Overview
The Santa Barbara Bodhi Path Center was founded in 1997 under the direction of Shamar Rinpoche. The Santa Barbara Center is affiliated with Bodhi Path, an international organization of Buddhist centers that was founded by Rinpoche. Today, there are almost 40 Bodhi Path Buddhist Centers around the world, 12 of which are in the United States. All of these centers have the same core principles and teachings, since they were all founded under the larger umbrella of Rinpoche’s Bodhi Path organization, but each center has its own events, teachers, and community. Bodhi Path Centers teach classes and meditation practices that are rooted in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. However, rather than focusing more specifically on Tibetan Buddhism, the organization instead focuses on creating what it calls a “modern, non-sectarian environment” and teaching “authentic” Buddhist teachings with “authentic” teachers.
Community
Dawa Tarchin Phillips serves as the Santa Barbara Bodhi Path Center’s resident teacher, but it also hosts visiting teachers. Although there is no information about its number of members, the Santa Barbara Center is a diverse community made up of members of a variety of ages and levels of practice. The sangha seems to be primarily made up of white American Buddhist converts, along with some Asian American Buddhists.
Founder
Mipham Chökyi Lodrö, also known as Shamar Rinpoche, founded the Bodhi Path Centers. He was the 14th Shamarpa of the Karma Kagyu school of Buddhism. “Shamarpa” is a Tibetan word that roughly translates to “holder of the red crown” in English. The Shamarpa line is the second oldest lineage of tulkus, or reincarnate lamas, in Tibetan Buddhism after the Karmapa lineage.
Shamar Rinpoche was born on October 27th, 1952, in Derge, Tibet. In 1956, Rinpoche and his older brother went to Tsurphu Monastery, which is the seat of the Karmapas in Lhasa. He showed special abilities, specifically in his ability to recognize a few monks from a previous life at Yangpachen monastery. Because of these abilities, at the age of four, Rinpoche was recognized as the next Shamarpa by the 16th Karmapa, who is the supreme head of the Kagyu lineage in Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th Dalai Lama also recognized him.
After this, Shamar Rinpoche began his spiritual training under the guidance of eminent lamas. Following the Chinese invasion of Tibet, he fled to India with the 16th Karmapa and continued his formal education in exile. In 1963, he was officially enthroned as the 14th Shamarpa.
Once he completed his Buddhist studies, Shamar Rinpoche began teaching in 1980 and ended up teaching the Buddha Dharma at several Karma Kagyu centers around the world.
In 1996, Shamar Rinpoche founded the Bodhi Path, an international organization aimed at providing accessible Buddhist teachings. He sought to create a non-sectarian, authentic approach to Buddhism. His emphasis on practical meditation and ethical living attracted many Western students. Additionally, Shamar Rinpoche founded several charitable non-profit organizations, including the Infinite Compassion Foundation, for causes including animal rights and education for children born into poverty.
Shamar Rinpoche passed away on June 11th, 2014, while teaching in Renchen, Germany.
Teacher
Dawa Tarchin Phillips is the Santa Barbara Bodhi Path Center’s main teacher. Phillips was born in the United States but raised in Europe. His Tibetan name “Dawa Tarchin” translates to “accomplished moon” in English.
Philips studied and trained as an ordained monk with the late Tibetan Buddhist meditation master Gendun Rinpoche. Additionally, he completed two 3-year meditation retreats at Dhagpo Kundreul Ling Hermitage in France.
Phillips has been a non-sectarian Buddhist practitioner for over twenty years and now teaches as an authorized teacher of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism.
Additionally, Phillips serves as a visiting researcher in the University of Santa Barbara’s psychology department. His research is centered on the benefits of meditation for school children. He is also the founder of a nonprofit, the Institute of Compassionate Awareness, which gives children secular meditation training.
Teachings and Understanding of Buddhism
Bodhi Path’s meditation and study curriculum is grounded in the Seven Points of Mind Training, created by Kadampa Buddhist meditation master Geshe Chekhawa. This training is in the tradition of the Tibetan Buddhist master Gampopa, who was the disciple of Milarepa (in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism). Gampopa combined the Kadampa Buddhist teachings of Atisha with the Mahamudra teachings of Mahasiddha Saraha.
The Seven Points of Mind Training teaches contemplative practices that bring mindfulness, awareness, and insight to everyday experiences. Shamar Rinpoche believed that these methods were the most effective for calming the mind and deepening wisdom and could be taught and practiced secularly.
“A primary benefit experienced by the practitioner of meditation is the immediate improvement in the conditions of daily life. The practice of meditation leads to a mind that is more peaceful, more tranquil, and more at ease.”
-Shamar Rinpoche
Rinpoche wrote three books which represent the foundational teachings for Bodhi Path centers. Here, he laid out comprehensive instructions for practitioners traveling the path to achieve enlightenment. These books are called Boundless Awakening, The Path to Awakening, and Boundless Wisdom.
Practices
Bodhi Path primarily focuses on a few types of meditation practice. The first is shamatha, which translates to “peaceful abiding” or “tranquility.” This form of meditation is also called mindfulness or concentration meditation. Through shamatha, one develops mental peace, stability, and focus. The other is vipassana, or insight meditation. Through vipassana, one can examine and experience their mind’s true nature, free of confusion and ignorance.
At the root of the Bodhi Path system of practice are the teachings of “lojong,” or mind training. Lojong teachings work to change the practitioner’s mind by training it in the practice of compassion and the development of wisdom. These teachings are supposed to be particularly useful to lay practitioners in the contemporary world.
Additional meditative practices can be undertaken to help cultivate wisdom, merit, purification, and compassion. These include the Practice of 35 Buddhas (Three Heaps Sutra), the Practice of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Chenrezig), Samatabhadra’s Aspiration Prayer (Sangcho Monlam), and the Practice of Vajrasattva (Dorje Sempa). More advanced practitioners can also participate in Lineage Practices with the guidance of a qualified meditation instructor.
Events
The Santa Barbara Bodhi Path Center offers a wide variety of events, some of which cost money to participate in and others of which are free.
Free activities include weekly meditation sessions, which are led by trained meditation facilitators who are also sangha members. They are held Tuesdays from 6 to 7 p.m. and can be attended either in-person at the center, or online via Zoom. The Center also offers weekly Dharma teaching sessions, which also include some meditation practice, held on Thursdays, from 7 to 9 p.m.
There are monthly “Joy of Practice” sessions, which are for longer periods of sitting and walking meditation. There is also a monthly book club and reflective writing group.
Other free events that happen less regularly are introduction classes, movie screenings, guided discussions, social events, and question and answer sessions with Buddhist teachers, including Dawa Tarchin Phillips.
In terms of paid activities, the Center offers classes and retreats.
Dawa Tarchin Phillips teaches about six weekend workshops, called “Curriculum Classes,” a year that run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on a Saturday and Sunday. Each weekend has a different theme, but some topics include advanced practice, the four noble truths, overcoming adversity, working with emotions, compassion and loving kindness, wisdom, and Buddhist philosophy. These classes emphasize how to apply learned principles to practitioners’ daily lives. Registration for one set of these weekend classes is $200 and discounted registration is $50.
The Curriculum Classes are all part of Santa Barbara Bodi Path’s multi-year curriculum, which is designed to offer western lay students a comprehensive foundation for dharma study and practice. However, practitioners are not required or expected to study the entirety of the curriculum. Instead, community members are encouraged to join in all or part of the cycle of teachings.
The Center also hosts biannual five-day residential and non-residential retreats, one held in the fall and the other held in the spring. These retreats are an opportunity for practitioners to deepen their practice experience and understanding with the support of fellow practitioners and the guidance of a qualified teacher — in this case, resident teacher Dawa Tarchin Phillips. There is a financial cost associated with participating in a retreat, but there are also scholarships available for anyone who this cost might be an issue for.
The Santa Barbara Bodhi Path Center sends out frequent email newsletters with information about upcoming events and information about how to register if necessary.
Funding
The Santa Barbara Bodhi Path Center receives some funding from its parent organization, Bodhi Path Worldwide. Patrons can donate to the Wisdom Foundation, which is the legal name of the nonprofit charitable organization that supports Bodhi Path Centers in the United States.
The Santa Barbara Center also relies on the support and generosity of its members. Although most weekly and monthly events do not cost money, the suggested donation for meditation of Dharma sessions is $5-$15. On the other hand, all Curriculum Classes and retreats cost money in order to register, which goes directly towards funding the event and the Center.
The Santa Barbara Bodhi Center’s homepage has links to donate online to either the Center itself or Dawa Tarchin Phillips directly. Patrons can make one-time donations or sign up for monthly donations of any amount.
The Center’s website and newsletters place an emphasis on the importance of “dana,” or generosity and giving. Community members are encouraged to donate if possible to support the center’s programming and to help fund the scholarship fund, so that classes can be offered for free or at a discounted rate for those who cannot afford them.
Summary
Overall, the Santa Barbara Bodhi Path Center seems like a vibrant community and is very welcoming to new members, or anyone who is interested in exploring more about Buddhist faith or practice. I found the Center’s wide variety of events and focus on teachings that meet the needs of modern-day Dharma practitioners particularly interesting.
Sources
https://bodhipath.org/centers/sb/
https://buddhism-today.org/the-extraordinary-life-of-the-14th-shamar-rinpoche/
https://www.karmapa.org/centers/santa-barbara/santa-barbara-bodhi-path-buddhist-center/
https://www.lionsroar.com/how-to-practice-shamatha-meditation/
https://xx.shamarpa.org/the-life-and-passing-of-shamar-rinpoche/