Black Heritage Vipassana Meditation Course – September 15, 2021

From September 15th to September 26th, 2021, the Vipassana Meditation Center Dhamma Dharā will hold our first 10-day Vipassana meditation course specifically for the Black community. The course will be conducted in the same presentation as regular 10-day courses. All students are welcome to apply, but priority will be given to our new and returning Black students.

Each year Vipassana meditation centers around the world, including Dhamma Dharā offer courses for specific communities to facilitate the spread of Vipassana meditation. Often these courses are presented as bilingual courses. In 2021 Dhamma Dharā will hold courses for the Burmese, Indian, Vietnamese, and Cambodian communities. These courses are a result of grateful old students from these communities coming together and sharing this wonderful practice with their families, friends and circles, who might not otherwise be able to attend courses unless presented in a way that could be easily received: with language translation and assistant teachers from those communities. Similarly, with this course, Dhamma Dharā’s intention is creating community support for the practice of our Black students.

When we come to a Vipassana course, we are united by a common purpose: to discover the way to self-transformation through self-observation, encompassing our unique identities and experiences. Our centers respect the diversity of everyone, including all colors, identities, genders, religions, backgrounds, and cultures. We welcome all interested in learning Vipassana meditation as a way of developing wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all beings. We acknowledge, however, that many people face barriers in attending courses due to biases and social-economic structures based on race, class, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, ability, religion and other factors. We hope this meditation course will offer more access, inclusion and support.

All of our courses are offered free of charge to the public, including room, board and teachings. The Center operates on voluntary donations from students who have already completed at least one 10-day course.

Enrollment applications to register for this special course opened on July 3rd, at 6:00AM (EDT). Applicants should put a note in the “anything to add” section at the end of the application to identify as Black, African American, African Diaspora or other national and ethnic identifiers, such as Afro-Latino, Ethiopian American. In this way we can ensure that priority is given.