Shambhala Meditation Group Practice

Shambhala Meditation Center Los Angeles in Orange County

The Shambhala Meditation Center Los Angeles, by way of the Orange County Meditation Group, has offered meditation instruction every week at the Center for Living Peace in Irvine for five and half years. The last Wednesday night meditation meeting will be November 18 and the last Sunday morning meditation will be held on November 22, 2015.

The Center for Living Peace will cease operations at the 4139 Campus Drive, Irvine, CA location after November 22. Please visit the Center’s official website, www.goodhappens.com (http://www.goodhappens.com/) for updated information.

Shambhala Meditation will continue on Sunday morning at 9:00 am on December 6, 2015 at a studio space located at 2750 Harbor Blvd, Costa Mesa, CA. - the cross streets are Harbor and Adams. The studio is located in the building immediately north of Coco’s and can be accessed by using walkways at the 2750 Harbor Blvd building leading to the back of the building – the studio space faces a street called Peterson Place.

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What Is Meditation?

Meditation is an ancient practice of self-discovery, primarily from the Buddhist tradition, that is rooted in the simple, but revolutionary premise that every human being has the ability to cultivate the mind's inherent stability, clarity and strength in order to be more awake and compassionate in everyday life.

Meditation is a way to make the mind more stable and clear. From this point of view, meditation is not purely a Buddhist practice; it's a practice that anyone can do. It doesn't tie in with a particular spiritual tradition. If we want to undo confusion, we're going to have to be responsible for learning what our own mind is and how it works, no matter what beliefs we hold.

The word for meditation in Sanskrit is "shamatha" (shămă tă) in Sanskrit, which means "peaceful abiding." Peaceful abiding describes the mind as it naturally is. The word "peace" tells the whole story. This doesn't mean that we're peacefully ignoring things. It means that the mind is able to be present, without conflicting with natural reality.

In meditation, what we're doing is looking at our experience and at the world intelligently. The Buddha said that this is how we learn to look at any situation and understand its truth. This is what a Buddha does - and we are all capable of being Buddhas, whether or not we are Buddhists. We all have the ability to realize our naturally peaceful minds where there is no confusion. We can use the natural clarity of our mind to focus on anything we want. But first we have to tame our minds through shamatha meditation.

For more information on Shambhala Meditation go to www.la.shambhala.org (http://www.la.shambhala.org/).