Shambhala Meditation Center of Los Angeles

04/13/2025

Join us this Thursday, April 17 for a lively discussion on how we can bring joy to both our meditation practice and in our lives. Register at: https://la.shambhala.org/program-details/?id=788064

02/14/2025

Happily, announce the return of Qigong 1 and 2 - Peaceful Body, Peaceful Mind. Saturday & Sunday, February 22 & 23. Learn more: https://la.shambhala.org/program-details/?id=770402

02/08/2025

Join us for a joyous Shambhala Day Celebration as we ring in the Year of the Wood Snake! Come connect, celebrate, and welcome the new year with an open heart! Register at https://la.shambhala.org/shambhala-day-2025-end-of-year-practices/

01/18/2025

12/31/2024

Support the growth of our Shambhala community with a meaningful end-of-year donation at:
https://la.shambhala.org/donate/.

Please consider making a one-time or recurring donation to Shambhala Los Angeles. Donations are a way to express appreciation for what our Center offers — free meditation instructions and practice opportunities, a clearly defined path of practice and study, a range of community activities and more...

12/29/2024

12/29/2024

Chogyam Trungpa’s book Dharma Art made Shepard’s list of The most recommended books on dharma.

12/20/2024

Some may not know this, but we now have a physical center in Burbank! We invite you to stop by if you have not done so already!

11/06/2024

❤️ Trusting in the Phenomenal World (Chögyam Trungpa)

The fruition of fearlessness is connected with three analogies. The first is that fearlessness is like a reservoir of trust.

The reservoir of trust is a very simple, straightforward idea. If we accept a challenge and take certain steps to accomplish something, the process will yield results—either success or failure. When you sow a seed or plant a tree, either the seed will germinate, the tree will grow, or it will die. Similarly, for the inquisitive warrior, trust means that we know that our actions will bring a definite response from reality. We know that we will get a message. Failure generally is telling us that our action has been undisciplined and inaccurate in some way. Therefore, it fails. When our action is fully disciplined, it usually is fulfilled; we have success. But those responses are not regarded as either punishment or congratulations.

Trust, then, is being willing to take a chance, knowing that what goes up must come down, as they say. When a warrior has that kind of trust in the reflections of the phenomenal world, then she can trust her individual discovery of goodness. Communication produces results: either success or failure. That is how the fearless warrior relates with the universe, not by remaining alone and insecure, hiding away, but by constantly being exposed to the phenomenal world and constantly being willing to take that chance.

The reservoir of trust is a bank of richness from which the warrior can always draw conclusions. We begin to feel that we are dealing with a rich world, one that never runs out of messages. The only problem arises if we try to manipulate the situation in our favor. You are not supposed to fish in the reservoir or swim in it. The reservoir has to remain unconditional, unpolluted. So you don’t put your one-sided bias, or conditionality, into it. Then the reservoir might dry up.

Normally, trust means that we think that our world is trustworthy. We think that it’s going to produce a good result, success. But in this case, we’re talking about having a continual relationship with the phenomenal world that is not based on either a good or a bad result. We unconditionally trust the phenomenal world to always give us a message, either success or failure. The fruition of our action will always provide us with information. Such trust in the reservoir keeps us from being too arrogant or too timid. If you’re too arrogant, you’ll find yourself bumping into the ceiling. If you’re too timid, you’ll be pushed up by the floor. Roughly speaking, that’s the concept of the reservoir.

The ancient Chinese Book of Changes, or I Ching, often talks about success being failure and failure being success. Success sows the seeds of future failure, and failure may bring a later success. So it’s always a dynamic process. For warriors, fearlessness doesn’t mean that we cheer up by saying “Look! I’m on the side of the right. I’m a success.” Nor do we feel that we’re being punished when we fail. In any case, success and failure are saying the same thing.

………………
ℹ️ Source

Title: Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery
Chapter: Chapter 11: Unconditional Fearlessness
Author: Chögyam Trungpa
Editor: Carolyn Rose Gimian

This text was first published in Conquering Fear, which appeared in the March 2002 issue of Shambhala Sun magazine, pp. 26–33, 70–74.
Originally derived from a three-talk seminar for directors in the Shambhala Training program presented in 1979.

09/25/2024

Give yourself the gift of meditation! The Art of Being Human is a 2-day meditation retreat designed to bring the profound benefits of mindfulness-awareness meditation practice to an urban setting. It is ideal for anyone seeking to learn or deepen their meditation practice, cultivating a healthy and loving relationship with themselves.

LEARN MORE:
https://la.shambhala.org/program-details/?id=737181

01/08/2024

Just a heads up that the in-person meditation in Santa Monica has been canceled for January 20th. Our Quaker hosts are undergoing a little construction so the space isn't available.

We hope to see you on February 3rd, or any other 1st, 3rd or 5th Saturday!

Quaker Meeting House
1440 Harvard St.,
Santa Monica, CA 90404