Dhamma Surabhi

Dhamma Surabhi ('fragrance of Dhamma') is the Vipassana Meditation Centre of British Columbia, at 280 Busby Road in Kingsvale, 37 km from Merritt and about 240 km north-east of Vancouver, just off the Coquihalla Highway at exit 256. According to dhamma.org, the 56-acre property above the Coldwater River was bought in August 1997, building began in spring 1999 and the first course was held in 2002, in a building of about 9,300 square feet with room for about 45 students and servers. The centre's own site now describes it as serving over 100 people, and plans student residences with single en suite rooms, a larger Dhamma hall, a new kitchen and dining complex and a pagoda with individual rooms for meditation. The main building holds the meditation hall, kitchen, dining hall and rooms: single rooms, some with an adjacent bathroom, and shared rooms with partitions. Wheelchair facilities are available, and the volunteer-run kitchen serves vegetarian meals. The centre's directions give about three hours' drive from Vancouver, or an Ebus or Rider Express bus to Merritt, where the management may be able to collect students except on the day a course starts. The centre acknowledges that it stands on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Nlaka'pamux people.

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).