Thursday Morning Meditation Class
2023-11-09 10:30 - 11:30, 2023-11-16 10:30 - 11:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Mahakankala Kadampa Buddhist Center, 1825 State Street Suite 202, Santa Barbara, CA, 93101, United States
Meditation: A gentle solution for Anxiety and Stress
(Pre-register for this 5-week series and receive the study text to accompany the classes – How to Solve Our Human Problems)

Sometimes life looks like family friction. Sometimes it looks like trying to escape loneliness. Sometimes our craving for people and things takes over.
Whether we are dealing with life’s challenges positively or negatively depends on how swiftly we are able to manifest peace in our own mind. This is one of the most practical reasons for developing a meditation practice.
Join us on Thursday Mornings to learn how to transform life’s constant stream of challenges into a peaceful life.
Please arrive a few minutes early to settle. Perfect for beginners or those with meditation experience. Open to everyone.
Drop in to any or all classes.
Cost for whole series – $50 (includes free book)
Cost for each class – $10

Practice Class: Introduction to Tantra
2023-11-12 10:30 - 11:45, 2023-11-19 10:30 - 11:45, 2023-12-03 10:30 - 11:45, 2023-12-17 10:30 - 11:45, 2023-12-24 10:30 - 11:45
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 visualization, 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.

Guided Lamrim Meditation
2023-11-13 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-11-20 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-11-27 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-12-04 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-12-11 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-12-18 18:30 - 19:45
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.

Foundation Program
2023-11-14 18:30 - 20:30, 2023-11-28 18:30 - 20:30, 2023-12-05 18:30 - 20:30, 2023-12-12 18:30 - 20:30, 2023-12-19 18:30 - 20:30
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.

Wednesday Evening Meditation Class
2023-11-15 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-11-22 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-11-29 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-12-06 18:30 - 19:45
Enjoy Karma: It’s Easier than You’d Think

Karma is a special instance of cause and effect, where our actions are causes and our experiences are effects. The mental action of meditation is a cause of peace and happiness.
Please join us for this drop-in series of classes to learn successful methods for creating peace and happiness with meditation. In this class we’ll also be looking at Buddha’s teachings on cause and effect – what actions to practice in order to experience happiness, and what actions to abandon in order to reduce our problems and suffering.

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.

Powa Prayers
2023-11-19 12:15 - 13:00, 2023-12-03 12:15 - 13:00
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.

Everything We Have Was Given To Us By Others
2023-11-23
Give Thanks

Long Protector Puja
2023-11-29 09:00 - 12:30
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.

Wednesday Evening Meditation Class
2023-12-06 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-12-13 18:30 - 19:45, 2023-12-20 18:30 - 19:45
Happy No Matter What: Meditate

The holidays are an amazing time, full of joy, generosity and kindness. But they can also get very stressful.
For some of us, time with family members can bring challenges. And for people who don’t have family nearby, or who may have lost loved ones, there is another set of challenges.
We need a little help to make sure our holidays are a happy time. We need to sit, and contemplate, and meditate, changing our perspective on things that usually cause us stress and anxiety. We need to refresh our joy, our peace, and our acceptance with meditation practice.
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.

Tara Prayers
2023-12-08 18:30 - 19:15
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!
