The Port Townsend Sangha is a meditation group with weekly sits, introductions to meditation, and non-residential retreats. We are located in Port Townsend, WA and meet at the Quaker Friends Meetinghouse, corner of Sheridan and 19th Streets.
While our focus is on vipassana, or insight meditation, we have also studied the work of such teachers as Pema Chodron, Eckhart Tolle, Adyashanti, Thich Nhat Hanh and many others.
Discussions are peer led. Each meditation sitting is led by a different member of the group, as is each discussion period after tea. Everything is done on a volunteer basis.
What is Insight Meditation?
The term “insight meditation” refers both to a spiritual practice shared by most forms of Buddhism, and to a particular historical Buddhist tradition. The word “insight” is a common translation of the Pali word vipassana, which means “clear seeing.” Developing “clear seeing” helps people live their lives with growing skillfulness and ease.
As a spiritual practice, insight meditation begins with developing the qualities of mindfulness and equanimity, which in turn foster the deepening of wisdom and compassion, the gateways to liberation and freedom.
As a spiritual tradition, insight meditation draws on the accumulated wisdom of the Theravadin Buddhist lineage as practiced over centuries in the monasteries of Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka. For many years, mindfulness practice and vipassana have taught and practiced in Europe and America as well.
