Heart Jewel Prayers
2026-01-13 17:00 - 18:00, 2026-01-20 17:00 - 18:00, 2026-01-27 17:00 - 18:00, 2026-02-03 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
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/ Tsog
2026-01-16 17:30 - 18:30, 2026-01-23 17:30 - 18:30
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 a tsog offering.
All chanted prayers are free.

Clarity of Mind Retreat
2026-01-17 10:00 - 16:00
The real source of happiness is inner peace. If our mind is peaceful, we will be happy all the time, regardless of external conditions, but if it is disturbed or troubled in any way, we will never be happy, no matter how good our external conditions may be.
In this short retreat we will take time to discover the inner peace that we naturally posess. With regular practice, meditation helps us to experience mental clarity and inner peace by meditating on our mind itself. Through training in concentration observing our mind we can overcome distractions and come to experience for ourself the inner peace arising from the clarity of the mind.
RETREAT SCHEDULE
10-11am: Session 1
11:30-12:30: Session 2
1:30-2:30pm: Session 3
3-4pm: Session 4

Prayers for World Peace
2026-01-18 10:30 - 11:00, 2026-01-25 10:30 - 11:00, 2026-02-01 10:30 - 11:00, 2026-02-08 10:30 - 11:00
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.

Sunday Morning Meditation Class
2026-01-18 11:00 - 12:00, 2026-01-25 11:00 - 12:00
January Series: Finding Opportunity in Adversity
In this series we will learn how to transform adversity into the path can help reduce anxiety and lead to inner protection through spiritual experience. By gaining familiarity with this practice, we can eventually become fearless like bodhisattvas, whose main concern is for the welfare of others.
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.
Topics in January
January 4th Distinguishing Inner and Outer Problems
September 3
January 11th Adversity Encourages us to Purifying Negative Karma
January 18th Adversity Encourages us to Seek Liberation
January 25th Aversity Encourages us to Develop Compassion

Learn to Meditate Workshop
2026-01-18 13:30 - 16:30
If our mind is peaceful, we will be free from worries and mental discomfort, and so we will experience true happiness; but if our mind is not peaceful, we will find it very difficult to be happy, even if we are living in the very best conditions.
If we train in meditation, our mind will gradually become more and more peaceful, and we will experience a purer and purer form of happiness. Eventually, we will be able to stay happy all the time, even in the most difficult circumstances. In this workshop we will learn how to meditate and develop a regular meditation practice. Everyone Welcome!
Schedule
1:30-2:45pm: Session One
3:15-4:30pm: Session Two
Cost: $25 (membership discounts apply)

Heart Jewel Prayers
2026-01-19 17:00 - 18:00, 2026-01-26 17:00 - 18:00, 2026-02-02 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
2026-01-19 18:30 - 19:30, 2026-01-26 18:30 - 19:30, 2026-02-02 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
2026-01-20 12:30 - 13:00, 2026-01-27 12:30 - 13:00, 2026-02-03 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

Uncommon Yoga of Inconceivability Retreat
2026-01-24 10:00 - 17:30
During this retreat, we will engage in the profound transference of consciousness practice called the Uncommon Yoga of Inconceivability. This practice is unique to Vajrayogini Tantra and reveals a priceless instruction through which we can accomplish Keajra Pure Land in this life without abandoning our human body.
**This retreat is open to those who have received the empowerments of Highest Yoga Tantra or have a strong wish to do so at the next available opportunity.
*UPDATED* SELF-GUIDED RETREAT SCHEDULE
10-11am: Session 1
11:30-12:30pm: Session 2
2-3pm: Session 3
3:30-4:30pm: Session 4

Offering to the Spiritual Guide Prayers
2026-01-25 13:00 - 15:00
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.

Melodious Drum Puja
2026-01-29 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.

Wishfulfilling Jewel Prayers w/ Meditation
2026-01-30 17:30 - 18:45
f 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.

Sunday Morning Meditation Class
2026-02-01 11:00 - 12:00
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.

Foundation Program
2026-02-01 13:30 - 15:30
“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
This Class is by enrollment only

Tara Prayers: Liberation from Sorrow
2026-02-08 10:00 - 11:00
Tara is a female Buddha, a manifestation of the ultimate wisdom of all the Buddhas. Her name means “Rescuer” because she rescues us from all outer and inner fears. Ultimately she rescues us from all suffering and guides us to full enlightenment. Like a mother she protects us from all internal and external dangers; she provides us with all the necessary conditions for our spiritual training, and guides us and inspires us with her blessings as we progress along the spiritual path. These prayers include praises to the twenty-one manifestations of Tara. Because these are Sutra, the actual words of Buddha, they are particularly powerful and blessed.
