Participate

The more we help others, the softer and more fertile our heart becomes.
— Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

Path of Service

How can I help? With this simple question, we increase our potential to enrich the world, and ultimately to find our own joy. Using discipline to generate compassion, we leap beyond the fickleness of mood into the confidence of delight in helping others.

Volunteering

At the Philadelphia Shambhala Center, volunteering is often referred to as work practice because it is an opportunity for meditation in action. Joining practice with service helps to deepen our commitment as we progress along the path. There are many opportunities available, from occasional event staffing, to greeting newcomers, to holding a leadership role. We invite you to serve in whatever way feels comfortable, and encourage you to reach out with any questions you may have. Contact our Volunteer Coordinator if you are interested in helping: [email protected].

Membership

Membership is a way to express appreciation for what Shambhala provides and help make it available to others. Although membership is not required to participate in much of what the Center has to offer, without our community’s financial and volunteer support, we would not be able to offer all the wonderful programs, practice sessions, and events that we do.  It is because of our members that the profound tradition of meditation is able to survive and flourish. Payment of membership dues is the financial backbone of our Shambhala Center.  Contact our Head of Membership at [email protected].

Giving

The Shambhala Center of Philadelphia remains open because of the ongoing generosity of our members, program participants and donors. Our community has a fundamental commitment to the Mahayana path of benefiting all sentient beings. This frames the way that we think about all of our sources of revenue. Every dollar goes towards creating mediation programs, developing outreach opportunities, expanding into other areas of the city and making it possible for more people to sit on a cushion and become familiar with their own minds and hearts.

General donations fund our yearly Operating Budget which include operating expenses associated with the facility (utilities, maintenance, etc.), program support, office expenses, shrine & practice expenses, and our center’s support of Shambhala International.

Donate Here

We are all here on earth to see what we can offer, as opposed to what we can take. A life based upon what we can take leads to promoting a society where the only barometer of success is materialism. Mindfulness leads to an attitude of wanting to serve the world, rather than expecting to be served. Only through the development of mindfulness—which leads to virtues like kindness and generosity—will we become truly peaceful.