Prayers for World Peace
2025-09-21 10:30 - 11:00, 2025-09-28 10:30 - 11:00, 2025-10-12 10:30 - 11:00, 2025-10-19 10:30 - 11:00, 2025-10-26 10:30 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Cultivating inner peace by learning to cherish others is the best method for establishing world peace. Thirty minutes of meaningful contemplation using prayers in English, turning our minds towards the happiness and freedom of every living being.
Stay after for a guided meditation class.

Buddha's Return from Heaven Day
2025-09-22 18:30 - 20:30
Join us for a special Offering to the Spiritual Guide practice to celebrate Buddha’s Return from Heaven Day.
The following explanation is an extract from a talk given by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso on this day in 1991:
“On this day we celebrate Buddha’s return from the desire god realm called Land of the Thirty-three Heavens, where he had been to visit his mother who had been reborn there.
Traditionally this day also marks the end of the summer retreat. Every year, during the summer months, Buddha did a three-month retreat with his disciples. His reason for doing this was to avoid harming insects and other animals.
If we go out a lot during the summer months we will naturally kill more insects and other animals than at other times of the year. The nature of Buddhadharma is universal compassion, an unbiased compassion that is not just for human beings but for every living being, including animals.
In fact, we should have stronger compassion for animals than for human beings because animals suffer more. Human beings have better conditions and are more fortunate than animals. Because animals have so much suffering and no freedom, out of compassion Buddhists should try not to kill or disturb them. So, for three months during the summer, Buddha advised his disciples to retreat, staying always inside and living carefully and conscientiously.
One year during the annual summer retreat Buddha went to the Land of the Thirty-three Heavens. After his mother died she had taken rebirth in this god realm, so-called because it has thirty-three different types of god.
The king of this realm is called Indra. The Indra who was king at that time was also Buddha’s disciple and he invited Buddha to go there. So Buddha went to benefit his mother and also, at Indra’s request, to benefit the other gods living there. He stayed three months, and then returned on this day.
This day is therefore very special. It is said that if we engage in any kind of virtuous action on this day it becomes especially powerful and our merit greatly increases. For example, if we offer one single light offering this action is multiplied to become millions of light offerings.
On this day we should especially remember Buddha’s kindness.”

Heart Jewel Prayers
2025-09-23 17:00 - 18:00, 2025-09-30 17:00 - 18:00, 2025-10-07 17:00 - 18:00, 2025-10-14 17:00 - 18:00, 2025-10-21 17:00 - 18:00, 2025-10-28 17:00 - 18:00
Join us In Person
If you enjoy meditating with others, chanted meditations are a great opportunity to engage in group meditation. These chanted meditations are also known in Sanskrit as pujas, meaning offering; and the prayers we recite are sadhanas, meaning methods for receiving attainments.
Our prayers are in English. We request the blessings, protection and guidance of the holy beings. We can make requests for ourselves or for others who need help or protection. These spiritual practices create a strong connection with the Buddhas, and help us purify our negativity and fill our mind with positive, healing energy.
Heart Jewel puja includes a period of silence for meditation. By relying upon this practice, we can purify negativity, accumulate merit, and receive blessings. In this way, we will naturally accomplish all the realizations of the stages of the path to Enlightenment and attain a very special Dharma wisdom.
All chanted prayers are free.

Offering to the Spiritual Guide Prayers
2025-09-25 11:00 - 13:00, 2025-10-10 17:30 - 19:30, 2025-10-25 15:00 - 17:00
Everyone is welcome to join us for this beautiful prayer practice.
Offering to the Spiritual Guide is a special Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa in conjunction with Highest Yoga Tantra. It was compiled by the first Panchen Lama, Losang Chökyi Gyaltsän, as a preliminary practice for Vajrayana Mahamudra. The main practice is relying upon the Spiritual Guide, but it also includes all the essential practices of the stages of the path (Lamrim) and training the mind (Lojong), as well as both the generation stage and completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra.
This puja (prayer practice) normally takes place on or near the 10th & 25th of the month.

All chanted prayers are free.

Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayers w/ Meditation
2025-09-26 19:00 - 20:15, 2025-10-24 19:00 - 20:15, 2025-10-31 19:00 - 20:15
If you enjoy meditating with others, chanted meditations are a great opportunity to engage in group meditation. These chanted meditations are also known in Sanskrit as puja, meaning offering, or as sadhana, which means method for receiving attainments.
Using prayers in English, we receive the blessings, protection and guidance of the holy beings. We can make requests for ourselves or for others who need help or protection. These spiritual practices create a strong connection with the Buddhas, and help us purify our negativity and fill our mind with positive, healing energy.
By relying upon this practice, we can purify negativity, accumulate merit, and receive blessings. In this way, we will naturally accomplish all the realizations of the stages of the path to Enlightenment and attain a very special Dharma wisdom.
This practice includes pauses for meditation.
All chanted prayers are free.

Melodious Drum Puja
2025-09-29 17:00 - 20:30, 2025-10-29 17:00 - 20:30
This extensive sadhana or “ritual prayers for spiritual attainments” is called Melodious Drum Victorious in All Directions, or Kangso in Tibetan, which means “Fulfilling and Restoring Ritual”.
Usually performed once a month in Dharma Centers in our tradition, it is used for fulfilling our heart commitment to practice Lamrim, Lojong, and Mahamudra, for restoring any degenerate or broken commitments we may have incurred, and to rely on the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden, regarding him as inseparable from our Spiritual Guide and Buddha.

Heart Jewel Prayers
2025-10-13 17:00 - 18:00, 2025-10-20 17:00 - 18:00, 2025-10-27 17:00 - 18:00
Join us In Person
If you enjoy meditating with others, chanted meditations are a great opportunity to engage in group meditation. These chanted meditations are also known in Sanskrit as pujas, meaning offering; and the prayers we recite are sadhanas, meaning methods for receiving attainments.
Our prayers are in English. We request the blessings, protection and guidance of the holy beings. We can make requests for ourselves or for others who need help or protection. These spiritual practices create a strong connection with the Buddhas, and help us purify our negativity and fill our mind with positive, healing energy.
Heart Jewel puja includes a period of silence for meditation. By relying upon this practice, we can purify negativity, accumulate merit, and receive blessings. In this way, we will naturally accomplish all the realizations of the stages of the path to Enlightenment and attain a very special Dharma wisdom.
All chanted prayers are free.

Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayers w/ Offerings
2025-10-17 19:00 - 20:15
If you enjoy meditating with others, chanted meditations are a great opportunity to engage in group meditation. These chanted meditations are also known in Sanskrit as puja, meaning offering, or as sadhana, meaning method for receiving attainments.
Using prayers in English, we receive the blessings, protection and guidance of holy beings. We can make requests for ourselves or for others who need help or protection. These spiritual practices create a strong connection with the Buddhas, help us purify our negativity, and fill our mind with positive, healing energy.
In this way, we will naturally accomplish all the realizations of the stages of the path to Enlightenment and attain a very special Dharma wisdom.
All chanted prayers are free.

Powa Prayers
2025-10-19 12:30 - 13:15
Through practicing transference of consciousness, known as powa, with faith, compassion, and concentration we can transfer the consciousness of those recently deceased to a higher rebirth or to the Pure Land of a Buddha. The Powa Ceremony can be done either by a group of practitioners or individually on behalf of one or more deceased persons, or countless deceased beings. By engaging in this practice we also create a great collection of virtue, which will also lead us into the pathway to a Buddha’s Pure Land.
All chanted prayers are free.
