centre programs


Spirit Dance Centre for Spiritual Ecology is a charitable multi-faith organization whose goals include promoting inter-faith understanding, respect for the planet, compassion for all beings, and ethical and spiritual values.

Our past events include Medicine Ways: World Healing Ceremonies with Tibetans and First Nations. We also brought Tibetan Geshe Gendün Yonten to Williams Lake during February 2005 to teach a ten-day Lam Rim course as the first teaching of our Buddhist Studies Program. In 2007 we held a highly successful three-day Inter-faith event in Sechelt, B.C., bringing together Tibetan Lama Tenzin Tsundu with the Anglican priest Reverend Mark Lemon for a series of discussions and a beautiful combined spiritual service.

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Ongoing  
Events  

Buddhist Teachings with Lama Tsundu Lama Tenzin Tsundu

Tibetan Lama Tenzin Tsundu has retired from giving regular Buddhist teachings on the Sunshine Coast. He does, however, occasionally have online Zoom gatherings with small groups of students. If you have attended teachings with Lama Tsundu in the past and are interested in joining one of these sessions, please email Janet at [email protected] for information.


Tibetan Resettlement Project

Tibetan woman in Arunachal Pradesh settlement At the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Canadian government welcomed exiled Tibetan families to Canada beginning in 2012. Along with other local sponsors, Spirit Dance Centre brought seven Tibetan families and a single young man to resettle on the Sunshine Coast. This project ended in 2019.

You can read a little about our project on this Information Sheet. And have a look at our Update on the Tibetan Family in Roberts Creek page to see the story of one of these families.



Ukrainian Refugees Support

Spirit Dance Centre has several years of experience supporting Tibetan refugees to settle successfully on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia. We are well prepared to assist the growing number of Ukrainian refugees who are fleeing the war in Ukraine and who are arriving in Canada seeking safety and support. Beginning in March 2022, experienced volunteers from our Tibetan program will be helping the Ukrainians. Whatever their future - staying in Canada or returning to their homes - we will provide them with the assistance they need while they are here in BC.

The Canadian government has created the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel. On the BC Sunshine Coast, Spirit Dance Centre has created a project which is welcoming displaced refugees from Ukraine. The project will assist Ukrainian people in need with establishing themselves on the Sunshine Coast. Donations will be used for: start-up costs such as furniture and clothing, on-going monthly costs for necessities including housing, food, public transportation, medical care, child care, education. Our volunteers, supporters and professionals in the community will assist the Ukrainian refugees socially, practically and emotionally.

To make a donation, please use the button at the bottom of this page: Donate Now through CanadaHelps, and choose the fund “Supporting Ukrainian Refugees.”

 




Upcoming  
and Recent  
Events  

Tulku Karzang Rinpoche

Tulku Karzang Rinpoche
Tulku Karzang Rinpoche is the resident Lama at Kathok Centre, a traditional Tibetan Buddhist temple in Coombs, on Vancouver Island. He is a reincarnated Lama of the Tibetan Nyingma tradition.

On October 6th & 7th, 2017 Rinpoche gave Buddhist teachings and the Empowerment of Green Tara, the female Buddha of Compassion, in Sechelt, BC.

We hope that Karzang Rinpoche will return to the Sunshine Coast to give further teachings and empowerments in the future.


Tibetan Sand Mandala

Lama Tsundu with partially completed sand mandalaTibetan Lama Tenzin Tsundu created a Sacred Sand Mandala of Green Tara, the female Buddha of Compassion, at Saint Hilda’s Anglican Church in Sechelt from November 6 to November 12, 2016.

The mandala creation served the three-fold purpose of bringing blessings to the communities of the Sunshine Coast, making prayers for the peace and well-being of all sentient beings, and raising funds to help with medical expenses for Lama Tsundu's dear auntie who was in care in the US struggling with cancer.

A mandala is painstakingly made by placing grains of coloured sand in intricate traditional patterns, usually covering a circular area three to five feet in diameter. Depending on the size of the mandala, it may take five to ten days to complete.

When a mandala is completed there is a ceremony in which the sand is swept up into a pile to celebrate the impermanence of physical creations. Some of the sand is given to the people present at the ceremony and the rest is ceremonially taken to a nearby ocean or river where its blessings are dispersed to all the world.


Ngakpa Kalzang Dorje

Ngakpa Kalzang Dorje In 2012 the Coast was blessed with Buddhist teachings from Ngakpa Kalzang Dorje. In the Tibetan tradition, a Ngakpa is a non-monastic tantric master or mystic yogi and Ngakpa Kalzang belongs to a rare lineage of this tradition. He is also a highly trained scholar and teacher and we are fortunate that he agreed to come to the Coast for what we hope was the first of many visits.

Generating Healthy Mind Through Meditation
Meditation is used to explore and gain insight into mental qualities. Through learning and practice, these qualities can become consciously engaged in our daily lives.

This two-day retreat was held in November 2012 in Halfmoon Bay, B.C. Ngakpa Kalzang is the Spiritual Teacher at Thubten Choling, a non-sectarian Tibetan Buddhist Centre in Duncan on Vancouver Island. His teachings focus on the mind, its role in every situation, and how breaking patterns and habits of mind is the way of change and the process of training the mind. You can read about him here.


MomoLuck!

A mini Tibetan festival and information session for the Sunshine Coast Tibetan Resettlement Project

Children in Tibetan settlement. Photo by Nima Dorjee.In 2013 we held a cultural event, information session and fundraiser, open to anyone interested in the Tibetan Resettlement Project. There were traditional and veggie Tibetan “momos” available for lunch, other Tibetan items for sale, a taste of Tibetan culture, a chance for current sponsors to share information about their preparations for the Tibetans’ arrival, and all the information a person could need for finding a way to become involved. Proceeds from this event went toward supporting Tibetan families to resettle on the Sunshine Coast.

(A traditional Tibetan momo is a meat dumpling often served with a spicy sauce. A veggie momo is like a cross between a perogy and spanakopita.)



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Contact us at:

Mail: Spirit Dance Centre, 8050 Redrooffs Road, Halfmoon Bay, BC, V7Z 1A5
Email: [email protected] or just click on Koko below.
Phone: (604) 885-3602
   Medicine Ways
   Centre for Spiritual Ecology