Throughout July and August KPC will host a book club to discuss An Open Heart, Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama and Nicholas Vreeland.

This book explores fundamental elements of our Dharma path including karma, loving kindness, a good heart and bodhicitta.

Class dates will be the following Fridays at 7p.m.: July 1, 8,15, 29; Aug 5, 19, 26.

The book is available in the Mani Jewel Gift Store or you can order the book here…

It was a great party—and we’d like to share it!  At least the entertainment part:  you can see select performances here.

Before the performances, the audience joined in Amitaba Practice together.  (Yep!  It was 7 p.m.:  time for worldwide prayer.)

Then KPC member Anne Kanengeiser, an actress and singer who has appeared in numerous Broadway shows, performed several songs a capella.  In this picture, she’s showing that she downloaded the words to “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” by Rogers and Hammerstein, to sing by special request.

Anne was not the only professional:  singer/songwriter Tara Middleton, an alumna of the KPC Children’s Program, performed a number of songs.  Here she accompanies herself on the guitar.

And, in her debut at KPC, an amateur violinist surprised us all with a deft rendering of a Hungarian Dance by Bela Bartok. Keep practicing, Elizabeth!  We’ll be depending on you for future performances!

Other performances were more spontaneous.  Here young Siddhartha demonstrates the full-length prostration, then monitors a newcomer’s attempt at a five-point touchdown.

We enjoyed seeing old friends again, and new ones too—one man who had followed the webathons with friends in Pennsylvania, disappointed when they decided not to drive down for the party, came by himself, his first visit to KPC!  Others, not Buddhists, came because they make use of the Peace Park or the Mani Jewel Giftstore.  All enjoyed mingling and sharing stories.

And Leslie Mulvilhill’s cakes, of course!

Today we are featuring the Mani Jewel Gift Store, which will have a booth with products ordered exclusively for the bazaar.

At their booth, you’ll find patterned Pashmina and cotton-blend shawls at extremely giftable prices.  (Take it from our Pashmina maven—a steal!)  Cloisonne Christmas ornaments. India-cotton bedspreads like the ones you had in college.  (Or like your mother had!)  Quirky, handmade holiday crafts. This one is our favorite:

And for the kid on your list?  The one who never wants to wear a hat outside?  Animal-face hats—we loved the penguin!  (There are only two of those:  come early!)

Of course, the Mani Jewel will be open during the event, so you can shop there as well—for Buddhist devotional items, such as statues, for Asian handicrafts, for books, for crystals . . . there’s a lot!  It’s already unique . . . and uniquely affordable!