Requesting a Puja Dedication

A puja is a ceremony in which offerings are made and prayers are recited and chanted. The prayers, especially when performed together, have a powerful energy and are beneficial to the mind. Beautiful things such as flowers and food are offered as a symbolic gesture inviting the qualities of the Buddha into our lives. Moreover, it is a practice of generosity.

If you attend a puja at the center, you are welcome to bring your own offerings, but you can also make a donation: donations are always welcome. Neither is obligatory, but even the smallest offering increases the power of your prayers.

In the Maitreya Institute, three types of pujas are performed monthly: the Guru puja, the Medicine Buddha puja and the Tara puja. See our program calendar for details.

Dedications

At the end of a puja, we direct the accumulated positive energy, through wishing prayers which are called the dedication. You can request dedications for an important cause or for a specific person. For the deceased, we make dedications for 7 weeks after the date of death.
Click here to submit your dedication. This application goes to both our locations, Loenen and Amsterdam.

Guru Puja

A Guru puja is a puja honoring our spiritual teachers, such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Through this practice we receive their inspiration. This helps us to develop our inner potential. The Maitreya Institute does this puja on the 10th and 25th of the Tibetan calendar month, combined with tsog for people with a Highest Yoga Tantra initiation.

Medicine Buddha Puja

The Medicine Buddha puja is especially powerful for aiding in healing diseases, in clearing away negative karma and in helping people who have died. We do this puja at the full moon and new moon: the 15th and 30th of the Tibetan calendar month.
"The Medicine Buddha practice is not only for healing, it is also very powerful for success and solving all kinds of problems. Doing the Medicine Buddha practice is good for someone who has died, for family problems, for someone who is sick, to obtain happiness and freedom from suffering, to find a job, success in business, etc." Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Tara Puja

The female Buddha Tara embodies the wisdom and compassion of all enlightened beings. Tara puja is advised for eliminating obstacles that block the realization of our aims, especially our aims on the spiritual path. The Tara puja is a fast path to success. This puja is done on the eighth day of the Tibetan calendar month.