Dhamma Nandanavana

Dhamma Nandanavana is a Goenka-tradition centre in San Antonio del Tequendama, Cundinamarca, 50 km from Bogotá. Its site says S. N. Goenka gave the name for the first meditation centre in Colombia. dhamma.org translates the name as 'joyful grove of Dhamma'; the centre's own site gives 'paradise of Dhamma'. Vipassana meditation came to Colombia in 1998; the Fundación Vipassana Colombia, the non-profit named on the centre's website, was set up in 2009. A promise-of-sale agreement for the property was signed in September 2017 and adaptation work began in May 2019. The first residential course, a 2-day course for old students, took place in October 2019, followed by three 3-day courses; 10-day courses began in January 2020, and the first 20-day course was held in July 2025. The centre's site says courses run every month, on average about eleven 10-day courses, seven 3-day and seven 1-day courses, one Satipatthana course and one 20-day course. As of 2026 its project page sets out plans to expand the centre to 80 students (40 women and 40 men). One-day Anapana courses are offered for children aged 8 to 12 and teenagers aged 13 to 17. By car the trip from Bogotá takes about two and a half hours. Cootranstequendama buses from Bogotá's Terminal del Sur stop at the entrance if you ask to be set down 'frente a la avioneta' (opposite the small aeroplane).

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).