Kadampa Meditation Center SF

Cris Azzola

The Kadampa Meditation Center is a beautiful, peaceful space that allows me to take a break out of my busy day to learn mediation skills and practice with friendly people. They create a very welcoming atmosphere, whether you are a novice mediator or long-time practitioner. I enjoy learning about Buddhist practice and have taken a class with Kelsang Shinchok, which was amazing! It helped me deepen my mediation skills and taught me how I can apply ancient Buddhist principles to thrive in the modern world. New classes are constantly being offered and I look forward to exploring more wonderful topics!

Antoine Sindhu

KMC is an incredible place. I became interested in meditation a few years ago and tried drop-in meditation classes at several different centers around San Francisco. None of them really resonated with me until I found the Tuesday night class at KMC. It’s a combination of beginner meditation instruction along with a discussion of some aspect of Buddhist teachings, or dharma. Having tried meditation and dharma classes at various places, I can say that KMC is by far the most helpful, at least for me personally. There is little emphasis on ritual or doctrine, and much more emphasis on making everyone feel welcome and accepted, and on simple, accessible, and practical teachings. The regular teacher, Gen Choma, is absolutely amazing – she has a way of presenting the ancient wisdom of Buddhism in a clear, systematic, and completely modern and relatable way. This isn’t a religious sermon for an inward-looking group, this is powerful and practical life advice given in the most open-minded and open-hearted way possible. Perhaps different people want or expect different things out of meditation or Buddhist centers. What I can say for sure is that this center is the absolute best place to go if you are looking for a simple, accessible, and practical way of improving your life and becoming a better person without necessarily going all in on Buddhism, or wholeheartedly embracing all of the mysticism, rituals, and traditions which you may initially find intimidating or obscure. The Tuesday night teachings are always logical and directly applicable to helping you address the daily struggles of life, like building meaningful relationships with other people, dealing with difficult circumstances or people, developing more happiness and joy in your life, etc. And if you want to go further there is a full calendar of events that delve deeper into Buddhist tradition.

Zachary Jellson

Not your spot if you just want a meditation. There are plenty of other places more geared to that. There was a certain unnecessary formality here as well. Felt odd to sit in a banquet chair during meditation. All in all, something didn't jive with me here. The altar also looks straight out of a museum and its behind glass.

Bruce Langley

My first visit for the drop in mediation and teaching. The meditation area was all-chair seating rather than a mix of chairs for those with limitations, and zafu pillows for those preferring a more traditional posture. This seemed intended to maximize attendence, not to provide a meditative setting. Likewise the garish altar / shrine, which dominates one entire side of the room and is more akin to a department store display window. The teaching was unfocused and the presenter seemed unprepared and rambling. I could return for only the meditation, but unfortunately this was marred too. For some reason it was split into two parts with the teaching in between either. And while I can appreciate a teacher softly and occasionally verbalizing during a meditation to provide assistance to newcomers and centering for all, this time there where constant verbal intrusions to remind us of the teaching-as-theme for our meditation(s). I won't be returning.