For those needing to complete prerequisites to attend in 2010, consider joining us this summer. The following prerequisites programs are offered:

Shambhala Sacred Path with Acharya Jeremy Hayward - April 14-19, 2009

Shambhala Sacred Path: Meek, Perky, and Outrageous & Inscrutable with Acharya Arawana Hayashi – May 4-10, 2009

Shambhala Sacred Path: Golden Key with Valerie Lorig – June 7 – 10, 2009

Warrior Assembly with Acharya Jeremy Hayward and Adana Barbieri - June 10-21, 2009

Sutrayana Seminary with Acharya Gaylon Ferguson – June 6-21, 2009

In the course of our lives, this goodness, warmth and intelligence can easily become covered over by doubt, fear and egotism. We tend to fall into a kind of sleep or stupor, believing in the conditioning we have as the ultimate truth, and coming under the sway of fear. The journey of becoming fully human means seeing through fear and egotism, and waking up to our natural intelligence. It takes kindness—to ourselves and others—and courage, to wake up in this world.

The journey of awakening is known as the path of the warrior, as it requires the simple bravery to look directly at one’s own mind and heart. The essential tool for doing this is mindfulness meditation. As we continue on the Shambhala path, we learn many other practices, to help us break through the ancient crust of ego and awaken to the joy of fully living in this world. Awakening and opening, we discover the world to be naturally sacred—pure and full of beauty. We begin to see clearly the goodness and wisdom of others, and to feel compassion to help them in myriad ways.

Shambhala vision is rooted in the contemplative teachings of Buddhism, yet is a fresh expression of the spiritual journey for our time; it is available to practitioners of any tradition. Our lineage draws on the wisdom of the Kagyu and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism as inherited by founder of Shambhala, Chögyam Trungpa, and his son and spiritual heir, Sakyong Mipham. In the mid-1970s Chögyam Trungpa began to introduce teachings on Shambhala vision, based on his encounter with the Western world, and on the specific wisdom imparted from the Buddha to King Dawa Sangpo, the first sovereign of the legendary kingdom of Shambhala. This tradition teaches how to live in the secular world with courage and compassion

Buddhism offers methods to clarify our mind, open our heart, and face the realities of human life, while the Shambhala teachings offer practices for rousing our life force and connecting with the natural power and energy of the phenomenal world. The combination of these wisdom traditions offers a contemporary, effective spiritual path. Following it, we can reclaim our natural birthright of wisdom and compassion, and work with others to bring about the best in human society.

B. Alan Wallace and Shamatha
Recent studies show that meditation practices have a positive result on stress management and emotional stability. B. Alan Wallace has been working with neuroscientists and psychologists in a long-term-study that measures the effects of intensive meditation on attention, cognitive performance, emotion regulation and health. His studies have helped him to develop training methods that include deep, intensive meditation that fosters attentional vividness and stability as well as compassion, loving-kindness, empathetic joy and equanimity.

Experience the teachings of B. Alan Wallace at the Shambhala Mountain Center, where he will be leading the weeklong retreat, The Way of Shamatha: Soothing the Body, Settling the Mind and Illuminating Awareness. During the retreat you will explore the power of Shamatha which will lead to active engagement in loving-kindness, compassion, empathetic joy and equanimity.

About B. Alan Wallace
Wallace has been teaching Buddhism, philosophy and meditation in Asia, Europe, North and South America and Australia since 1976. He has served as interpreter for many Buddhist contemplatives and scholars, including the Dalai Lama, and has written dozens of books and essays. His education and training started in 1971 when he left college to pursue a passion for Tibetan Buddhism. He has since studied at the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives in Dharamsala, India, the Institute of Buddhist Dialects, The Tibet Institute in Switzerland and the Center for Higher Tibetan Studies in Mt. Pelerin, Switzerland. After completing his BA in 1984 as an Independent Scholar in Physics, Philosophy and Sanskrit, he enrolled in the graduate program in religious studies at Stanford University, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1995. During these years at Stanford, he continued his studies of the philosophy of science and of the mind. His main research centered on integrating Buddhism with Western science and philosophy with the aim of achieving a more comprehensive understanding of consciousness.

In 1997, he joined the faculty of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he taught courses on Tibetan Buddhism, language, and culture, as well as the interface between science and religion. In 2003, Alan established the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, a non-profit institution concerned with synthesizing scientific and contemplative inquiry into the nature and potentials of consciousness.