FAQs

What does Dharma Gates do?

1

Dharma Gates offers donation-based Buddhist meditation retreats, classes, and events to young adults 18-35. We partner with authorized teachers and facilitators from a wide breadth of Buddhist traditions to allow for a diversity of perspective. We currently offer around 13 multi-day retreats per year around the USA, an ongoing monthly online practice support session, and several immersive daylong events annually. Click here to check out the retreats and offerings we have coming up!

Why do you offer retreats and programs exclusively for young adults?

2

I’m looking for an affordable meditation retreat. How much do your meditation retreats cost?

3

All of our meditation retreats are offered by-donation. Our mission is to create accessible practice environments for young adults, so we have chosen to offer all of our retreats and programs by dana, which is a Pali word for generosity. For more information about our dana-culture, click here.

5

Is Dharma Gates affiliated with a particular teacher, lineage, or tradition?

4

I’ve never attended a meditation retreat before. What’s it like?

We believe in creating the most welcoming environment possible to invite young adults into deep practice. For us, that means creating spaces where young people can practice among peers who share similar life questions and concerns as them. We also recognize the economic insecurities young adults often face, which can make it difficult to attend a meditation retreat, so we’ve chosen to dedicate our resources to helping eliminate those financial barriers to practice for them.

We are not. Our founders started Dharma Gates because they loved Buddhist practice, not because of an association with a particular tradition. Our Advisory Board is comprised of teachers from a number of different branches of Buddhism, and we intentionally choose teachers from a diversity of practice backgrounds to allow our participants to discover what works best for them.

Every retreat we offer is unique and varies depending on the teacher, their tradition, and the intention of that particular program. But here are common threads between all of our retreats that you can expect to experience:

  • A warm and friendly peer-led environment. Our retreat managers are fellow young adult practitioners who are experienced in facilitation and are there to help you feel safe and comfortable.

  • A schedule to follow that includes elements like meditation periods, talks given by the teacher, meal times, cleaning periods, and break times. Schedules are posted around the venue so you know where to be, and when.

  • Full-time silence or partial silence. Many of our retreats are held in “noble silence”, which means participants do not speak unless they’re prompted to by the teacher in a Q&A or 1-on-1 interview, or when it’s necessary to accomplish a task (i.e. asking for instructions when helping in the kitchen). This supports us to go deeper into our practice, and allows us to be free of some of the relational conventions and distractions of everyday life.

  • Taking a break from tech use. We invite participants to hand in their phones at the beginning of retreats. Phones, laptops, and other connective devices are not allowed to be used during retreat times. Retreat managers will have phone access throughout retreats in case of emergencies, and emergency contact numbers will be provided so that you can give them to your loved ones.

  • Lots of meditating! Depending on the type of retreat, participants will be in meditation anywhere between three and eight hours per day. Often meditation is seated, but sometimes teachers instruct us in walking meditation, standing meditation, or laying down meditation. Chairs and meditation props may be used for support with seated practice.

  • Delicious vegan meals. We work with cooks who nourish our retreat participants with freshly-made plant-based meals, with a focus on local and organic ingredients. We’re able to accommodate most dietary allergies with enough advance notice.

  • Leaving feeling more at peace within your own mind, more loving toward others and the world around you, and more attuned to your environment. These aren’t lofty aspirations, they’re just what usually happens! Retreat offers us a wonderful opportunity to transform our reality.