Dhamma Suttama

Dhamma Suttama ('the best of Dhamma') is the Québec Vipassana Centre, owned and run by the Eastern Canada Vipassana Foundation, a non-profit charity. Courses had been held at rented sites in eastern Canada since 1979; in September 1999 students bought a property in Sutton, Québec, which within ten years had become too small. The present property, bought in February 2011, covers 600 acres in its own valley 5 km north of Montebello, halfway between Montréal and Ottawa-Gatineau, off Highway 50. It was a private co-educational high school. The main building, built in 1981, holds two dining rooms, the kitchen and offices; the attached residences have double and single bedrooms with shared bathrooms, and former classrooms have become shared bedrooms. Two meditation halls for about 75 students each occupy the former gymnasium complex, built in 2008. The centre's history page says some 130 students can be accepted on each course, 80 more than at Sutton; the dhamma.org listing says more than 100. Courses are taught in French and English, and the centre also runs courses for children aged 8 to 12 and teenagers aged 13 to 17 in both languages. The nearest bus service is in Ottawa, 83 km away. There are no fixed charges: costs are met by donations from former students.

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).