Sunday Morning Meditation Class
2024-12-15 11:00 - 12:00, 2024-12-22 11:00 - 12:00, 2024-12-29 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-01-05 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Each Sunday morning class begins with a guided breathing meditation and Dharma talk, and culminates with a second meditation based upon the morning’s topic. Perfect for beginners or those with meditation experience. Open to everyone.
Please arrive a few minutes early to settle.

Powa Prayers
2024-12-15 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.

Heart Jewel Prayers w/ Meditation
2024-12-16 17:00 - 18:00, 2024-12-23 17:00 - 18:00, 2024-12-30 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.

Guided Lamrim Meditation Live + Zoom
2024-12-16 18:30 - 19:30, 2024-12-23 18:30 - 19:30, 2024-12-30 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-01-06 18:30 - 19:30
Learn the most essential teachings of Mahayana Buddhism as we meditate together on most Monday evenings. Please check our web calendar to confirm class meetings.
Each class begins with a guided breathing meditation, preparatory prayers, and culminates with a second meditation based upon the topic of the evening. Drop in to any or all classes in this course. Perfect for beginners or those with meditation experience.
About the Class
Lamrim is a special presentation of Buddhist teachings that modern people can practice in their daily lives. Lamrim originated with the Indian Buddhist Master Atisha, and was later clarified by Tibetan Master and scholar Je Tsongkhapa.
Our Founder, Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche, makes Lamrim even more accessible for modern people in his books, which appear in many languages. These are the texts we use in the class for our Lamrim meditations.

Please arrive five minutes early to settle, either in person or on zoom.
(Zoom access is available with a monthly membership.)
Membership: Class included with Online, GP, FP and Benefactor Memberships. Contact us to join.

Lunchtime Guided Meditation
2024-12-17 12:30 - 13:00
Simply breathe. Relieve stress. Find peace.

Our Lunchtime Meditations are great for beginners and experienced meditators. Drop in any Tuesday at 12:30 for 30 minutes of peaceful meditation.
Cost per class: $5

Heart Jewel Prayers w/ Meditation
2024-12-17 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 on Lamrim. 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.

Foundation Program
2024-12-17 18:30 - 20:30
“Everyone, whether religious or non-religious, is looking for happiness all the time and wants to be free from problems and suffering permanently. We can fulfill these wishes through understanding and practicing the instructions given in this book.” – Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Heart Jewel Prayers
2024-12-18 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 â€œofferingâ€; and the prayers we recite are sadhanas, meaning â€œmethods for receiving attainmentsâ€.
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 on Lamrim. 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.

Wednesday Evening Meditation Class
2024-12-18 18:30 - 19:30, 2024-12-25 18:30 - 19:30, 2025-01-01 18:30 - 19:30
The Happiness Habit

Each class begins with a guided breathing meditation and culminates with a second meditation based upon the evening’s topic. Perfect for beginners or those with meditation experience. Open to everyone.
Please arrive a few minutes early to settle.

Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayers w/ Offerings
2024-12-20 17:00 - 18:15
By relying upon this practice, we can purify negativity, accumulate merit, and receive blessings.
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.

Prayers for World Peace
2024-12-22 10:30 - 11:00, 2024-12-29 10:30 - 11:00
Prayers for cultivating inner peace 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.

Offering to the Spiritual Guide Prayers
2024-12-25 15:00 - 17:00
Everyone is welcome to join us for this beautiful prayer practice on Christmas Day.
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.

Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayers w/ Meditation
2024-12-27 17:00 - 18:15, 2025-01-03 17:00 - 18:15
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.
Wishfulfilling Jewel puja includes a period of silence for meditation on Lamrim. 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.

Melodious Drum Puja
2024-12-29 15:00 - 18:30
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.

Alternative New Year's Eve
2024-12-31 18:30 - 19:45
Join us for a quiet evening in. Reflect on the year ending, and set your sights on new beginnings. Our Resident Teacher, Kadam Keli, will guide us in contemplation and meditation.
Free of charge. Donations welcome.

New Year's Day: The Great Mother
2025-01-01 10:30 - 14:00
Start the new year with us! Join us for four sessions of reciting The Perfection of Wisdom Sutra within the prayers to the Great Mother. This brief practice is a traditional Mahayana Buddhist method for dispelling obstacles. Drop in for any or all sessions. (Prayer booklets available for use.)
New Year’s Day Schedule
10:30-11:am Session 1
11:15-11:45am Session 2
Light lunch break
12:30-1:00pm Session 3
1:15-2:00pm Session 4
Free of charge. Donations welcome.

Introduction to Lamrim Retreat
2025-01-04 15:00 - 16:15

Lamrim Wisdom Retreat
2025-01-04 15:00 - 2025-01-09 19:45
Meditating on the cycle of Lamrim meditations is the same as meditating on the essence of all of Buddha’s 84,000 teachings. Join us in this Lamrim retreat to create good momentum in the mind for the new year! All sessions will be guided by our Resident Teacher, Kadam Keli Vaughan.

Saturday introduction to the retreat — 3:00-4:15pm with Kadam Keli, followed by Session 1 of retreat — 4:45-6:00pm — Meditation on the Preciousness of our Human Life

Sunday — Initial Scope Meditations (4)
9:30-10:30am — Meditation on Death
11:00am-12:00pm — (Special General Program Class on Stages of the Path to Enlightenment)
12:30-1:30pm — Meditation on Danger of Lower Rebirth and Going for Refuge
2-3:15pm — Meditation on Karma

Monday — Middling Scope Meditations (4)
2:30-3:30pm — Meditation on Renunciation
3:45-4:45pm — Meditation on our Determination to Recognize, Reduce, and Abandon the Root of Samsaric Rebirth
5-6pm — Meditation on our Determination to Engage in the Actual Path to Liberation
6:30-7:30pm — Meditation on our Determination to Attain True Cessations (Monday Guided Lamrim class)
(Monday’s sessions will be live on zoom for FP and online members)

Tuesday — Great Scope Meditations (2)
5-6pm — Meditation on Cherishing All Living Beings
6:30-7:30pm — Meditation on Universal Compassion
(Tuesday’s sessions will be live on zoom for FP and online members)

Wednesday — Great Scope Meditations (2)
5-6pm — Meditation on the Supreme Good Heart, Bodhichitta
6:30-7:30pm — Meditation on our Determination and Promise to Practice the Six Perfections (Special General Program class)

Thursday — Great Scope Meditations (2)
5-6pm — Training in Meditation on Emptiness
6:30-7:45pm — Meditation on Relying on our Spiritual Guide

The retreat introduction with Kadam Keli on Saturday is $15.
Each guided retreat session is $10.

Registering for the whole retreat is $35.
This retreat is free for Foundation Program members.
