Meditation in Westchester
Vajra Light Kadampa Buddhist Center is a non-profit Buddhist meditation center in Westchester, NY. We offer instruction in meditation and Buddhist spiritual practice through meditation classes, retreats and special events. Taught by qualified Western teachers, Vajra Light's meditation classes are very easy to understand and apply to our daily lives. The classes are suitable for both beginners and more advanced meditation practitioners. Everyone welcome!
Where to Start
All of the classes listed below are a great place to start for both beginners and experienced meditators.
Classes are especially designed to help busy, modern people find more inner peace and happiness. No prior experience with Buddhism or meditation is necessary. Everyone is welcome! Please follow the links to individual class pages for more details about the current topics and pricing.
Please help us share the priceless gift of Buddha’s teachings and meditation practices!
Vajra Light is an entirely volunteer run, non-profit organization.
At Vajra Light Kadampa Buddhist Center, our mission is very simple – to give people the means to develop inner peace. Through year-round regular and special programming in Westchester, people receive teachings, and meditate in the friendly atmosphere of our Center. As we interact with one another, our virtuous activities ripple out in all directions, affecting countless people. In this way, we all contribute to individual and community peace, harmony, happiness and well-being – now and in the future!
Click on the button below to learn more and donate. Thank you!
This Event is Sold Out
New Year’s Eve Celebration!
Wednesday, December 31
6:30pm – 8:30pm
With Kadam Donna Campanelli
VAJRA LIGHT KADAMPA BUDDHIST CENTER
875 MAMARONECK AVENUE
SUITE 205
MAMARONECK, NY 10543
Pre-registration is required (even if you are a member).
Join us for our annual New Year’s Eve event as we ring in the new year with compassion and beneficial intentions together with the Vajra Light community!
Guided by Kadam Donna, we’ll explore Buddha’s teachings on compassion and inner peace, learning practical ways to bring more empathy, presence, and joy into the new year. Together, we’ll share guided meditation and prayers to Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, We will set our spiritual intentions for the new year and make requests that wisdom, compassion and peace will grow within our own hearts as well as throughout the world. Begin the new year feeling grounded, inspired, and connected.
Everyone welcome! Suitable for both beginners and experienced meditators.
Sunday Mornings
10:30am -12:00pm
NEW SERIES!
A New Way of Being
Realizing Our Potential and Purpose
with kadam Donna campanelli
Vajra Light kadampa Buddhist Center
875 Mamaroneck Avenue
Suite 205
Mamaroneck, NY 10543
Because our “world” is shaped by how we perceive it, Buddha taught that by changing our mind, we change our experience of life. Our inner state determines how the world appears to us.
At the heart of the Kadampa Buddhist tradition is the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lamrim), a sequence of meditations designed to gradually transform our awareness and way of being.
In this series, we begin with the meditation on our Precious Human Life, which helps us recognize the extraordinary potential and purpose of this life, giving rise to joy, gratitude, and a strong motivation to live meaningfully.
Together, we’ll learn how to engage deeply with this meditation—not only during formal practice, but also throughout our daily lives—so its wisdom becomes a lived experience, not just a concept.
Everyone welcome; suitable for both beginners and experienced meditators.
No class on December 28. Happy holidays!
Prayers For World Peace
Sunday Mornings
9:45am -10:15am
Vajra Light kadampa Buddhist Center
875 Mamaroneck Avenue
Suite 205
Mamaroneck, NY 10543
Join us for Prayers for World Peace, beautiful prayers set to music, that give us the opportunity to develop a warm and loving heart and to help create both inner and outer peace.
Through contemplating these prayers compiled by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, we learn to cherish all living beings. If everyone sincerely prays to be able to cherish others, then gradually through the power of this prayer, everyone will actually cherish each other. The world will then be permanently at peace, and pure and everlasting happiness will pervade the entire world.
Everyone welcome!
No class on December 31 due to our New Year’s Eve Celebration. Learn more here!
Wednesday Evenings
7:00pm - 8:30pm
NEW SERIES!
A Friend to The World
with Kadam donna campanelli
Vajra Light kadampa Buddhist Center
875 Mamaroneck Avenue
Suite 205
Mamaroneck, NY 10543
Continuing our series on The New Eight Steps to Happiness, we turn to the cultivation of a truly extraordinary state of mind known as bodhichitta. Training in bodhichitta is one of the most meaningful ways to make our life deeply purposeful.
Each of us possesses an extraordinary potential—the potential for lasting happiness and freedom, known as enlightenment. Yet this potential can only be fulfilled if we genuinely wish to realize it. That wish, born from compassion and the sincere desire to benefit others, is called bodhichitta.
In this series, we will explore the remarkable benefits that arise from this single intention, along with practical ways to develop and sustain it in our daily lives.
Everyone welcome; suitable for both beginners and experienced meditators.
Special Events
Breathe & Brunch
with kadam Donna Campanelli
Saturday, January 10
10:00am - 12:30pm
Vajra Light kadampa Buddhist Center
875 Mamaroneck Avenue
Suite 205
Mamaroneck, NY 10543
As a gift to our community, Vajra Light would like to invite you to begin the new year with nourishment for both mind and body. Join us for a brief teaching and gentle breathing meditation to settle the mind and open the heart, followed by a delicious brunch enjoyed in good company. This free event is a relaxed, welcoming morning for community, conversation, and connection.
During the meditation, we’ll explore a simple and meaningful way to connect with qualities such as wisdom and compassion through visualization and sacred sounds known as mantras. Then… we eat!
A meaningful and delicious way to start the new year, together.
Everyone is welcome. Suitable for both beginners and experienced meditators.
FREE
Become a Vajra Light Member!
When you become a Member of Vajra Light Kadampa Buddhist Center you're actively supporting the flourishing of Dharma in Westchester and throughout the world.
General Membership includes:
· Unlimited General Program (GP) classes at Vajra Light
· Unlimited day courses, workshops and retreats at Vajra Light
· Live-stream availability for Sunday ONLY General Program classes
· 50% off empowerments at Vajra Light
· Three guest passes per year to GP in-person classes at VLKBC.
Free Resources
How to Transform Your Life
FREE eBook download
“Through practicing the instructions presented in this book we can transform our life from a state of misery into one of pure and everlasting happiness. These instructions are scientific methods to improve our human nature. Everybody needs to be good-natured with a good heart, because in this way we can solve our own problems as well as those of others, and we can make our human life meaningful. Every living being has the same basic wish...
The Modern Buddhism Meditation App
Modern Buddhism is a free app with guided meditations, podcasts & ebooks inspired by the great works of meditation master Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche
DISCOVER INNER PEACE IN A BUSY WORLD
The Modern Buddhism App is your free companion for learning and practicing meditation in daily life. Inspired by the profound teachings of meditation master Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche, the app offers accessible tools to bring clarity, peace, and joy into your life.