A BRIEF HISTORY
What is now a thriving sangha (spiritual community) began as a small sitting group meeting in each other’s homes on a weekly basis. In the late 1990′s we became based on Stowel Lake Farm, 190 Reynolds Road, Salt Spring
Island, meeting and meditating together in their newly renovated Barn. It was here when we began hosting weekend retreats, inviting visiting teachers to lead them.
As the Farm developed, and with the opening of its gorgeous hand-built Gatehouse, we moved there in 2005.
Heather Martin our resident teacher – was completing her four-year Dharma Teacher training with Jack Kornfield, of Spirit Rock Meditation Center in California, at this time, and so our community was established.
WHAT WE DO
The Salt Spring Vipassana Community is dedicated to practicing and studying the teachings of the Buddha as presented in the Theravadan tradition, and practiced throughout South East Asia, in such countries as Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.
We have a volunteer board of directors, with no office or paid staff, and we rent the facilities at Stowel Lake Farm to host our weekly sitting group, and our growing calendar of meditation retreats.
We meet weekly on Wednesday evenings to practice together in the Gatehouse. We also host intensive practice periods (Retreats) from time to time throughout the year. We are now offering three week-long retreats a year:
one in August, one over New Year¹s Eve , and one in the Spring Break (for Experienced practitioners).
We also host three residential weekend retreats a year in the spring, in June and in October, and some day longs
(always on a Sunday).
Heather regularly offers classes, introducing Mindfulness Meditation, and Basic Theravada Buddhism. For social time, we hold pot luck evenings a couple of times a year. All our events are open to visitors and regulars alike, whether new to
meditation or experienced practitioners. Instructions are given and plenty of opportunities arise for questions and discussion.
All retreats are held at The Gatehouse.
Please see Retreats for details.