Dhamma Karuna

Dhamma Karuṇā ('Compassion of Dhamma') is the Alberta Vipassana Meditation Centre, on 8.5 acres on the outskirts of Youngstown, a small farming village between Hanna and Oyen in the Canadian Badlands, an area noted for its wildlife and for fossil deposits including the Bearpaw Shale. The dhamma.org directory gives 2001 as the year of the first course; the present property, a former special-needs school known as the Youngstown Home, was bought in July 2014. The main building holds the kitchen, a meditation hall for about 80 students, offices, teachers' quarters and separate dining areas for men and women, and a separate two-storey building has single and double rooms for up to 80 students and servers. There is no bus or train to the centre. Youngstown is on Highway 9, about 40 minutes by car from Hanna and three to five hours from Edmonton, Calgary, Regina and Saskatoon; accepted students can arrange shared rides through a ride-share board. Besides 10-day courses it offers 1-day and 3-day courses for old students, Satipatthana Sutta, special 10-day and longer courses, and courses for children and teenagers. Courses are free, including food and accommodation, and are funded by donations.

How to apply

Apply online through the centre's page on dhamma.org (in Nepal, start from np.dhamma.org). New students must first complete a 10-day course, and there is no charge.

What is taught here

Donation-funded 10-day courses taught with S. N. Goenka's recorded instructions, in the line of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, at centres in Nepal and worldwide. Read about Goenka (U Ba Khin).