Who is Vajrayogini? She is the ultimate flowering of the female energy that lies within all of us, a fully enlightened buddha, the essence of totality- beyond duality, beyond ego, and fully controlled. Emphasizing wisdom, the yoga method of Vajrayogini trains us to identify with her divine qualities and leads us on the quickest path to enlightenment.

“The Vajrayogini yoga method is extremely powerful. It is just what we need in these degenerate times, with our delusions running rampant and our minds grasping at concretized sense pleasures. Therefore, a method such as this, which has the wisdom to transform delusions, is of the utmost need, especially as it has the profound property of becoming more powerful as delusions becomes stronger.” –Lama Thubten Yeshe

This practice is restricted to only those with the appropriate tantric empowerment.

A puja is a special ceremony in which prayers are offered to the Buddhas or different manifestations of enlightened beings to request their blessings or invoke their help.

Pujas are performed to avert and clear the three types of obstacles which arise due to the lack of merit, which prevent us from achieving our worldly and spiritual goals. These include issues affecting our day to day life, our mental and physical health and difficulties we might be experiencing in Dharma practice. Removing these obstacles will help us to achieve happiness and good fortune in all our activities.

The following pujas are held at VI each month:

• Guru Puja with Tsog
• Tara Puja
• Medicine Buddha Puja
• Yamantaka Self Initiation (Restricted attendance)
• Vajrayogini Self Initiation (Restricted attendance)

There is also an opportunity to observe a Precepts Day at home by taking the 8 Mahayana precepts and devoting the day to practice.

Guru Puja with Tsog (also known as Lama Chopa) – twice each month

During the practice of Lama Chopa, we invoke all the lamas of the graduated path lineage beginning with Shakyamuni Buddha himself, extending to our present direct teachers who have shown us the path. We pay homage to them, make offerings, and request each of them to please bless our minds with the same realizations that they themselves have generated. By offering sincere, heartfelt requests, we make our minds ripe to receive the full blessings of this precious lineage and quickly actualize the realizations we need to attain enlightenment.

Note: starting times for Pujas vary – please check the calendar for exact times.