Following Insight Meditation retreats first held on the West Coast in 1974, a group of Insight Meditation Practitioners, including Jack Kornfield, Sylvia Boorstein, Anna Douglas, Howard Cohn and James Baraz, founded the Dharma Foundation in 1977. Its purposes were to sponsor more retreats (the first being in Yucca Valley, CA, that same year) and to publish the Inquiring Mind, a Journal of the Vipassana Community, which it did for several years.
It also helped sponsor sitting groups, which led to the Monday night classes initiated in Marin County, CA, in 1984. In 1985, members of several Bay Area sitting groups incorporated Insight Meditation West for the purpose of acquiring land and establishing a West Coast Insight Meditation Center. The community continued to grow and plan a permanent dharma center.
It also helped sponsor sitting groups, which led to the Monday night classes initiated in Marin County, CA, in 1984. In 1985, members of several Bay Area sitting groups incorporated Insight Meditation West for the purpose of acquiring land and establishing a West Coast Insight Meditation Center. The community continued to grow and plan a permanent dharma center.
Services
Founders' Vision
Report
Spirit Rock Center is being created as a living mandala, a western dharma and retreat center dedicated to discovering and establishing the Dharma in our lives. As a community, we dedicate ourselves to realization. Together we give birth to a new center in which the heart of wisdom can unfold through traditional Buddhist practice and its actualization in the world.
Statement of Values
Report
Amidst the political and social challenges of our times and in light of our commitment to liberation, Spirit Rock declares itself to be a spiritual sanctuary and a refuge for all. We will honor and protect those who come here seeking the teachings of liberation. We are stewards of the Dharma; we build bridges, not walls.
Land Acknowledgment Statement
Report
Spirit Rock is located in the San Geronimo valley of West Marin County, California on unceded Coast Miwok territory, in an area known as Graton Rancheria. We name the history of this beloved place as a gesture of respect and reparation toward the Indigenous residents of the colonized land we now call home.
Board of Directors
Report
Matthew Brensilver, PhD, served as a Buddhist chaplain at USC and teaches about the intersection of mindfulness and mental health at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center and with Mindful Schools. He serves on the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, the Guiding Teachers Committee, and completed the Spirit Rock/IMS teacher training program and regularly offers retreats at Spirit Rock and the Insight Retreat Center.
Strategy 2025
Report
Thank you for your input. Over the last several months it has been a beautiful process to see Spirit Rock directly reflected in your eyes-and utilize that as the basis for Spirit Rock 2025. IN-PERSON: The strength of in-person transmission of the teachings in sangha with others (93%). INCLUSION: Spirit Rock's commitment to actions that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion for all who wish undertake the practice (91%).
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