|
|
|
|
Overview of the Buddhist Path "Buddhism and Shambhala are ways to discover our own wisdom, compassion, and courage."
-- Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
The Buddha taught that there are many different ways to help beings and to realize our own inherent wakefulness. The rich and ancient traditions of Buddhism and Shambhala teach many means to realize sanity, wisdom and confidence and lay the ground for establishing an enlightened society.
Shambhala Buddhism teaches that human beings are fundamentally awake and fundamentally good. In order to directly experience this wakefulness and goodness, we engage in the practice of sitting meditation, which is also called mindfulness-awareness meditation. The Shambhala Center offers many classes and workshops in which you can learn to meditate. At all of our introductory programs, experienced senior teachers from the Shambhala community teach the fundamentals of shamatha sitting meditation.
The Shambhala Center offers a balanced and gradual path of practice and study of the Shambhala Buddhist teachings. Shambhala Training is a sequential course of weekend or weekday trainings in the Shambhala teachings on warriorship: realizing compassion, fearlessness, and nonaggression in our daily lives. The Shambhala School of Buddhist Studies offers a curriculum that explores the Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist teachings in the format of weekly evening classes.
Advanced Shambhala Buddhist programs occur regularly at the many Shambhala land centers throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. Month-long group meditation retreats, called dathüns, are open to all practitioners who have a basic grounding in shamatha practice. Warrior Assembly is the fruition of the Shambhala Training course of study and is open to those who have completed the Sacred Path component of Shambhala Training. Shambhala Sutrayana Seminary is a month long program of in-depth study and practice for students who have completed a dathün and some intermediate level of study within Shambhala Training and the Shambhala School of Buddhist Studies. Study of the Vajrayana teachings of Shambhala Buddhism can begin once a student has completed Warrior Assembly and Shambhala Sutrayana Seminary.
It is said that "the dharma is good in the beginning, good in the middle and good in the end." From the first experience of relaxing on the cushion and allowing oneself to just be, the practitioner can discover the goodness of dharma, both within him or herself and in the world.The path of the practitioner of dharma is rich with opportunities for self-examination and discovery. Beginning with looking at one's own experience directly in meditation, the practitioner learns about the ways the mind works. Through meditation, the practitioner penetrates confusion to experience the naturalness of being awake. Through studying the wisdom of the lineage, the great practitioners dating back to the Buddha, the student is challenged and inspired to discover a direct view of the nature of mind and reality. While there are many opportunities to join with others on the path for practice and study, the journey is personal. --Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche
|
|
