buddhist calendar.