The Port Townsend Sangha

Welcome to the Port Townsend Sangha

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The Port Townsend Sangha website provides information on Meditation, Fellowship and Dharma Study opportunities in Port Townsend, Washington. While our focus is on Vipassana, or Insight Meditation, all who wish to meditate or who are interested in the dharma are welcome at all announced events. Program details and schedules are below.

The Sangha is an informal, leaderless, volunteer-driven, peer-led group. It’s members include all seekers interested in the Buddhist path. Sangha members and friends have gathered weekly for over 23 years. If you have questions, please email us.

WEDNESDAY MEDITATION ON ZOOM: The Sangha meets every Wednesday evening at 7 PM on Zoom to meditate, listen to a dharma talk, and discuss our practice. The links to these meetings are below, or will be sent if you subscribe to our newsletter.

MONDAY MEDITATION AT THE FRIENDS MEETINGHOUSE: On Mondays, participants gather in person at 7 PM at the Friends Meeting House on the corner of Sheridan and 19th Streets in Port Townsend.

THURSDAY OUTDOOR MEDITATION AT CHETZEMOKA PARK : During the summer when the weather is warm, we meet at Chetzemoka Park in Port Townsend. Meditation in the park is closed for 2025. We hope to see you in the park next year.

RETREATS: The Sangha occasionally offers weekend and one-day Retreats, open to the public. Information will be posted on our website.

NEWSLETTER: A weekly newsletter is sent to subscribers with the link to the Wednesday Zoom meetings and information on events and programs.

CHANT: At the start of weekly meditation, we often play the devotional chant known as the Salutation to the Buddha. A recording and the words of the chant may be found here.

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Wednesday, November 26th Meditation on Zoom

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A.H. Almaas

Please Join Us Wednesday November 26th, at 7 PM on Zoom for

Meditation and a Talk from A.H. Almaas

Here is the link to this online gathering

After 30 minutes of silent mediation, we will listen to an excerpt from the book Nondual Love: Awakening to the Loving Nature of Reality by A. H. Almaas.

Love is a transformative aspect of the spiritual path—and, in fact, it is our very nature. A. H. Almaas takes us on a journey beyond a narrow, individual understanding of love to an exploration of what he calls the boundless dimension of Divine Love. This is not the kind of love that we feel toward somebody else; it is nondual, a love without boundaries. Or
put another way, it is universal true nature experienced as love.

By shifting our focus beyond our individual human experience to the experience of the whole of existence, we are able to see the true richness of the universe. All of reality takes on a quality of inner light, of softness and ease, of sweetness and holding. When we are open to the dimension of nondual love, we can relax and trust our inner ground that is also the ground of everything: our true nature, free from limitations—a sense of complete release, freedom, and delight, that is free of conflict, fear, insecurity, and worry. Almaas discusses the obstacles that make it difficult to awaken to true nature in this form,
such as our belief in a separate self and our past conditioning.

A. H. Almaas is the pen name of A. Hameed Ali, founder of the Diamond Approach to Self-Realization, a contemporary teaching that developed within the context of both ancient spiritual teachings and modern depth psychology theories. Almaas has authored eighteen books about spiritual realization, including the Diamond Heart series, The Pearl Beyond Price, The Void, and The Alchemy of Freedom.

He is the founder of the Ridhwan School for Spiritual Development, an inner work school devoted to the realization of True Nature. The orientation of the school is directed toward guiding students to realize their true nature to the fullest realization and further still to
endless enlightenment.

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Wednesday November 19th Zoom Meditation and Discussion

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Sylvia Boorstein

Please join us on Zoom

Wednesday, November 19th

At 7 PM, for Meditation and

A Talk by Sylvia Boorstein

Here is the link to this online gathering

After 30 minutes of silent mediation, we will listen to a talk by Sylvia Boorstein. The title of her talk is “Everything I know: Reflections on the Path and the Goal of Practice.” You can listen to Sylvia’s talk here.

Sylvia Boorstein is an American author, psychotherapist, and Buddhist teacher.

Boorstein studied with Dipa Ma and is a co-founding teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. She is also a senior teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts.

All four of Boorstein’s grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Barnard College. After moving to California in 1961, Boorstein earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of California Berkeley in 1967 and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Saybrook University in 1974.

She has written numerous books including It’s Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness; That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Buddhist; Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There and Pay Attention for Goodness’ Sake.

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Monday Meditation at the Port Townsend Friends

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You Are Invited to Attend

Meditation and Discussion

At 7 PM in Port Townsend

Each Monday at the Friends

The sangha gathers each Monday, at the Friends Meeting House on the corner of Sheridan and 19th Streets in Port Townsend, WA.

The subject matter of dharma talks is chosen, and discussions are led by volunteers on topics most often related to insight meditation (vipassana).

We arrive silently before 7 PM, begin mediation at 7 PM. After about 20 minutes, a bell rings as a signal for who wish begin walking meditation. The group takes a break for tea at 7:40 – for socializing. At 8 PM, dharma talks, presentations and discussions begin.

More information on the weekly format is found here. All are welcome.

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Service and Dana

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Dana is charitable giving. Each year, members of the Port Townsend Sangha contribute time and funds to organizations providing services to the most vulnerable members of our community with the goal of reducing suffering among the area’s most at-risk populations.

In 2024, donations were made to Dove House, Jumping Mouse and Bayside Housing, offering counseling, shelter, support for children and services to the homeless and others in need. For more information on Sangha charitable donations, please contact us.

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The Sangha Lending Library

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The PT Sangha Library shares space with the Quaker’s Library at the Friends Meetinghouse. It is open on Monday evenings when the Sangha meets.

We have a wide variety of books on Buddhism, Buddhist practice, meditation and other spiritual traditions.

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Port Townsend Sangha’s Nonresidential Weekend Retreats

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The Port Townsend Sangha conducts non-residential weekend retreats with visiting teachers live, in person, and on Zoom. Information on the Sangha’s Retreat Program is found h ere.

Information on these events is posted on this website and is sent to our mailing list.

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Port Townsend Sangha One Day Retreats

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One-day meditation retreats are offered the Sangha in person and on Zoom. There is no charge to attend.

Information on these events will be posted here, and Zoom meeting invitations will be sent to our mailing list or may be obtained by writing us. More information is here.

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