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MEDITATION RETREAT CENTERS
After you learn meditation and have your own practice, you may want to progress to a short (e.g., weekend) or longer (e.g., 10 days or more) meditation retreat. Here are our recommended retreat centers offering guided meditation retreats.
Dharma Drum Retreat Center
Location: Global locations, and online programs
Regular retreats are offered by monastic sangha and lay faculty from Dharma Drum Mountain lineage (法鼓山). Retreats start with basic methods, and progress into specialized Chan methods like huatou (話頭) and silent illumination (默照).
There are Dharma Drum centers globally. Chinese-speaking friends can explore the Chinese website. Dharma Drum centers also organize online programs and retreats.
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Dharma Drum Retreat Centres
🪷 The Dharma Drum lineage method of practicing meditation is highly comprehensive. It includes movement meditation & stretching in addition to the regular sitting and walking meditation. It is also a highly structured program/curriculum which allows you to progress into more advanced styles of meditation (in the Chinese tradition) like huatou and silent illumination from the foundational methods.
🪷 There are pre-requisites (foundational meditation experience) and conditions before one is allowed to go for an intensive meditation retreat. This is wise because it ensures one is ready for a longer retreat.
🪷 Practicing meditation in the Dharma Drum lineage would allow you to progress well in a reputable and well-supported global fourfold sangha community, of monks, nuns, layman and laywoman. We highly recommend it.
Jhana Grove Retreat Center
Location: Australia
Residential (stay-in) retreats are regularly led by the monastic Sangha of the nearby Bodhinyana and Dhammasara Monasteries. All retreats focus on meditation and retreatants follow the eight-precepts of Buddhism.
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Jhana Grove Retreat Centre
🪷 The retreats are guided by monastic Sangha (Buddhist monk). You would be required to take refuge in the triple gems, and keep the 8 precepts during the course of the retreat.
🪷 There are pre-requisites on meditation experience, and conditions on mental health before one is allowed to go a longer meditation retreat. This condition is wise as it ensures one is ready for a longer retreat.
🪷 If you are an experienced meditator, you could consider booking into Jhana Grove for your own self-guided practice.
Goenka Vipassana Retreat Center
Location: Global locations
Retreats are residential (stay-in) and ten-day in length. Participants follow a prescribed Code of Discipline and learn the basics of the method. There is an extensive listing of Goenka Vipassana meditation retreat centers around the world. While having Buddhist roots, Goenka retreats are secular.
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Goenka Vipassana Retreat Centres
🪷 You should be accustomed to sitting in silence for at least 10 minutes daily for a few months. It’d be better if you have had 20-30 minute long (or even longer) regular sits.
🪷 Goenka retreats are intensive. They are run in total noble silence – no talking and no eye contact with others. A 10-day retreat would be really beneficial to deepen your practice.
🪷 Unlike meditation retreats run by monasteries like Dharma Drum, and Jhana Grove, which already has a system in place with pre-requisites, anyone is free to apply to a Goenka 10-day retreat.
🪷 Therefore, we do not recommend the 10-day retreat as your first contact point of meditation. We also recommend that you resolve any deep mental issues (if any), before going for the retreat.
“The essence of a sangha (community) is awareness, understanding, acceptance, harmony and love.”
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
Buddhist monk & founder of Plum Village
BUDDHIST MONASTERIES
Apart from meditation retreats which are more contained and structured in terms of schedule, visits to Buddhist monasteries are necessary for one on the Buddhist path. We meet Buddhist monastics and seek their guidance, meditate or chant together with them, learn the Buddha’s teachings, be immersed in a monastic lifestyle, and offer our services to the monasteries.
There are plenty of monasteries around the world, too many for us to list. We have selected a few prominent ones to feature, which are globally accessible, with meditation & mindfulness as their focus, have english-speaking programs, and are highly reputed with good teachers, Apart from our recommendations here, you may also go to your local monastery and explore the programs they offer.
Forest Monasteries in the Tradition of Ajahn Chah
Location: Global locations, and online programs
Monasteries are residences of monastics, but they sometimes host meditation retreats (1-day or longer). Some monasteries may allow short stays for lay guests. There are several international forest monasteries in the Tradition of Ajahn Chah globally, including the United States, Europe, Australia.
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Forest Monasteries in the Ajahn Chah Tradition
🪷 The network of forest sangha monasteries are highly conducive for one to experience meditation in a forest monastery setting. Apart from going to learn meditation, you can also visit the monasteries for a day visit.
🪷 As this is a monastery, lay guests staying over will need to observe the Buddhist 8 precepts.
🪷 Some of the monasteries, like Amaravati in United Kingdom has an active Youtube channel where the monastics give Dhamma talks and teaches meditation very regularly.
🪷 Monastics travel to major cities around the world to give teachings and lead retreats. Please refer to their individual monastery website for details. For people in Asia (Singapore), Buddha Dhamma Foundation hosts meditation retreats and teachings by the monastics regularly. Some of these programs are conducted online so anyone around the world can join in easily.
Plum Village
Location: Global locations, and online programs
The essence of Plum Village is that mindfulness is woven into all daily activities: while eating, walking, working, or enjoying a cup of tea together. Plum village hosts 1-day Day of Mindfulness retreats, weekend retreats, week-long retreats or longer retreats. Plum Village is headquartered in France and has many centers globally including in the United States and Australia. The Asian headquarters for Plum Village is in Thailand.
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Plum Village
🪷 Plum Village hosts 1-day Day of Mindfulness Retreat, in cities, normally led by lay people. Plum village monastics are mainly staying in the monasteries.
🪷 Plum village 1-week retreats are not conducted in noble silence. There is less emphasis on formal sitting meditation; emphasis is on activities done with mindfulness. Plum Village retreats are extremely family friendly – kids, teenagers, adults and elderly will all be deeply nourished from the experience. The practices of Plum Village are nourishing for the heart. It emphasizes community-building and mindful speech; circles hosted by monastics are heart-opening. Highly recommended!
🪷 If you prefer a retreat with strict noble silence with emphasis on sitting meditation, we recommend you look to the options given in our recommended Meditation Retreat Centers section. If you’re looking to learn how to apply mindfulness in daily life, where your family members can join you too, then Plum Village is highly suitable.
Dharma Drum Mountain
Location: Global locations, and online programs
Apart from meditation classes and retreats, Dharma Drum Mountain 法鼓山 also hosts events including Buddhist teachings, chanting and liturgy, children classes and family events. Dharma Drum Mountain is headquartered in Taiwan, with centers all over the world including major cities.
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Dharma Drum Mountain
🪷 Practicing with Dharma Drum Mountain is an excellent choice as you will learn all aspects of the Buddhist noble eightfold path. They cater to everyone in the family, from kids to the elderly.
🪷 Although Dharma Drum Mountain is rooted in Chan Meditation Lineage of Linji (Japanese: Rinzai) and Caodong (Japanese: Soto), they also have other forms of Buddhist practices like liturgical chanting, and recitation of the Buddha’s name if you find that meditation is not suitable for you.
🪷 Dharma Drum Mountain is also reputed with a well-established fourfold sangha, and you will be able to receive good life guidance from monastic Venerables. They have global presence and Dharma Drum monastics are present in cities. We highly recommend Dharma Drum mountain as a good place to learn the Buddha’s teachings and practice the noble eightfold path.
Sravasti Abbey
Location: United States, and online programs
Sravasti Abbey is among the first of its kind—an American Buddhist monastic community where nuns and monks and lay students learn, practice, and live the Buddha’s teachings.
While monastic training is the focus, lay guests are also welcome to experience community life, offer service, and experience the kindness of others.
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Sravasti Abbey
🪷 Sravasti Abbey is a conducive place for for people to immerse in the holistic Buddhist path beyond meditation.
🪷 They are a rapidly growing fourfold sangha with both monks and nuns, layman and laywoman. There is great interaction between monastics and the lay community.
🪷 Even though Sravasti Abbey is located in the United States, they have an active Youtube channel where the monastics shares Dhamma regularly.
🪷 The monastics travel widely globally to give teachings.
🪷 They hosts many programs from day visits, to short retreats, teachings and longer retreats. We highly recommend visiting Sravasti Abbey to learn first-hand, how the Dharma is infused into daily life.
“Being aware that we are in a sangha (community) where people are happy with being mindful, where people are living deeply the moments of their days, that is enough. I always feel happy in the presence of a happy sangha. If you put yourself in such an environment, then transformation will happen without much effort.”
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
Buddhist monk & founder of Plum Village
TEACHING CENTERS
Teaching centers are lay centers which provide Dhamma teachings in a residential format. There is a schedule to follow, but it is generally less strict than in a meditation retreat.
Tushita Meditation Centre
Location: India, and online programs
Tushita offers a 10-day residential Introduction to Buddhism course for beginners. The course is composed of Buddhist philosophy classes supported by meditation sessions, within a silent retreat environment. The 10-day course ends with two days of intensive meditation.
Tushita also offers other courses and retreats for beginners to advanced practitioners.
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Tushita Meditation Centre
🪷 We highly recommend going for this 10-day course at some point, to set a good foundation in the Buddhist teachings. It is also a good mix of teachings and meditation sessions, so it would be suitable for beginners who maybe cannot sit for several meditation sessions a day.
🪷 While this course is held in a center of Tibetan Vajrayan lineage, the content of this course is non-sectarian and on foundational Buddhism. This course is also a pre-requisite for more advanced teaching and retreats hosted by Tushita Meditation Centre.
Deer Park Institute
Location: India
Deer Park Institute is a center for the study of classical Indian wisdom traditions. Apart from hosting teachings by reputed Buddhist Venerables, and meditation retreats, Deer Park Institute also hosts programs and courses on arts and culture.
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Deer Park Institute
🪷 Deer Park Institute hosts teachings and meditation retreats led by monastics and lay faculty from all traditions in Buddhism.
🪷 It would be best to schedule your trip to Deer Park Institute to take a few back-to-back teachings.
🪷 There are many highly-reputed Buddhist masters and monasteries within the vicinity of Deer Park Institute.
🪷 Every year, Deer Park Institute hosts month-long meditation retreats which are perhaps more gentle in terms of strict rules compared to the more traditional retreats. This might be a more gentle introduction to a meditation retreat if you need it.