About Us - Insight Meditation Society

Facts & Figures

Who are we?

Founded in 1975, the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) is a 501 (c) (3) religious nonprofit organization.
On Valentines Day, 1976, a small group of young meditation teachers and dedicated staff opened a retreat center in an old but stately mansion in Barre, Massachusetts. Armed with minimal resources and less than ideal operational knowledge, yet passionate about the Buddha’s teachings, they set about creating an environment where the dharma could flourish and take root in the West. And so IMS began.
Over its 35-year history, IMS has become a spiritual home to thousands of practitioners, and is now regarded as one of the Western world’s most respected centers for learning and deepening meditation practice.
The organization operates two meditation retreat facilities – the Retreat Center and the Forest Refuge. Both are set on some 200 secluded wooded acres in the quiet country of central Massachusetts.

What is our mission and what do we offer?

IMS is a spiritual refuge for all who seek freedom of mind and heart. We offer meditation retreats rooted in the Theravada Buddhist teachings of ethics, concentration and wisdom. These practices help develop awareness and compassion in ourselves, giving rise to greater peace and happiness in the world.
While the context is the Buddha’s teachings, the practices are universal.
The Retreat Center started its program of silent meditation courses in 1976. It offers a full yearly schedule of about 30 meditation courses, ranging in duration from a weekend to three months. Most retreats run for 7-9 days.
All retreats provide instruction and practice in insight (vipassana) and/or lovingkindness (metta) meditations.
In addition to the insight and lovingkindness meditation courses, a range of diverse retreats is also taught — a people of color retreat, a course for teens (aged 14-19), a young adults retreat (for 18-32 year olds), a women’s retreat and a course for families, designed to integrate meditation into daily life.
All courses are led by recognized insight meditation teachers from around the world.
The Forest Refuge opened in 2003. There, experienced vipassana meditators can undertake a more independent, less-structured personal retreat, exploring freedom within a supportive environment. The duration of personal retreats ranges from one-week stays to periods of a year or more.

Who, and how many people are interested in IMS courses?

Annually, 2,600-2,700 individual retreatants (or ‘yogis’ as they are called) participate in our programs – almost 2,300 at the Retreat Center and nearly 400 at the Forest Refuge. In 2010, some sat more than one retreat, yielding a total of 2,967 registrations.
Yogis come from many walks of life – professionals, students and spiritual seekers, both monastic and lay. 65% of participants are female, 35% are male and 17% are under 32 years of age.
Almost 20,000 people receive our publications Insight Newsletter and Sangha News.

walking

What is retreat life like?

At the Retreat Center, most courses are designed for both new and experienced meditators. Instruction in meditation and evening talks about the Buddha’s teachings are given daily. Individual or group interviews with the teachers take place at regular intervals.
At the Forest Refuge, participants can follow their own practice schedule, settling into a daily rhythm that strengthens faith, self-reliance and overall practice confidence. Support includes at least two individual interviews with a teacher each week and twice-weekly dharma talks.
Silence plays an integral part in the unfolding of awareness and is maintained in most retreats at all times, except during question and interview periods. The Family and Teen courses provide more opportunity to speak.
A typical daily schedule starts at 5am and ends at 10pm. The day is spent in silent practice comprising alternate periods of sitting and walking meditation, as well as a one-hour work period. This schedule, in combination with the silence, group support and daily instruction provides the kind of environment most conducive to developing wisdom and compassion.
Accommodations at the Retreat Center (single and double dormitory-style rooms) allow for up to 100 retreatants per course.
The Forest Refuge can accommodate up to 30 people at any one time in single rooms.
Men and women do not share rooms.
Meals consist of nutritious, freshly-prepared vegetarian foods. Some dietary needs are catered for.
A core aspect of the Buddha’s teaching is the importance of living by certain ethical guidelines. The five precepts — to refrain from harming living beings, to refrain from taking what is not freely given, to refrain from sexual misconduct, to refrain from false speech and to refrain from abuse of intoxicants — form an integral part of daily life at IMS. They are adopted by all who are here, from teachers and staff to retreatants and visitors.

What is insight meditation?

Insight meditation (vipassana in Pali, the language of the original Buddhist teachings) is the simple and direct practice of moment-to-moment mindfulness. Through careful and sustained observation, we experience for ourselves the ever-changing flow of the mind/body process. This awareness leads us to accept more fully the pleasure and pain, fear and joy, sadness and happiness that life inevitably brings. As insight deepens, we develop greater equanimity and peace in the face of change, and wisdom and compassion increasingly become the guiding principles of our lives.
The Buddha first taught insight meditation over 2,500 years ago. The various methods of this practice have been well preserved in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism, and the retreats at IMS are all rooted in this ancient and well-mapped path to awakening.

What is lovingkindness meditation?

Metta is the Pali word for friendship or lovingkindness. It is taught as a meditation that cultivates our natural capacity for an open and loving heart. With its roots in practices said to be taught by the Buddha himself, metta is traditionally offered along with meditations that enrich compassion, joy in the happiness of others and equanimity. These practices lead to the development of concentration, fearlessness, happiness and a greater ability to love.

What does a retreat cost?

IMS has a sliding scale fee structure — those who can pay more help make it possible for others with lesser means to attend. The average cost for a 7-9 day course ranges from a Sustaining rate of $111 per day to a Base nightly rate of around $63. This price includes accommodation and meals.
Generous financial assistance supports those who may not be able to afford the entire cost of a meditation retreat. IMS is committed to making its courses accessible to all, regardless of financial means.
Fees for Retreat Center and Forest Refuge courses cover only about 50% of what it costs IMS to operate. At the end of each retreat, participants can offer a donation to support IMS's work.
In keeping with the tradition of dana (the Pali word for generosity) that stretches all the way back to the Buddha, teachers of most Retreat Center courses are not paid by IMS but offer the teachings freely. At the end of each retreat, participants have the opportunity to offer a donation to the teachers. This in turn allows the cultivation of generosity.
For those who teach at the Forest Refuge, where fewer retreatants stay for longer periods, IMS supplements teacher dana to provide an adequate offering as needed.

Who teaches at IMS?

To preserve the Buddhist teachings as they make their way from East to West, a group of senior teachers, known as the Guiding Teachers, provides regular guidance, direction and training.
Two of the Guiding Teachers are Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein, who — together with Jack Kornfield — established IMS over 34 years ago. Today, they are preeminent teachers and authors. Sharon Salzberg’s publications include Real Happiness, Faith and Lovingkindness. Joseph Goldstein is the author of One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism, Insight Meditation and A Heart Full of Peace.
Other Guiding Teachers are Christina Feldman, author, and co-founder of Gaia House in England; Carol Wilson, a meditation teacher for 25 years; Narayan Liebenson Grady, a guiding teacher of the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center (CIMC) in Cambridge, MA; Guy Armstrong from Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA and Rodney Smith, founding and guiding teacher for the Seattle Insight Meditation Society.

Over 40 additional teachers make up our core and visiting faculty, including Jack Kornfield, author and co-founder of Spirit Rock Meditation Center; Larry Rosenberg, author and co-founder of CIMC; Steve Armstrong and Kamala Masters, founders of the Vipassana Metta Foundation in Maui; Tara Brach, author and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC; Yanai Postelnik of Gaia House; and Marcia Rose, founder of Taos Mountain Sangha.
IMS has been blessed over the years by visits from revered Asian meditation masters, some of whom trained the organization’s founding teachers. These include Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw, Ven. Sayadaw U Pandita and Pa Auk Sayadaw from Burma, Ven. Ajahn Chah from Thailand, Dipa Ma and Anagarika Munindra, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Senior teachers from Asia continue to visit and offer teachings at both centers.
Teacher training programs ensure a continuity of the Buddha’s teachings for future generations.

Who works at IMS?

A position at IMS is an opportunity to integrate meditation training into daily job activities and responsibilities. The organization employs about 40 staff to administer and operate its two centers. Job duties range from cooking, housekeeping, maintenance and office work to directing and supporting administrative, IT, marketing and financial functions.
The Executive Director is Bob Agoglia. Prior to undertaking this role in 2006, he served on the IMS Board of Directors for several years. With a background in non-profit leadership, he has assisted hundreds of organizations in their efforts to achieve long-term sustainability. IMS has been his spiritual home for 30 years.
There are currently 19 members of the IMS Board of Directors. Board President is Steve Tuttleman from New York. Guiding Teachers are Board members.

What is IMS’s financial situation?

IMS’s operating budget is approximately $3.3 million.
Revenues from the organization’s course fees cover only about 50% of operating costs; donations augment this income and allow us to provide affordable rates.

Are any other Buddhist meditation organizations affiliated with IMS?

Close by IMS is the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (BCBS), an affiliated organization offering a variety of study and research opportunities. Its mission calls for the study of all schools of Buddhism; its emphasis is on the interrelationship between study and meditation practice, and on exploring the relevance of classical teachings to contemporary life.

Are there other insight meditation groups around the world?

A loosely-based network of insight meditation groups has developed across the globe. Major centers serve the Boston area, New York City, Washington DC, Seattle, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, the UK and Switzerland. All offer regular meditation instruction, workshops and retreats.
Some of these major centers include Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA; New York Insight in Manhattan, NY; the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC; the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center in Cambridge, MA; InsightLA in Los Angeles, CA; Gaia House in the UK; and Meditation Center Beatenberg in Switzerland.
Smaller insight meditation centers and ‘sitting groups’ provide similar access to meditation in almost every US state.
Intensive insight meditation retreats are offered in at least 24 states, ranging from Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Washington to New York, California, Minnesota and Wyoming.

Media Contacts

Gyano Gibson
Communications & Development Director
978-355-4378 ext.280
gyanog@dharma.org

Daphne Slocombe
Associate Director, Communications & Development
978-355-4378 ext.285
daphnes@dharma.org