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anyone know of a great place to study buddhist meditation?
i'm hoping for a full immersion type experience, preferably in Dharamsala, because the Dalai Lama is soooooooooo inspiring, but i'd consider any place that comes highly recommended.
thanks!

There are hundreds of places to study meditation in California. Maybe you could start where you are and get some training and experience before you go to Asia? There might be some forms of meditation that call to you and others that don't. "When the student is ready the teacher appears."

Yes, Dharamsala is a great place!!! I'd recommend going when H.H. is giving a public teaching, there is one coming in July and the annual public teachings are in March. Specific dates at: www.dalailama.com. Also recommended in Dharamsala: is the Tushita Meditation Centre http://www.tushita.info/, there is also a Vipassana center www.dhamma.org/ (with other worldwide locations), and if your interested in Yoga, http://www.hiyogacentre.com. For a taste of Tibetan Arts, Crafts and Culture check out the Norbulingka Institute http://www.norbulingka.org/. Om mani padme hum.

quote:

Originally posted by minerva jones:
anyone know of a great place to study buddhist meditation?
i'm hoping for a full immersion type experience, preferably in Dharamsala, because the Dalai Lama is soooooooooo inspiring, but i'd consider any place that comes highly recommended.
thanks!

The DalaiLama is hardly ever there and during public audiences quite distant as well. Otherwise Dharamsala provides more of a religious rather than a spiritual experience but can nevertheless be interesting and worthwhile depending on you needs.
If you are interested in a more tranquil theravada insight meditation environment you could go to Wat Suanmokh,Chaiya town,Suratani province,Southern-Thailand where international meditators of all ages congregate the first ten days of each month, but there is never any overcrowding and you can stay on for private meditation in their beautiful forest monastery as long as your visa lasts.
There is a very small course fee mainly for covering board/lodging expenses, thereafter you can stay on for free.
Very comfortable sleeper trains leave Bangkok daily on that southern route to Chaiya. There's another wonderful place in Northern-Thailand near Maehongson town which has an airport with flights from Bangkok, almost right at the Myanmar border where you can get a taste of burmese style theravada inside meditation practice cost free. The abbot there has also a temple in Australia. English is spoken in both places mentioned. I can post the address for anyone interested.

I dont prescribe to any particular religion. I stayed in McLeod Ganj for a while and was lucky enough to be able to attend a week of teaching by the Dalai Lama. The teaching was well beyond. I was instantly lost, and I got absolutely nothing out of it. His particular sect of Tibetan Buddhism is intellectually heavy, and is sometimes said to focus too heavily on theory, and not enough on practice.

Sonam Rinpoche, another teacher, teaches at the Buddhist Library regularly. I went along to a few talks and it was interesting. There were a lot of foreigners there. I think this is where most foreigners go actually, and maybe that is why it was more accessible to me. Still no practice though.

I was told that Karmapa also teaches but I never went to his sessions.

My suggestion would be that if you want to meditate, just meditate. Classes might be a good idea if youve never done it before, but I dont think theyre necessary. You dont have to go to India to learn.

I've been to Dharamsala, stayed for about 10 days in McLeod Ganj. I didn't like being there really, though it was there that I had the best fresh lime and beet juice drink in the world.

You can meditate all you want wherever you are in the world, be it in Cali or in Tibet, but I would definitely advocate going to India as a perfect exercise in the practice of being buddhist in everyday life. There's nothing like the crowded streets of an Indian town or a loud, bumpy journey on an Indian bus to test your ability to stay present and watch your breath!