Get Involved
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.
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. Learn More
Giving
The Shambhala Center of Boston remains open because of the ongoing generosity of our Members and 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 building expenses (mortgage, insurance, utilities, maintenance, etc.), office expenses, shrine & practice expenses, payroll for 3 full-time employees and 1 part-time employee, and our center’s contributions to Shambhala International.
Volunteering
There are many opportunities to get involved by supporting Ongoing Programs such as helping set up and clean up, serve water, and greet people as they come in for the first time. There are also opportunities to work in the office as an occasional support or an ongoing basis. As you progress along your path there are many way to deepen your practice by staffing weekend retreat programs, coordinating classes, or becoming a Local Leader. Wewant to support your practice of generosity and invite you to give back in whatever way you feel connected to.
Below are some examples of the many roles held by volunteers at the Boston Shambhala Center. Contact us to find out how you can help: [email protected]
Program Staff – Classes and other programs at the Shambhala center are run by volunteers who offer their time and skills to make each event an enjoyable and meaningful opportunity for us to practice, learn and grow. Staff serve a variety of roles including program registration, running the audio recording system, preparing and cleaning up refreshments, teacher service.
- Coordinator: oversee the many details that bring a program to fruition
Nyinthun – This Sunday morning program runs each week from 8:30 to 12:30 each Sunday. Training and prerequisites are needed for some positions.
- Greeter: welcome and orient participants into the center
- Timekeeper: begin and end sessions of sitting and walking meditation
- Gatekeeper: regulate the flow of people into the meditation hall during practice
- Meditation Instructor: offers one-on-one meetings during Nyinthun
30’s and Under – The 30s & Under night is a fantastic opportunity to connect with other young people in the Boston area who are interested in meditation. For more information contact Max Roberts-Zirker [email protected]
- Greeter: welcome participants into the center
- Shrine service: set out cushions and preparing the room for the evening
- Timekeeper: begin and end sessions of sitting meditation
- Water service: offer water to the presenter
- Gatekeeper: regulate the flow of people into the meditation hall during practice
- Meditation Instructor or Guide: offer meditation instruction
Learn to Meditate – Learn to meditate is taught by experienced and authorized instructors, this basic meditation class is for beginners as well as experienced meditators. If you are interested in being involved with this popular public program as a greeter or a meditation guide/instructor contact [email protected]
Ikebana – The ikebana practitioners and coordinators are responsible for purchasing flowers, creating, and maintaining flower arrangements that delight the senses, particularly leading up to programs. Training in Ikebana is one great way for artists and others with refined aesthetics to offer their gifts to the community.
Shrinekeepers – The shrine keepers are responsible for maintaining fresh and uplifted shrines on a weekly basis and especially before programs. This is a great opportunity for a ritual academy graduates, Vajrayana student or Sacred World Assembly graduate with understanding of the Shambhala rituals.
Many small gestures – Helping to set up cushions before a program or put them away neatly after, replacing empty tea boxes with new ones, putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher or clean dishes away, tidying up the community room, and so many other small gestures that make the center a warm and welcoming place for everyone. No experience required!
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.
– Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche
