You are warmly invited to join the Margarita Mandala Fund to help us provide ongoing vital support for our beloved teacher, Margarita L.
“As awareness deepens, learning to allow for the truth of our own and another’s experience is one of the most healing practices we can develop. It’s all about healing, in medicine as well as in Buddhist practice. Our job is to look at why we suffer and to try to alleviate that.”
-Margarita
Margarita L. has dedicated her life to supporting the individual and collective liberation of countless people and social movements, lovingly offering her guidance and wisdom. Now we have an opportunity to support her in her ongoing work.
A circle of people are joining together to ensure that this beloved meditation teacher, spiritual leader, physician, mentor, and visionary receives the essential care and resources she needs as she continues to teach and navigate her elder years.
Through this page, you may: Send dana contributions for a specific teaching on a one-time basis, or offer monthly contributions that will support Margarita’s long-term sustainability.
The Invitation
We hope to collectively reach our goal of $1,800 per month in generously offered dana, ideally through automatic monthly contributions, to cover some of Margarita’s essential living expenses.
If you are inspired to make an offering of any amount, please use the orange Give button on this page to use PayPal, Venmo or a credit card.
Seed of Enlightenment - $10 per month
Vajra Guardian - $50 per month
Bodhisattva - $100 per month
Prajñāpāramitā Supporter $250 per month
No amount is too small or too large.
All contributions are tax-deductible through our fiscal sponsor, Green Cities Fund, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization (EIN: 20-3911647)
To contribute by check (and avoid service fees):
Make payable to "Green Cities Fund" and mail to:
Green Cities Fund
162 Panoramic Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
Write "For Margarita Mandala Fund" in the memo.
Why Your Support Matters
Your participation is a meaningful expression of intergenerational care for our beloved teacher. Margarita, a mentor and teacher of color, has made significant sacrifices to share invaluable Dharma teachings freely while preserving their essence and lineage with unwavering integrity.
Through our contributions, we enter into a reciprocal relationship as we receive these precious teachings. Our support through offering dana ensures that these teachings continue to be available for generations to come.
Given the high cost of living in the Bay Area, we’re happy to support Margarita’s Dharma practice and her ability to share her teachings. Our collective contributions are combined and given to Margarita as a single amount. She will see who contributed but not the individual amounts. Although Margarita knows about the giving circle and its volunteers, she is not involved in its operations.
Thank You
Thank you for joining our collective effort to honor Margarita and all the ways she has nurtured our communities for decades.
If you know others who have been touched or inspired by her teaching or advocacy, please feel free to share this invitation to join the Margarita Mandala Fund. We kindly request that this page is not shared on Facebook or other social media sites.
Please make your pledge TODAY! May All Beings Benefit!
With metta 🙏🏾,
Anouk Shambrook, Julio Rios & Gabby Miller
The Margarita Mandala Fund Volunteers
For additional information see below:
Margarita’s Lifelong Service & Impact
Margarita has chosen a life of service, focusing on people’s physical, emotional, and spiritual health. As a public health physician, she often chose work that, while not financially lucrative, was deeply fulfilling. Early in her training, she worked at a clinic serving Cambodian refugees. She spent 12 years serving the homeless population in San Francisco, advocating for access to care for Latino day laborers and migrant workers. Along with one of her medical students, she published two seminal papers describing the plight of injured day laborers in San Francisco.
She practiced medicine at the Tom Waddell Clinic in San Francisco, which serves the inner city population. As an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, she taught medical students and residents at the University of California, San Francisco, including developing a mindfulness course for them. In the latter part of her career, Margarita trained in Biodynamic Osteopathy through which she learned how to support the intrinsic drive within our bodies towards health and wholeness, which parallels the drive in our minds towards ultimate freedom.
Margarita and a patient during a checkup at the Tom Waddell Clinic. Photo by Kathrin Miller
Margarita has led a remarkable life, including being one of the early pioneers both in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, and in diversity in Western convert Buddhism. From 1996 - 1999, she co-facilitated a Women of Color Sitting Group with Marlene Jones and co-organized the inaugural People of Color Retreat at Spirit Rock in 1999. This retreat was the first of its kind for convert Buddhists in the United States. She is also on the Steering Committee of Freedom Together: A Mindfulness Teacher Training By and For BIPOC.
Margarita with George Mumford, Marlene Jones,& Jack Kornfield, teachers of the first People of Color Retreat at Spirit Rock in 1999.
Margarita was born in the Dominican Republic and emigrated to the United States when she was 19. She has trained in the Tibetan and Theravada traditions. She met her root teacher Kalu Rimpoche in 1977 and is a Dzogchen student of Lama Drimed Norbu. She is a graduate of the first Community Dharma Leaders Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.
In 2001 she was a recipient of the “Unsung Heroes of Compassion Award,” presented by the Dalai Lama for her work with “Healthcare for the Homeless” and Tom Waddell Clinic. Her current teaching integrates Dzogchen practice with social justice and environmental awareness.
“Dr. Margarita Loinaz is a wonderful presence, a loving physician, Dharma teacher and healer of body and spirit. She is a pioneer in diversity Buddhism, having co-organized the first retreat for people of color at Spirit Rock in 1999.” – Jack Kornfield
Sharing Some of Her Wisdom
In case you would enjoy it, below are some of Margarita’s Teachings:
Lion’s Roar Article: Recognizing Our True Nature
Embodiment and the Dharma Continuum, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, August 1st, 2022. 59-min dharma talk & meditation.
The Freedom of Not Knowing, East Bay Meditation Center, People of Color Sangha on April 7th, 2022. 27-min dharma talk & meditation.
Our Original Nature and the Intimacy of Embodiment, East Bay Meditation Center, People of Color Sangha on September 9th, 2021. 37-min dharma talk & meditation.
Here is an additional list of some of her public teachings.
In case you’re curious, below are two seminal articles about the plight of injured day laborers that she co-authored in 2002 and 2004 with one of her medical students. These have become reference papers cited by over 200 peer-reviewed articles.
Masculinity and undocumented labor migration: injured latino day laborers in San Francisco. Journal of Social Science and Medicine. Sep 2004; 59(6):1159-68.
Drawing on data collected through clinical practice and ethnographic fieldwork, this study examines the experience of injury, illness and disability among undocumented Latino day laborers in San Francisco.
Social context of work injury among undocumented day laborers in San Francisco. Journal of General Internal Medicine, Mar 2002;17(3):221-9.
Identifies ways in which undocumented day laborers' social context affects their risk for occupational injury, and characterizes the ways in which these workers' social context influences their experience of disability.
About The Margarita Mandala Fund
To learn more or share ideas for the Margarita Mandala Fund, email us MargaritaMandala@gmail.com.