Christmas Eve Puja
Sunday 24 December @ 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Join us for our annual Shakyamuni Buddha puja, offering all the Christmas trees and lights in the world! We make many elaborate and beautiful offerings and recite praises, all in English with the traditional Tibetan tunes. We offer chai and dedicate the merits of the year, and finish with strewing flowers to the ten directions! Don’t miss the best Buddhist party you could ever come to!
Enjoyed by both Buddhists and non-Buddhist alike, this is a popular annual event that brings meaning to what is often experienced as a stressful and hyper-materialistic time of year.
We offer prayers for world peace and community dedications for the end of the year. We also display the giant 3m applique silk thangka of the Buddha, where everyone will have a chance to bathe the baby buddha statue on the altar, and receive a blessing from the nuns of the holy Buddhist relic.
If you are bringing offerings, please make sure they are non-perishable and commercially packaged (to adhere to our COVID-safe plan). They will be offered to the needy at a later date.
It is very important to practice compassion, which is the essence of religion. It’s not only in Buddhism—any religion should be like that. We should all practice compassion and kindness towards others. Often His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, ‘My religion is kindness towards others.’ That makes sense: my religion is kindness towards others. That has great meaning. If that is practiced, it is impossible to have all these wars between religions for years and years, where so many hundred thousand, millions of people get killed or suffer. I guess, maybe, they missed out on what the real meaning of religion is. They missed out or didn’t get to practice the real essence of religion—compassion or kindness towards other living beings.
– Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Jesus had exceptionally great compassion. It is very good to consider this deeply. If the thought comes to our mind, “I must gain his realizations and become as compassionate as he was,” then this is the most perfect basis on which to have a celebration of his birth. With this feeling in our hearts, a Christmas festival can be very meaningful and worthwhile.
– Lama Thubten Yeshe
Presented by:
Miffi Maxmillion
Registered FPMT TeacherThe Spiritual Program Co-ordinator of LTC, leading beginner’s courses since 1998. With a background in circus and costumes, Miffi lends a contemporary flavour to both Buddhist psychology and ritual ceremonies.
Download the puja text:
Shakyamuni Buddha Puja Text, (pdf) it looks very long but we are just doing the essential parts!
Light Offering Prayer
Calling the Lama From Afar
Christmas Reading for Buddhists:
Christmas Dharma is short talk from Lama Yeshe given to western students feeling unsure of what to do with their feelings of “missing out on Christmas.”
Silent Mind, Holy Mind (pdf) is the full collection of talks given by Lama Yeshe at Kopan, to Westerners on Christmas Eve.
Yes, you can just come on the day, but your RSVP helps us plan – thank you!
Can’t come to the puja but still want to donate to the offerings?
Make a contribution on someone’s behalf, with an option to send an eCard or tribute to them if you wish.
Donate to a Puja
Can’t make it to puja but still want to be involved? You can make your donation here and we will purchase offerings on your behalf.
If you wish, email in a dedication to be read at puja, or come along via zoom and dedicate on the night.
Donations can also be made via bank transfer: Langri Tangpa Centre Inc, ANZ Bank, BSB 014-508, Account 498788594, REF puja.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave us specific advice when we first moved to Camp Hill, that in order for the centre to survive and to flourish we needed great stores of merit. One of the practices he recommended was for us to do Tara Puja and Medicine Buddha Puja together as a group. So even if you cannot be there physically, you can still be very much involved. In this way, we can all contribute to the continuation of our wonderful LTC.
Many of us in the modern world are time-poor, but this need not be an obstacle to participating in the spiritual heart of Langri Tangpa Centre – the pujas and practices. Reading dedications from our people that couldn’t make it on the night helps to develop a sense of community, and brings a face to the dedication “for all sentient beings”.