Who We Are

Founded in 1971, the Burlington Shambhala Center is home to a community who shares a genuine connection to meditation practice and the aspiration to realize a more wakeful, sane society. We aspire to create an environment where all people are welcome and respected, with support to participate as they choose.

Our mission is to cultivate the worthiness, wisdom and compassion of individuals and society based on the inherent goodness of humanity and the natural world. Our core path is a personal, experiential path of meditation and study, supported by a community of other practitioners. The roots of our practices are the Shambhala lineage and the Buddhist lineages of Kagyü and Nyingma, as originally presented in the west by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. We train in meditation to better know our minds and hearts and to cultivate the qualities of openness, bravery, kindness and compassion, with the intention of extending these qualities into life and society in general. Respecting that each individual’s journey is their own, we welcome all who are interested in personal, spiritual and societal awakening.

Addressing harm in the Shambhala community