Center Resources

Meditation Instruction

Perhaps the Brunswick Portland Shambhala Center’s most valuable offering, meditation instruction is available to anyone, free of charge. We offer introductory instruction to newcomers and follow-up instruction to other practitioners.

Newsletter

A weekly newsletter is emailed to all those on our email list. If you are not already on the list you may sign up here on the website using the form in most sidebars.

News Blog

The weekly newsletter is also published to our News Blog

Suggested Reading

Books by Sakyong Mipham

The Shambhala Principle offers the principle of basic goodness as a way to address the personal and social challenges we face.  Do we, as humans, have confidence in the basic goodness of humanity, as well as of society itself?

Turning the Mind into an Ally-Strengthening, calming, and stabilizing the mind is the essential first step in accomplishing nearly any goal

Ruling Your World: Ancient Strategies for Modern Life-Sakyong Mipham shares ancient secrets on how to take control of our lives and be successful while cultivating compassion for others and confidence in our own intelligence and goodness.

Running With the Mind of Meditation- Sakyong Mipham has found physical activity to be essential for spiritual well-being. The lessons here are simple and designed to show how the melding of internal practice with physical movement can be used by anyone.

 

Books by Chögyam Trungpa

Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior – There is a basic human wisdom that can help solve the world’s problems. The warrior discovers the basic goodness of human life and radiates that goodness out into the world for the peace and sanity of others

Mindfulness in Action: Making Friends with Yourself through Meditation and Everyday Awareness –The rewards of mindfulness practice are well proven: reduced stress, improved concentration, and an overall sense of well-being. Mindfulness in action—mindfulness applied throughout life—can help us work more effectively with life’s challenges, expanding our appreciation and potential for creative engagement.

True Perception: The Path of Dharma Art- Genuine art has the power to awaken and liberate. Dharma art provides a vehicle to appreciate the nature of things as they are and express it without any struggle or desire to achieve.

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism –“The problem is that ego can convert anything to its own use,” he said, “even spirituality.” His incisive, compassionate teachings serve to wake us up from this trick we all play on ourselves, and to offer us a far brighter reality: the true and joyous liberation that inevitably involves letting go of the self rather than working to improve it.

The Myth of Freedom and the Way of Meditation- Here Trungpa explores the true meaning of freedom, showing us how our preconceptions, attitudes, and even our spiritual practices can become chains that bind us to repetitive patterns of frustration and despair.

Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery-“The ultimate definition of bravery is not being afraid of who you are,” writes Chögyam Trungpa. In this book he offers the insights and strategies to claim victory over fear.

Meditation in Action- Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche shows that meditation extends beyond the formal practice of sitting to build the foundation for compassion, awareness, and creativity in all aspects of life.

The Sanity We Are Born With: A Buddhist Approach to Psychology- Buddhist tradition teaches that all of us are born with what Chögyam Trungpa terms “basic sanity,” or inherent goodness, health, and clear perception. Helping ourselves and others to connect with this intrinsic ground of sanity and health is the subject of this collection of teachings

Great Eastern Sun: The Wisdom of Shambhala- CTR offers an inspiring and practical guide to enlightened living based on the Shambhala journey of warriorship, a secular path taught internationally through the Shambhala Training program.

The Truth of Suffering and the Path of Liberation- CTR’s  in-depth exploration of the Four Noble Truths—the foundational Buddhist teaching about the origin of suffering and its cessation—emphasizes their profound relevance not just as an inspiration when we set out on the path, but at every other moment of our lives as well, showing how we can join view of the teaching with practical application in order to interrupt suffering before it arises.

The Heart of the Buddha-The Heart of the Buddha reflects Trungpa’s great appreciation for Western culture and deep understanding of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which enabled him to teach Westerners in an effective, contemporary way.

 

Books by Pema Chodron

Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears *– Pema Chödrön draws on the Buddhist concept of shenpa
to help us see how certain habits of mind tend to “hook” us and get us stuck in states of anger, blame, self-hatred, and addiction.

Start Where You Are –  An indispensable handbook for cultivating fearlessness and awakening a compassionate heart. With insight and humor, Pema Chödrön presents down-to-earth guidance on how we can “start where we are”—embracing rather than denying the painful aspects of our lives.

The Wisdom of No Escape- This book is about saying yes to life in all its manifestations—embracing the potent mixture of joy, suffering, brilliance, and confusion that characterizes the human experience. Pema Chödrön shows us the profound value of our situation of “no escape” from the ups and downs of life.

Living Beautifully: with Uncertainty and Change– Pema shows how using a traditional Buddhist practice called the Three Vows or Three Commitments,
offering us a way to relax into profound sanity in the midst of whatever non-sanity is happening around us.

When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)
A treasury of wisdom for going on living when we are overcome by pain and difficulties.

The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times (Shambhala Classics)-We always have a choice.
We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us and make us increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us and make us kinder.

DOWNLOAD READING LIST

Resources for Members:

Community Directories (and More)

To access the following sites you will need a Shambhala Account.

Brunswick Portland Shambhala Center Community Room
This Shambhala Network group is an online meeting place where anyone interested in the Brunswick Portland Shambhala Meditaiton Center can view a community directory, carry on discussions, and share news, views and more.

Shambhala Database
The Shambhala Database (SDB) contains your personal profile, program and staffing history, and much more. As a member you may log in to update your profile and photo, manage your subscriptions to Shambhala email lists, and see what else you can do with the SDB.

Shambhala Members Area
The Members area on Shambhala’s central website provides access to a rich array of resources organized under several menu headings—Governance, Practice & Education, Culture & Decorum, Societal Health & Well-Being, Centre & Group Support, Help, and others. Check it out to keep up with new developments.

Brunswick Portland Shambhala Council
All Brunswick Portland Shambhala Meditation Center members are welcome to participate in center governance via the Brunswick Portland Shambhala Council. We encourage you to share your inspiration, questions, suggestions, concerns, or other thoughts with any of the Brunswick Portland Shambhala Center’s leaders, face to face or otherwise. Email contacts for the center leaders may be found on the Center Leaders page.