Affiliate Sites and Related Links
ORGANIZATIONS
Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
Mind/Brain/Behavior Interfaculty Initiative at Harvard
HELPFUL WEBSITES
Meditation Community - Learn to meditate and get more information about meditation. This site was created by Brown University students.
SUGGESTED LOCATIONS FOR RETREATS
All descriptions are from original websites.
Buddhism
Zen Buddhism ( Rinzai | Soto | Korean | Other )
Vipassana
Tibetan Buddhism
Integrated
Christianity
Catholic
E. Orthodox
Other
Judaism
Yoga/Vedanta
Sufism
Other
| Name | Description |
Ch’an (Zen) BUDDHISM |
|
Rinzai (ZEN) |
|
| Bodhi Manda Zen Center http://www.bmzc.org/ New Mexico |
Bodhi Manda Zen Center is a Rinzai Zen practice center located in a high desert river canyon in the Jemez Mountains, 60 miles northwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The center was founded in 1973 by Kyozan Joshu Roshi, a Japanese Zen Master in the Rinzai lineage, with the fundamental purpose of providing teaching in Zen Buddhism to all who wish to learn and practice. |
| First Zen Institute of America http://www.firstzen.org/New York, NY |
The First Zen Institute of America (FZIA) is a non-profit religious organization founded and incorporated in 1930 by Sokei-an Sasaki, the first Zen master to settle permanently in America. The Institute is independent, self sustaining, and governed by its voting members. The FZIA is not a monastic training center and has no Zen master in residence. It introduces Rinzai Zen to lay students, offers facilities for practice and provides information on Zen Buddhism to the public. |
| Zendo Shobo-Ji http://www.daibosatsu.org New York, NY |
On September 15, 1968, New York Zendo Shobo-Ji (Temple of True Dharma) was opened. A pioneer Zen center in the upper East side of Manhattan, New York Zendo provides authentic Rinzai Zen practice to people living in the city. Shobo-Ji is a converted 3-story carriage house, the ground floor is the main Zendo (meditation hall) and there is a smaller Zendo adjacent to it. Tatami, shoji screens and a beautiful traditional Japanese stone garden give Shobo-Ji a quiet and elegant atmosphere. |
| Dai-Bosatsu Zen Center http://www.daibosatsu.org/ Catskills, NY |
On America's Bicentennial, July 4, 1976, a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monastery opened deep in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. Situated on 1,400 acres in the Catskill Mountain Forest Preserve, International Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji continues to offer an ideal setting for authentic Zen practice to persons of all religious and cultural backgrounds, as well as to lay and ordained Zen students. |
| Albuquerque Zen Center http://www.azc.org/ New Mexico |
The Albuquerque Zen Center offers daily practice and study opportunities to anyone interested in the many ways of knowing Zen Buddhism. |
Soto (ZEN) |
|
| Green Dragon Temple http://www.sfzc.com/ California |
Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, also known as Green Dragon Temple (Soryu-ji), is a Buddhist practice center in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition offering training in Zen meditation and ordinary work. It is one of three centers that make up San Francisco Zen Center, which was founded by Shunryu Suzuki-roshi. |
Korean (ZEN) |
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| Providence Zen Center http://www.kwanumzen.com Rhode Island |
Providence Zen Center is the international head temple of the Kwan Um School of Zen |
| Cambridge Zen Center http://www.cambridgezen.com Cambridge, MA |
Welcome to the Cambridge Zen Center,a residential meditation practice community conveniently located in Central Square between MIT and Harvard University. The CZC is part of the Kwan Um School of Zen, founded by the Korean Zen Master Dae Soen Sa Nim |
Unknown/Other (ZEN) |
|
| Zen Mountain Monastery http://www.mro.org/ |
Nestled in 250 acres of forest preserve in New York’s beautiful Catskill Mountains, Zen Mountain Monastery (ZMM)--the Mountains and Rivers Order (MRO) mainhouse--is one of the West’s most respected Zen Buddhist monasteries and training centers. Since its inception in 1980, ZMM has offered spiritual practitioners innovative ways to engage the Buddhist teachings through a vast array of retreats that take place within the context of authentic, full-time Zen monastic training. Throughout the year, our teachers, staff and special guests lead retreats that highlight each of the areas that form ZMM’s unique training matrix: the Eight Gates of Zen, a Western rendition of the Buddha’s Eightfold Path. |
Vipassana (Insight) |
|
| Insight Meditation Society http://www.dharma.org | The Insight Meditation Society was founded in 1975 as a nonprofit organization to uphold the possibility of liberation for all beings. Its Buddhist meditation retreats provide spiritual refuge, allowing the in-depth exploration of freedom from the sufferings of mind and heart. IMS operates two retreat facilities – the Retreat Center and the Forest Refuge - which are set on some 200 secluded wooded acres in the quiet country of central Massachusetts. |
| Cambridge Insight Meditation Center http://www.cimc.info/ |
The Cambridge Insight Meditation Center is a non-residential urban center for the practice of Vipassana or insight meditation, located in the heart of Cambridge, MA USA. |
| Spirit Rock Meditation Center http://www.spiritrock.org/ |
Spirit Rock Meditation Center is dedicated to the teachings of the Buddha as presented in the vipassana tradition. The practice of mindful awareness, called Insight or Vipassana Meditation, is at the heart of all the activities at Spirit Rock. The Center hosts a full program of ongoing classes, daylong programs, and residential retreats. |
| Vipassana Meditation Center http://www.dhara.dhamma.org/ |
Shelburn Falls, Massachusetts Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin |
Buddhism (integrated) |
|
| Barre Center for Buddhist Studies http://www.dharma.org/bcbs/index.htm |
The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to bringing together teachers, students, scholars and practitioners who are committed to exploring Buddhist thought and practice as a living tradition, faithful to its origins and lineage, yet adaptable and alive in the current world. The center's purpose is to encourage the integration of study and practice, and to investigate the relationship between scholarly understanding and meditative insight. It encourages engagement with the tradition in a spirit of genuine inquiry. |
| Aryaloka http://www.aryaloka.org/ |
Aryaloka is a place dedicated to the study and practice of Buddhism. Located in Newmarket NH, we are part of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) -- a worldwide network of meditation centers, communities, and ethical businesses. |
Christian (Catholic) |
|
| Saint Joseph’s Abbey http://www.spencerabbey.org/ |
Origin of Centering Prayer movement Spencer, MA |
| Glastonbury Abbey http://www.glastonburyabbey.org/ |
Located in Hingham, Massachusetts, Glastonbury is a small community of Benedictine monks striving to embrace the challenges of contemporary living within the time-tested values of a vital monastic spirit. |
| Abbey of Gethsemani http://www.monks.org/index.html |
Trappist, KY |
| Centering Prayer – Boston Chapter http://www.centeringprayer.com/ |
Centering Prayer is drawn from ancient prayer practices of the Christian contemplative heritage, notably the Fathers and Mothers of the Desert, Lectio Divina, (praying the scriptures), The Cloud of Unknowing, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila.. It was distilled into a simple method of prayer in the 1970's by three Trappist monks, Fr. William Meninger, Fr. Basil Pennington and Abbot Thomas Keating at the Trappist Abbey, St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts. |
| Franciscan Renewal Center http://www.thecasa.org/ Scottsdale, AZ |
A Community of Faith Through Liturgy, Retreats, Education, Counseling, Social Justice, Spiritual Direction, Meetings & Conferences, in the Tradition & Hospitality of St. Francis of Assisi... |
Christian (E. Orthodox) |
|
| Christ the Savior Monastery (Christminster) For Men http://omna.malf.net/chrstsav.html |
Christminster is a western-rite monastery established in Rhode Island in 1993 with the blessing of Bishop Hilarion. One goal of its mission - still awaiting fulfillment - is the acquisition of a suitable, secluded property ensuring tranquillity and silence, and providing hermitages for monks and guests, with common room, refectory, library, office and work space, and a monastic church in which the Liturgy of the Mass and the Hours are celebrated in full. There are two monastics in residence, inquiries are welcome. |
| The Holy Transfiguration Monastery http://htmadmin.phpwebhosting.com/ Brookline, MA |
Women who wish to make a monastic retreat are directed to our nearby sister community, Holy Nativity Convent, which also has guest rooms for receiving pilgrims. (http://omna.malf.net/hnat.htm) Holy Orthodox Church of North America (HOCNA), |
| Holy Trinity Monastery http://www.jordanville.org/ Jordanville, NY |
Holy Trinity Monastery is a male monastic community under the auspices of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad. We are dedicated to a life of prayer and obedience according to the pre-revoluntionary monastic tradition. |
Christian (other) |
|
| Pendle Hill http://www.pendlehill.org/an_invitation1.htm |
Resident students live on Pendle Hill's beautiful, 23-acre campus in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. Students are full-time participants who join the staff and resident families in forming the core Pendle Hill community. About half the community is Quaker. Others represent a wide variety of faiths and philosophies. |
Judaism |
|
| Elat Chayyim http://www.jewishretreatcenter.org/ |
Elat Chayyim is a unique Jewish center for people of all ages, backgrounds and levels of observance. All are welcomed to enter a diverse community, to renew and revitalize relationships with tradition, and deepen our connections with the divine. The center's scenic facility, at the foot of the Catskill and Shawangunk mountain ranges of New York, provides a nourishing and relaxing setting for year-round programs. |
| Metivta: A Center for Contemplative Judaism http://www.metivta.org/ |
|
| Chochmat HaLev http://www.chochmat.org/ |
|
Buddhist (Tibetan) |
|
| Sky Lake http://www.sky-lake.org/ Rosendale, NY |
The Shambhala and Buddhist teachings can be studied and explored in the worldwide association of meditation centers founded by Vidyadhara the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and now directed by his son and spiritual heir, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Located in beautiful northeast Vermont on more than 600 acres of lush wooded hills |
| Karmê Chöling http://www.karmecholing.org/ |
We offer beginning instruction for those new to meditation, teachings in Tibetan Buddhism, programs in the contemplative arts, and visits from renowned teachers. We recommend our Simplicity: Meditation for Real Life programs as an ideal introduction to Karmê Chöling's contemplative community. Click on the logo below to view program descriptions and upcoming dates. |
| Shambhala Mountain Center http://www.shambhalamountain.org/ |
Shambhala Mountain Center is a mountain valley retreat located on 600 acres in northern Colorado. Since 1971 the Center has offered hundreds of programs on Buddhist meditation, yoga and other contemplative disciplines. Tamed by thirty years of use as a contemplative retreat, Shambhala Mountain Center is a place where one of the basic truths of Buddhism—that people can be profoundly open to the wisdom of the present moment—is always readily available |
Yoga/Vedanta |
|
| Transcendental Meditation Regional center http://newengland.globalcountry.net/ Antrim, New Hampshire |
Their schedule is posted here Information about these and other occasional retreats in Rhode Island, Conncecticut, and Massachusets may be obtained from the Director of the Maharishi Vedic School of Rhode Island, "Marcia Kaspark" <mkaspark@cox.net>. |
| Ananda Ashram http://www.anandaashram.org/ Monroe, NY |
Ananda Ashram in Monroe, New York, is a spiritual retreat and educational center founded on the universal principles of Yoga and Vedanta and dedicated to East-West cultural exchange. It was established in 1964 as the country center of the Yoga Society of New York, Inc., by Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati, then known as Ramamurti S. Mishra, M.D. |
| Himalayan Institute http://www.himalayaninstitute.org/Index.aspx Pocanos, PA |
A leader in the field of yoga, meditation, spirituality, and holistic health, the Himalayan Institute was founded by Swami Rama of the Himalayas. The mission of the Himalayan Institute is Swami Rama’s mission—to discover and embrace the sacred link—the spirit of human heritage that unites East and West, spirituality and science, and ancient wisdom and modern technology. The Himalayan Institute’s headquarters is located on a beautiful 400-acre campus in the rolling hills of the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania |
Sufism |
|
| Sufi Order International Greater Boston Constellation of Light http://www.gardenlight.org/ |
The Sufi Order International Greater Boston Constellation of Light is devoted to meditation instruction, spiritual growth, and the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, and Pir Zia Inayat Khan. It sponsors classes and events occurring in Boston, Massachusetts and throughout southeastern New England. It is a branch of the Sufi Order International, an interfaith international organization. |
Other |
|
| Omega Institute for Holistic Studies http://www.eomega.org/ Rhinebeck, NY |
|
| Sky Meadow Retreat http://www.skymeadowretreat.com/index.html |
A Retreat Center for meditation and spiritual work secluded in the hills of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom |
| Expanding Light http://www.expandinglight.org/ |
A place of spiritual renewal for people of all backgrounds, located in the beautiful foothills of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains |
| Shantigar Foundation http://www.shantigar.org/ |
Shantigar Village, a not-for-profit foundation, is dedicated to where artistic and spiritual practices meet. It is a farm on a spectacularly beautiful mountainside in Western Massachusetts. |