Tibetan Buddhist dharma center

A Tibetan Buddhist (Vajrayana) dharma center of one lineage, as most American centers are: a nonprofit with a shrine room, a resident or visiting teacher, and a mostly convert membership. The center as written follows the Gelug school's network, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), whose centers often have a resident geshe, a monk who has finished the long course of the monastic universities; Karma Kagyu centers (with lay lamas from the three-year retreat), Nyingma, Sakya, and Shambhala centers differ in their teachers, texts, and calendars. There is no single weekly service but a layered schedule: a Sunday-morning practice (meditation, a sadhana chanted together, and the teacher's talk), weekday classes and multi-year study programs, and monthly pujas on the Tibetan lunar days (the Medicine Buddha on the 8th, tsog on the 10th and 25th, the full moon, the protectors on the 29th) that fall on any weekday. The shrine is the richest of any Buddhist room: statues, thangkas, texts and a stupa, seven water bowls, butter lamps; shoes come off, and people sit on cushions or chairs before the teacher's throne. A visiting lama's teachings and empowerments draw the year's biggest crowds. Giving is tiered and per event: membership dues with discounts, course and empowerment fees with dana to the lama, sponsored pujas and lamp offerings for named people, and long campaigns for stupas and prayer wheels. A board runs the nonprofit, but the lineage and the network set the teachers and the programs. Lay people have no diet rule; Tibetan custom eats meat, though FPMT's teachers encouraged vegetarianism and many centers serve vegetarian meals: the center as written sets no rule on meat, and encourages vegetarian food. Most Tibetan families in America gather at their own community centers instead. The lunar dates are reckoned approximately and may be a month off in some years.

All 80 traditions · its profile in Faiths and traditions, with how to play it and what sets its faith apart; How people feel, what every factor is.

At a glance

Faith	Buddhism
Its words	dharma center, dharma center, shrine room; the resident teacher leads the practice; the teaching; Sunday; the dharma texts
Worship	image focus, chanted, moderate formality (0.67 of 1); seated on floor
Music	organ discouraged; gospel organ discouraged; piano discouraged; choir discouraged; band discouraged; brass discouraged; handbells discouraged; chant expected
The room's sound	no strong preference
Its year	tibetan; full observance; fasts none
Leans	liberal on moral questions, neutral on economic ones
Polity	congregational; leaders come by call; property local
Leaders	one leader, full time, trained by seminary; marriage any
Belonging	moderate commitment, none discipline, admitted by board
Giving	tithing not emphasised; collected by dues, boxes, online; also stipends, candles
Way of life	alcohol moderation, dress church clothes, sabbath relaxed

The week's services

Day	Time	Service	Led by	People look for it
Sunday	9:30 am	Sunday practice	the resident teacher	expected
Wednesday	7:00 pm	Weeknight class (meditation evening)	the resident teacher	optional

Leader: a resident teacher. With none (a vacancy, or no one hired), the dharma center holds a Lay-led practice in place of its own, led by the laity, which costs everyone at it 0.04; on sabbatical a supply resident teacher stands in ($800 a month).

Rites

Taking Refuge (per joining, +0.02 to those there): Someone becomes a Buddhist before the resident teacher: kneeling before the image, they take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, receive the Five Precepts, and are given a dharma name by the teacher who becomes their own.
Tsog offering (monthly, +0.025 to those there): The feast offering: once a month, on the tenth or the twenty-fifth day of the Tibetan month, the sangha chants the Guru Puja (Lama Chöpa) and offers food and drink to the buddhas, then shares it among everyone there.
Empowerment (quarterly, +0.04 to those there): A visiting lama confers an empowerment (wang): permission to practise a deity such as Chenrezig, Green Tara, or the Medicine Buddha, given in person to those who have taken refuge, often with commitments to daily practice. Students register and give dana to the lama.
Memorial service for the dead (on request, +0.015 to those there): Chanting for someone who has died: on the seventh days after a death through the forty-ninth, and on the anniversaries after, the family comes before the altar, the names are read, incense, tea, and food are offered, and the merit is dedicated to the one who died. The family gives the temple an offering.
Buddhist wedding (on request, +0.02 to those there): A couple marries before the Buddha: they offer incense together, exchange vows and rings (and, in Japanese temples, the beads of the onenju) before the resident teacher, who chants and gives them a short talk.

Joining

Joining: a content regular is received as a member after about 8 weeks.
Joining age: 18.
Kinds of belonging: members (votes, may hold office); students; received by its board.
What it means: being received is worth +0.1 to the person, +0.05 to family there, and +0.03 to everyone else at the service. It roots them: a rooted household drifts away only 0.6 times as often, and if it does fall away, it has a 25% chance of coming home at each of its great days (at most once a month) for ten years.

Giving, and what goes up

How its people give and what else comes in, as Money explains it for every faith.

How it's given: the dana, by dues, boxes, and giving online. With no plate passed, members give a tenth less at the boxes than they would into one, and visitors give nothing at the service. Those who give online give whether or not they come (8% more a month).
Tithing isn't emphasised: people give 10% less.
Dues: each November member households take up their dues, about 70% of what they could give (±15%), with the chance a pledge would be made (0.9 × engagement), and pay them monthly, nearly always; regulars who haven't joined pay none, so membership is most of the income.
Butter lamps: 60¢ for each person at each service.
Service offerings: $15 a service, and more with weddings and funerals.
Fundraisers: only the modest ones (below).
Owed above: nothing.

The resident teacher, the staff, and who decides

How the resident teacher comes: advertised and called: the board of directors decides, then the FPMT International Office must consent, from the wider body's list.
Paid: full time; housed or given an allowance, as you set.
Candidates: three apply; trained at seminary; women among them (about a third); never married (celibacy is required).
Tenure: settled, then may be called elsewhere.
Ranks: Getsul (novice), Gelong, Geshe; a candidate holds one by skill, and rises with the years.
Staff it can hire or name (see Staff and volunteers):
- Bivocational resident teacher ($22,000–$38,000; cares for 75)
- Resident teacher ($55,000–$85,000 + $18,000 benefits, full time; cares for 150)
- Associate resident teacher ($42,000–$62,000 + $15,000 benefits, full time; cares for 100 more)
- Resident monk or nun (up to $2,400; cares for 40 more)
- Visiting lama ($6,000–$18,000; leads worship)
- Caretaker ($18,000–$30,000; slows the building's wear)
- Dharma center secretary ($20,000–$35,000; runs the office (+50 to the leader's reach, once))
- Youth director ($20,000–$40,000; up to +0.08 for households with young people)
Its boards: the board of directors (deciding, over everything).
Renovations: The members vote.
New construction: The members vote.
Calling a leader: The board of directors decides, then the FPMT International Office must consent.
Who votes: members, 16 and over.

Life together

What its Community screen offers it, with the dilemmas only its own faith or family meets; see The congregation in its community.

Ministries of its own: Hospital and prison chaplaincy, Meditation for beginners, Study programme.
Ministries every tradition can run that it's offered: Blood drive, Food pantry, Health clinic, Preschool, Youth group.
Fundraisers of its own: Stupa campaign dinner.
Shared fundraisers it may hold (only the modest ones): Bake sale, Car wash, Raffle, Rummage sale.
Tenants it can take: A Masonic lodge, A scout troop, A twelve-step group, Dance classes, Parties and receptions, Wedding receptions.
Outreach: invitation Sunday, literature (from a reading room or an office) (Community → Evangelism).
Dilemmas of its own faith (besides those every congregation meets): A lama on tour, Through the fence.
Dilemmas its code of life brings: A raffle for the roof, A recruiter asks for the hall, Champagne at the reception.

What the building needs

required Buddha imageThe Buddha's image sits at the front of the hall, with offerings of light, flowers, and incense.
expected Incense burnerIncense is offered before the altar at every service.
expected Shoe rackShoes come off at the door of the hall, onto racks.
expected ThangkaPainted thangkas of the Buddhas, the deities practised, and the lineage's masters hang around the shrine room.
discouraged Drum kitA band and drum kit do not belong in this tradition's worship.
discouraged Hammond organA gospel organ doesn't suit this tradition's worship.
discouraged National flagThis tradition keeps the nation's symbols out of worship.
discouraged Upright pianoA piano doesn't suit this tradition's worship.
discouraged Pipe organAn organ doesn't suit this tradition's worship.

What people here feel

Architectural style: Colonial brick +0.028; Modern synagogue +0.046; Gurdwara +0.052; Japanese temple +0.056; Islamic +0.05; Shinto shrine +0.05; Chinese temple +0.044; Dravidian temple +0.038; Nagara temple +0.038; Thai temple +0.038; Jain marble +0.032; Gothic +0.026.
Building fit: up to ±0.15 for everyone, the average fit of the characterful items in its worship rooms (the table below).
Acoustics: it wants a room between ringing and dry, about 2.2 seconds of reverberation: neither bare stone nor a carpeted low room. Up to ±0.05.
Seasonal decor: in its season, the vesak lanterns is worth up to ±0.027 (missing it, the minus); out of season, nothing is called for.
Solar panels: leaning liberal, it's glad of them (+0.02 at every service).
The teaching lands by its topic and the tradition's leaning (below); the resident teacher's preaching adds or costs up to 0.08 more.

How each teaching lands

The topics its leader can choose from (some are only for one faith or family), and what each is worth.

Racial Justice & Reconciliation+0.06
Radical Inclusion+0.06
Interfaith Understanding+0.04
Reading Scripture in Context+0.04
Swords into Ploughshares+0.04
Compassion for All Beings+0.015
Gratitude+0.015
Hope & Comfort+0.015
Impermanence+0.015
Interdependence+0.015
Mindfulness in Daily Life+0.015
Stewardship & Generosity+0.015
Suffering and Its End+0.015
The Noble Eightfold Path+0.015
Care for Creation-0.02
Healing for All-0.02
Welcome the Stranger-0.02
Social Justice Call-0.03
Faith & Family-0.05
Faith of Our Fathers-0.05
Resisting Temptation-0.05
The Five Precepts-0.05
Sanctity of Life-0.075

Every item, for this tradition

Fit runs from −1 (jars) to +1 (just right); the building fit is the average over the characterful items in the worship rooms. An item with no character (a table, a toilet) has no fit. A rule applies wherever the item is.

Item	Fit	Rule
Seating
Box pew	+0.333
Meditation cushions	0
Meeting bench	no fit
Oak pew	no fit
Row of chairs	0
Liturgical furniture
Alms bowls	no fit
Buddha image	+0.5	required The Buddha's image sits at the front of the hall, with offerings of light, flowers, and incense.
Butsudan with the Gohonzon	0
Columbarium niches	+0.333
Incense burner	+0.5	expected Incense is offered before the altar at every service.
Lectern	no fit
Onaijin altar	0
Pulpit	no fit
Three Buddhas	0
Music
Drum kit	-1	discouraged A band and drum kit do not belong in this tradition's worship.
Electronic organ	-1
Grand piano	-1
Hammond organ	-1	discouraged A gospel organ doesn't suit this tradition's worship.
Handbell table	-1
Kansho	0
Mokugyo	+1
Pipe organ	-0.333	discouraged An organ doesn't suit this tradition's worship.
Sound system	-1
Taiko	0
Temple bell	0
Upright piano	-1	discouraged A piano doesn't suit this tradition's worship.
Decor
Ancestor tablets	0
Banner	0
Bon lanterns	0
Eternal flame	no fit
Great dome	+0.333
Guanyin statue	0
Lamps of brightness	0
Memorial plaque	no fit
National flag	-1	discouraged This tradition keeps the nation's symbols out of worship.
New Year couplets	0
Pagoda	0
Red lanterns	0
Small dome	no fit
Stained glass window	+0.333
Stupa	0
Thangka	+0.5	expected Painted thangkas of the Buddhas, the deities practised, and the lineage's masters hang around the shrine room.
Vesak lanterns	0
Furnishings
Alms box	no fit
Amulet counter	0
Coffee pot	no fit
Commercial coffee pot	no fit
Computer	no fit
Crib	no fit
Desk	no fit
Desk chair	no fit
Folding table	no fit
Full-length mirror	no fit
Pillar	+0.333
Projection screen	0
Shoe rack	+0.5	expected Shoes come off at the door of the hall, onto racks.
Vestment cabinet	+0.333
Wooden table	no fit
Utility
A/V rack	no fit
Camera	no fit
Cast-iron boiler	no fit
Central air conditioner	no fit
Commercial HVAC plant	no fit
Commercial stove	no fit
Congregation van	no fit
Ductless heat pump	no fit
Electric wall heater	no fit
Gas furnace	no fit
Hearing loop	no fit
Lift	no fit
Packaged heat pump	no fit
Plumbing stack	no fit
Ramp	no fit
Shuttle bus	no fit
Sink	no fit
Solar panels	no fit
Stairs	no fit
Toilet	no fit
Used school bus	no fit
Wall camera	no fit
Window air conditioner	no fit
Grounds
Evergreen tree	no fit
Flower bed	no fit
Fountain	no fit
Garden bench	no fit
Guardian lions	0
Hedge	no fit
Paifang	0
Playground	no fit
Prayer wheels	0
Shade tree	no fit
Temple censer	0

Sources

Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, Wikipedia (link)
Karma Triyana Dharmachakra home page (link)
Regular Sunday Schedule, Chicago KTC (link)
Kadampa Center (Raleigh, FPMT): home and Sponsor a Puja (link)
Membership, Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Center (Philadelphia) (link)
Practice on the Four Great Holy Days, FPMT (link)
Svante Janson, Tibetan calendar mathematics, arXiv:1401.6285 (link)
First Time Visitors, Drepung Gomang Center for Engaging Compassion (link)
Lama Kathy Wesley, Tricycle (link)
Daniel Capper, review of Eve Mullen, The American Occupation of Tibetan Buddhism, Journal of Global Buddhism 5 (2004) (link)