The East Bay Meditation Center was founded in 2007 to create a welcoming spiritual home and community of practice for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color; LGBTQI community; people living with disabilities; and others whose voices and experiences have too often been marginalized communities. Today we warmly welcome everyone who seeks to cultivate wisdom, compassion, healing and freedom from suffering.
Drawing from Buddhist and other contemplative traditions we offer meditation, mindfulness practice, and teachings that support personal transformation and collective liberation.
Our community is rooted in values of radical inclusivity, generosity, shared leadership, and environmental responsibility. Since our earliest conversations in the late 1990s, we have been committed to building a multicultural community where many identities, traditions, and lived experience are honored and belong.
Inspired by the tradition of socially-engaged Buddhism, we believe that spiritual practice and the work of creating a more just and compassionate world are deeply interconnected. Many members of our community are organizers, advocates, educators, caregivers, and healers. At a time of profound social and ecological challenges, we offer practices, relationships and refuge that help sustain the resilience, clarity and compassion needed to continue the work of collective liberation.
Our Sangha found its first home in a modest downtown Oakland storefront. By welcoming 1,000 visits in just twelve months, we saw the early, powerful beginnings of a deeply engaged community taking root.
In 2012, we moved to a larger space to meet the profound need for connection. By 2019, with 19,000 visits a year, it was clear that EBMC had blossomed into a vital sanctuary for those seeking both inner practice and collective liberation.
In 2020, we embarked on the journey to find "A Home of Our Own." We began the search for a permanent, sustainable building to ensure our diverse community always has a dedicated sanctuary for practice and belonging.
Securing our building at 2406 Webster Street in 2023 was a monumental step. As we continue our capital campaign today, we are gathering the collective support needed to finally open our new, permanent sanctuary in the heart of Uptown Oakland. Click here for more information and to support our campaign “Building a Place for Peace, Power & Belonging".
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Please join beloved teachers Larry Yang, Pawan Bareja, and Kimi Mojica for a daylong retreat where we’ll hold the Dharma as our compass, to guide us through difficult situations and support us to look deep within, while we hold differences within our communities with love and kindness. Our time together is about being a part of our beloved communities and staying in connection, not just during the easy joyful times, but also in the midst of our individual and collective struggles and sorrows.
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Please join EBMC Staff for an Appreciation Party, Sunday, September 27, 2026! We would love to connect with as many of you as possible and thank you for your wonderful service to our greater community. We will have karaoke, games, and art-making! Plus food! We'll set up seating inside and outside.
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For the tenth time, EBMC will offer two class series exploring what it means to creatively embody the Bodhisattva teachings. Those who complete both class series may participate in the final daylong and either witness or take Bodhisattva precepts and vows in order to strengthen their commitment to collective liberation. These are the same vows taken by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and by Thich Nhat Hanh.
For the tenth time, EBMC will offer two class series exploring what it means to creatively embody the Bodhisattva teachings. Those who complete both class series may participate in the final daylong and either witness or take Bodhisattva precepts and vows in order to strengthen their commitment to collective liberation. These are the same vows taken by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and by Thich Nhat Hanh.
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