Dhamma Nāgājjuna

Dhamma Nāgājjuna, the Vipassana International Meditation Centre at Nagarjuna Sagar, is named after Acharya Nagarjuna, whom the centre describes as chief abbot of Nalanda University. In July 2004, 35 acres on the edge of a hill at one side of the government's 285-acre Buddha park project were allotted for the centre, which looks out over the reservoir. It is about 160 km from Hyderabad, which has the nearest airport. Buses from Hyderabad's MGBS bus station towards Macharla and Ongole pass through Nagarjuna Sagar in about 3.5 hours and can stop just before Hotel Siddhartha, where signboards mark the 300 m walk to the centre; alternatively, autos run from Hill Colony bus stop, 4 km away. A small hall, kitchen and dormitories were ready by February 2005, and the first 10-day course was held in August 2005. Individual rooms with their own veranda and toilet followed from 2006, then a circular hall for 50 by 2007, a 64-cell pagoda in 2010 (it can be extended to 200 cells) and twenty more rooms in 2014, bringing capacity to 86 students. The centre's site says two 10-day courses are held each month, with a one-day children's course on the last day of each; the schedule also has 7-day teenagers' courses and 2-day and 3-day courses for old students. The longer courses are listed separately as Dhamma Nāgājjuna 2.

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).