Wednesday Evening Meditation Class via Zoom
2020-05-27 18:30 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Please send us your email through our Contact form if you would like to receive and invitation to join this class online.
When the otherwise incessant flow of our distracting thoughts is calmed through concentrating on the breath, our mind becomes unusually lucid and clear. We can practice remaining with this state of mental calm for a while in meditation.
Each class begins with a guided breathing meditation and culminates with a second meditation based upon the evening’s topic.
Drop in to any or all classes in this course. Perfect for beginners or those with meditation experience.

Class Fee $10

Thursday Evening Meditation Class via Zoom
2020-05-28 18:30 - 19:30 | 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Please send us your email through our Contact form if you would like to receive and invitation to join this class online.

This meditation class series explores ways of thinking about other people that will uplift our mind. By carrying these ideas into our daily life, we can maintain a light, joyful attitude towards others, whatever life throws our way.
Guided by Buddha’s Lojong teachings, we will learn how to identify obstacles in our mind that lead us away from peace — and how to oppose these inner obstacles by improving our capacity to love others.

Each class begins with a guided breathing meditation and culminates with a second meditation based upon the evening’s topic. Drop in to any or all classes in this course. Perfect for beginners or those with meditation experience. Open to everyone.

Wednesday Evening Meditation Class via Zoom
2020-06-03 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-06-10 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-06-17 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-06-24 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-07-01 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-07-08 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-07-15 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-07-22 18:30 - 19:30 | CA
Waking Up to the Clarity of the Mind

Our world seems more chaotic than ever, and our own body, speech, and mind are constantly in motion. In our Wednesday classes we will acknowledge the difficult and sometimes crazy appearances all around us, then practice settling our mind and observing its clear, pure nature. Simply observing the contrast between the tumultuous world and the lucid, quiet mind that perceives it answers the question, “Why meditate?” And dedicating our meditation for everyone’s happiness and freedom creates positive results.

Sign up here to receive an invitation to attend our online Zoom meditation classes

Each class begins with a guided breathing meditation and culminates with a second meditation based upon the evening’s topic. Drop in to any or all classes in this course. Perfect for beginners or those with meditation experience. Open to everyone.

Offering to the Spiritual Guide Puja: Celebrating the Birth of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
2020-06-04 18:00 - 20:00 | CA
Everyone is welcome and invited to join us for a beautiful prayer practice to celebrate the birth and the excellent deeds of our kind Spiritual Guide, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche.
We have prayer booklets in English, and it is traditional to bring a small food offering for the shrine.
About these special prayers:
The words of Offering to the Spiritual Guide explain the entire path to Enlightenment. This practice 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.

24-Hr Tara Prayers
2020-06-07 18:00 - 19:30, 2020-06-08 10:00 - 11:30, 2020-07-07 18:00 - 19:30 | CA
https://kadampa.org/liberation-from-sorrow

Thursday Evening Meditation Class via Zoom
2020-06-11 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-06-18 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-06-25 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-07-02 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-07-09 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-07-16 18:30 - 19:30, 2020-07-23 18:30 - 19:30 | CA

Foundation Program via Zoom
2020-06-12 18:30 - 20:30 | CA
Class schedule for Winter/Spring 2020 can be found below.

Enrolling in FP means you become a ‘Supporting Member’ of MBC — all other regular classes and retreats are included with your monthly $75 membership.
The Foundation Program is a unique, structured study program that enables us to gain deeper understanding and experience of Buddhist teachings and to develop a regular meditation practice. It is ideal for those who have a general understanding of Buddhism but who wish to learn more.
We are studying Joyful Path of Good Fortune, living Buddhist Master Geshe Kelsang Gyatso’s extraordinary explanation of Lamrim meditation. Lamrim is a special presentation of all Buddha’s teachings in the order in which they can be practiced easily in our busy lives. Taken as personal advice, we can contemplate each Lamrim instruction, allowing the meaning to guide us to very precise meditation objects which improve our ability to maintain a stable experience of peace in our own mind.
Through the systematic study and meditation that the Foundation Program offers we can deepen our understanding and insight of Buddha’s teachings, gain confidence in our meditation practice, and transform our lives by reducing and eventually eliminating our personal experiences of difficulty, problems, and suffering. Consequently, we can offer support to those around us and have a positive and meaningful impact on their lives as well.
To maintain the integrity and quality of the class discussions there is an attendance, memorization, and study requirement for this program. Anyone who is interested in trying out the foundation program is asked to attend two consecutive classes before deciding whether or not to join the class.
Please call us at (805) 563-6000 or email us at info@MeditationInSantaBarbara.org if you would like more details about enrollment in this book study program.
Schedule for Winter/Spring 2020 section:
February
Tuesdays: 4, 11, 18, 25
Friday: 28
March
Tuesdays: 3, 10, 17, 24
Friday: 27
April
Tuesdays: 7, 14, 21, 28
Friday: 24
May
Tuesdays: 5, 12, 19, 26
Friday: 1
June
Tuesdays: 2, 16, 23, 30
Friday: 12

Long Protector Puja
2020-06-29 17:00 - 20:30 | CA
This extensive sadhanaâ€”ritual prayers for spiritual attainmentsâ€”is called â€œKangsoâ€ in Tibetan, which means â€œFulfilling and Restoring Ritual.â€
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.
All chanted prayers are free, and everyone is welcome to attend. Prayer booklets in English are provided for use during the puja.

Happy Interdependence Day!
2020-07-04 | CA

Quick Path to Great Bliss
2020-07-07 07:30 - 09:00, 2020-07-14 07:30 - 09:00 | CA
(Hosted online by Dharmachakra Kadampa Buddhist Center)
* Highest Yoga Tantra practitioners only, please.

24-Hr Tara Prayers (final session)
2020-07-08 14:00 - 15:30 | CA

Meditation for World Peace via Zoom
2020-07-19 10:30 - 11:45 | CA
Please send us your email through our Contact form if you would like to receive and invitation to join this class online.

“Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible.” ~ Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Prayer and meditation are neither small nor passive actions. Rather, they are a force for change in our shared world. Join us to bring peace to our world through the action of meditation, and dedicating our prayers for world peace. Everyone is welcome – you do not need to be a Buddhist to attend. Just leave your email on our Contact page and we will send an invitation to you to join the zoom meeting. Class is $10, payable through our Donate page. (Paypal)
Each class consists of a guided breathing meditation, a short teaching on the practice of wisdom and compassion, and prayers (in English) to the Buddha of Compassion. Prayer booklets and downloaded e-prayer booklets can be purchased HERE.

Quick Path to Great Bliss
2020-07-21 07:30 - 09:00 | CA
* Highest Yoga Tantra practitioners only, please.

Powa Prayers
2020-07-21 18:00 - 18:45 | CA
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 – please email us for a zoom invite.
