Wednesday Evening Meditation Class
2023-08-30 18:30 - 19:45 (America/Los_Angeles) | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Meditations For Relaxation

When our mind is disturbed and distracted, our body becomes tense and our breathing halting and shallow. This is no way to live! Everyone can do simple meditations, every day, to help create a space in their mind that allows the body to relax.
In this class we will learn and practice simple Buddhist meditations which give rise to peace and a feeling of well-being. You do not need to be a Buddhist to join in – Everyone is welcome.

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.

Meditation for World Peace
2023-09-03 10:30 - 11:45, 2023-09-17 10:30 - 11:45, 2023-09-24 10:30 - 11:45, 2023-10-01 10:30 - 11:45 | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
â€œWithout inner peace, outer peace is impossible.â€ ~
Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche

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 â€“ you do not need to be a Buddhist to attend.
Class is $10, payable at the center or through our Donate page.

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 are available for use at the center. Prayer booklets and downloaded e-prayer booklets can be purchased HERE.

Lunchtime Meditation
2023-09-05 12:30 - 13:00 | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Tuesdays
Simply Breathe

Everyone is welcome to drop in at the Center for lunchtime meditations.
During these half hour sessions we are guided through a simple guided breathing meditation. This type of meditation is perfect for beginners and advanced meditators. By focusing on the breath all our worries, distractions, and obsessive ways of thinking fall away and we experience inner peace. Our mind is refreshed and relaxed and we’ll find it easier to deal with day to day stress.

Foundation Program
2023-09-05 18:30 - 20:30, 2023-09-12 18:30 - 20:30, 2023-09-19 18:30 - 20:30, 2023-09-26 18:30 - 20:30, 2023-10-03 18:30 - 20:30 | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
We are studying How to Understand the Mind by Buddhist Master Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. This book offers us deep insight into our mind, and shows us how an understanding of its nature and functions can be used practically in everyday experience to improve our lives.

Through systematic study and meditation on this program we can deepen our understanding and insight of Buddha’s teachings, gain confidence in our meditation practice, and transform our lives by transforming our own mind. By learning to understand our own experiences of difficulty, problems, and suffering, we will be better able to support to those around us, and impact their lives in a more positive, meaningful way.

This study program requires enrollment, with a commitment to attend scheduled classes. Classes meet on Tuesday nights. Please click here to learn more.

Lunchtime Meditation
2023-09-06 12:30 - 13:00, 2023-09-13 12:30 - 13:00, 2023-09-20 12:30 - 13:00, 2023-09-27 12:30 - 13:00 | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Wednesdays
Simply Breathe

Everyone is welcome to drop in at the Center for lunchtime meditations.
During these half hour sessions we are guided through a simple guided breathing meditation. This type of meditation is perfect for beginners and advanced meditators. By focusing on the breath all our worries, distractions, and obsessive ways of thinking fall away and we experience inner peace. Our mind is refreshed and relaxed and we’ll find it easier to deal with day to day stress.

Wednesday Evening Meditation Class
2023-09-06 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-09-13 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-09-20 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-09-27 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-10-04 18:30 - 19:45 | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Finding Peace

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

Tara Prayers
2023-09-08 20:00 - 21:00 | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
This practice is offered on the 8th of every month. See calendar for day and time.
The Tara Puja Liberation from Sorrow includes a special prayer composed by Buddha, “Praises to the Twenty-one Taras”. Tara is a manifestation of the ultimate wisdom of all Buddhas. Each of the twenty-one distinct Taras is a manifestation of the principal Green Tara, also known as “Mother of the Conquerors.”
Mother
As children we turn to our mother for help and guidance. She protects us from immediate dangers, provides us with all our temporal needs, and guides and encourages us in our learning and personal development. In the same way, during our spiritual growth, we need to turn to our Holy Mother, Tara, for refuge. She protects us from all internal and external dangers, 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.
Rescuer
“Tara” means “Rescuer.” She is so called because she rescues us from the eight outer fears of lions, elephants, fire, snakes, thieves, water, bondage and evil spirits; and from the eight corresponding inner fears of pride, ignorance, anger, jealousy, wrong views, attachment, miserliness and deluded doubts. Temporarily, Tara saves us from the dangers of rebirth in the three lower realms and ultimately saves us from the dangers of samsara and solitary peace.
Protector
If we rely upon Mother Tara sincerely and with strong faith, she will protect us from all obstacles and fulfill all our wishes. Since she is a wisdom Buddha, and since she is a manifestation of the completely purified wind element, Tara is able to help us very quickly. If we recite the twenty-one verses of praise we shall receive inconceivable benefits. These praises are very powerful because they are Sutra, the actual words of Buddha. It is good to recite them as often as we can.
All chanted prayer practices are free of charge, but donations are always welcome!

Guided Lamrim Meditation
2023-09-11 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-09-18 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-10-02 18:30 - 19:45 | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Transform Your Life

In these meditation classes we will familiarize ourselves with the minds of Lamrim.

Lamrim is a special set of meditations presented by the Indian Buddhist Master Atisha and clarified by the great Tibetan Buddhist Master Je Tsongkhapa. Lamrim condenses all the essential teachings of Buddha into a practice that modern people can use in their daily life.

Each class begins with a guided breathing meditation, preparatory prayers, and culminates with a second meditation based upon the eveningâ€™s topic. Drop in to any or all classes in this course. Perfect for beginners or those with meditation experience.

Please arrive five minutes early to settle.
Suggested donation is $10.

Introduction to Guru Yoga Mandala Offering Retreat
2023-09-15 18:00 - 20:00 | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Every year, Kadampa centers around the world arrange preliminary retreats in which people engage in practices that help prepare the mind for deeper meditation. Generally these retreats are four sessions a day over seven days, and you can participate in as many or few sessions as you wish. Our Resident Teacher, Kadam Keli Vaughan will give a brief introduction to this practice ahead of a mini 1-day Guru Yoga Mandala Offering Retreat on Saturday, Sept 16. This retreat unites the two practices of Guru Yoga and Mandala Offering.

We will use Heart Jewel Prayers as our preparatory practice for this evening’s talk.

The blessings arising from the practice of Guru yoga are like rain that nurtures and sustains the seeds of our meditation. Guru Yoga is a special and powerful method that enables us to receive the blessings of all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and holy beings. Receiving this inspiration into our mind bestows inner peace and gives rise to realizations of renunciation, universal compassion, and wisdom realizing emptiness.
Meditation plants the seeds of realizations within our mind but if our mind is devoid of good karma we will be planting seeds in barren ground. Accumulating merit creates a rich and fertile mental environment within which our meditations will swiftly ripen and transform into realizations. The practice of Mandala Offering creates vast good fortune and is a method to attain the Pure Land of a Buddha. Mandala means â€˜universeâ€™. We create a completely pure universe with our imagination and offer it to the Enlightened Buddhas.
After the Introductory talk, Kadam Keli will show new practitioners how to make 7-point mandala offerings using the small mandala kits available during the retreat.
Saturday’s retreat schedule:
Each retreat session is 90 minutes long including prayers.
Session 1 9:00-10:30am
Session 2 11:00am-12:30pm
Session 3 2:00-3:30pm
Session 4 4:00-5:30pm

Guru Yoga Mandala Offering Retreat
2023-09-16 09:00 - 17:30 | CA
Every year, Kadampa centers around the world arrange preliminary retreats in which people engage in practices that help prepare the mind for deeper meditation. Generally these retreats are four sessions a day over seven days, and you can participate in as many or few sessions as you wish. This year we are offering a mini 1-day Guru Yoga Mandala Offering Retreat. This retreat unites the two practices of Guru Yoga and Mandala Offering.

The blessings arising from the practice of Guru Yoga are like rain that nurtures and sustains the seeds of our meditation. Guru Yoga is a special and powerful method that enables us to receive the blessings of all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and holy beings. Receiving this inspiration into our mind bestows inner peace and gives rise to realizations of renunciation, universal compassion, and wisdom realizing emptiness.
Meditation plants the seeds of realizations within our mind but if our mind is devoid of good karma we will be planting seeds in barren ground. Accumulating merit creates a rich and fertile mental environment within which our meditations will swiftly ripen and transform into realizations. The practice of Mandala Offering creates vast good fortune and is a method to attain the Pure Land of a Buddha. Mandala means â€˜universeâ€™. We create a completely pure universe with our imagination and offer it to the Enlightened Buddhas.

Saturday’s retreat schedule:
Each retreat session is 90 minutes long including prayers.
Session 1 9:00-10:30am
Session 2 11:00am-12:30pm
Session 3 2:00-3:30pm
Session 4 4:00-5:30pm

Buddha's Return from Heaven Day
2023-09-22 18:00 - 20:00 | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Everyone is welcome to join us for this beautiful prayer practice on Buddha’s Return from Heaven 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.

Powa Prayers
2023-09-24 12:15 - 13:00, 2023-10-01 12:15 - 13:00 | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Through practicing transference of consciousness â€” known as â€˜powaâ€™ â€” 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 Buddhaâ€™s Pure Land.
All chanted prayers are free.

Long Protector Puja
2023-09-29 17:00 - 20:30 | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
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.
