Seattle Insight — Seattle, United States
An all-volunteer insight meditation community in Seattle's University District
The Seattle Insight Meditation Center sits on the lower floor of the University Friends Meeting House at 4001 9th Ave NE, just off I-5 and beside the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance is through a gate at the south end of the building. It is a shared house: on Sundays from 8 AM to 2 PM the Quakers meet upstairs, and the onsite parking, 21 places in all, is closed to Seattle Insight for those hours.
The community dates to 1998 and describes itself as an all-volunteer Dharma community, dedicated to sharing and practicing the Buddha's teachings on wisdom and compassion. It is governed by a Board of Directors of a religious 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Seattle Insight Meditation Society, with a core leadership team of teachers. Guiding Teacher Tim Geil began practicing in 1996, has taught since 2006, and completed the four-year Residential Retreat Teacher Training through Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society and Insight Retreat Center.
The pages return often to one principle: the teachings are made freely available to all, regardless of ability to pay, supported by the generosity of the sangha. Core values also include service, environmental stewardship, and a stated commitment to take responsibility for biases that create barriers to practice. An Ethics and Reconciliation Council, independent of the teachers and Board, hears concerns about teacher conduct and helps with conflicts in the community. Teachers agree to a Teacher Code of Ethics built on the five lay training precepts, expanded to fit their role.
What happens in the rooms is steady and unglamorous. A Monday evening meditation and Dharma session meets weekly, in person and online. Six-week Introduction to Meditation series teach insight practice and loving-kindness, and many people take them more than once. The Center also hosts daylongs, days of mindfulness and non-residential weekend retreats, including an Insight Dialogue weekend built on six guidelines: Pause, Relax, Open, Trust Emergence, Listen Deeply, and Speak the Truth. Each year a teaching series takes up a single text or theme; recent ones include the Oxherding Pictures, the Paramis, and the Four Noble Truths.
Traditions: Insight (Vipassana) Meditation, Insight Dialogue, Loving-kindness Practice, Mindfulness Practice, Theravada-rooted Dharma Teaching
Programs: Weekly Monday Meditation & Dharma, Introduction to Meditation Class Series, Exploring Core Teachings of Buddhism, Day of Mindfulness, Deepening Together: An Insight Dialogue Weekend Retreat, Annual Teaching Series, Affinity Groups, Kalyana Mitta Groups