History and Roots
Sangha (community) is one of the three jewels, along with the Buddha and the dharma, that is invoked in refuge vows. Taking refuge in sangha is described by the renowned Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, as an essential, active practice that heals and transforms the self and society. He predicted that the next Buddha would emerge not as an awakened individual, but as an awakened sangha with the capacity to respond to the suffering of our planet.
Insight Meditation Comes to the West
Edmonton Insight Meditation is primarily dedicated to the study and practice of Vipassana, moment to moment mindful focus, as well as to Metta, loving-kindness practice. Insight Meditation, as it became known, was first brought to the West from East Asia and India in the 1970s by Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield and Sharon Saltzberg. This trio of charismatic, dedicated young teachers decided to incorporate a variety of dharma perspectives and lineages instead of limiting themselves to one teacher and approach as was typical in most Buddhist traditions. They also adapted their egalitarian and diverse approach to appeal to a contemporary Western mindset and psychology.
Their model approach became widely popular in the West through their writing, teaching and the building of two large sister meditation centres in the US : IMS in Barre Massachusetts and Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. The many teachers trained at these centres went on to establish additional centres in the US, Canada and abroad.
Insight Meditation Reaches Edmonton
Edmonton has been home to a variety of Buddhist meditation groups including Tibetan, Burmese, Vietnamese and Zen traditions. Insight Meditation (IM) teachers were invited to lead retreats in the city from time to time but there was no established IM organization here that offered opportunities for ongoing practice and learning locally. Practitioners who wished to deepen their practice in the IM tradition had to travel to the States, which was expensive, time consuming and a barrier for many.
Calgary had a local centre, however, and in 2017, the Calgary Insight Meditation Society as it was known, decided to approach Heather Martin to develop a Deepening Practice program (DPP) similar to the ones offered at other IMS centres. Heather was the guiding teacher of the Salt Spring Insight Meditation Community in BC and led retreats in Western Canadian and US IMS centres. With her warmth, humor, and down to earth approach to the dharma, Heather had attracted a following in Calgary and Edmonton, where she also led retreats. As there was no local IM group to organize a DPP in Edmonton, Olenka Melnyk, a long-time student of Heather, stepped forward and volunteered to run the program in the city. The first Alberta DPP was launched with 11 students in Edmonton and 20 in Calgary at the beginning of September 2017 and ran until July 2019.
The curriculum focussed on Buddhist core teachings - the four foundations of mindfulness and Metta practice - as well as on engaged Buddhism. The scope of the program was ambitious, including texts by Bhikkhu Analayo, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Thanissara and Joanna Macy, as well as a wide range of dharma audio talks. Heather e-mailed out monthly lesson plans, with reading and practice assignments for each week. The Edmonton DPP group met once a month at a Tibetan Buddhist centre on 124th St. After sitting practice, participants crowded around a laptop for Zoom teachings and discussion with Heather. The Edmonton and Calgary groups also co-hosted two residential weekend retreats and one six-day retreat (at the beautiful Mount St. Francis Retreat Centre in Cochrane) each year.
DPP participants welcomed the opportunity for intensive practice under the guidance of a senior teacher in their community and were invigorated by the challenge of the demanding, varied curriculum and group discussions. In Edmonton, participants had gelled into a group with a shared desire for a more permanent, ongoing local program.
First Steps
A one-day retreat was held on January 19, 2019 at the Riverdale Rink House to explore the idea of building a local sangha. The group now had a solid grounding in core Buddhist teachings and were familiar with each other. This would help them in their task of creating an Edmonton IM group from the ground up. The US Insight Meditation Society was not mandated to provide organizational support for new centres, although the two loosely affiliated retreat centres, Spirit Rock and IMS, did offer teacher training programs. As such, each fledgling sangha had to create its own structure and programming. While organizing a sangha from scratch posed challenges, it also allowed greater freedom to create something that met local needs.
The group set up a steering committee to develop Edmonton IM sangha. Members agreed to use the Riverdale Rink House as a meeting place and to hold ‘mini’ or half-day Saturday retreats once a month rather than weekly meetings. A program was set up for September to August of 2019-2020 year that would continue to focus on Buddhist foundational teachings. Heather continued to serve as a guiding teacher for EIMS, offering teachings as well as organizational advice and support over the next two years. Since that time visiting teachers have included Robert Beatty, Jeanne Corrigal, Howie Cohn, Richard Shankman and Kristina Bare. Teachers were recompensed on a dana basis, a practice followed by all IM centres.
In the middle of its first year, Edmonton Insight Meditation faced the same challenge experienced by sanghas everywhere when the COVID lockdown made face to face meetings impossible. EIM quickly pivoted to offer virtual sessions on Zoom. This turned out to be a boon in the long run. When restrictions were lifted months later, the teachings continued to be offered online as well as in person again. This hybrid format for regular programming as well as retreats has made the sangha more accessible to people who have health or mobility issues, transportation limitations and those who live out of town.
Growing
After its first year of operation, it was becoming evident that a more formal structure was needed, for financial accountability and liability among a number of reasons. All DPPers were invited to sit on the new council. On January 14, 2021, EIM incorporated as a non-profit organization. The incorporation documents were signed by Jane Wiley, Janet Smith, Mike Yarske, Olenka Melnyk, Gail Drouin, Dan Gray, Jason Youngren, Sherri Henderson and Tatjana Alvadj, who then served as the initial EIM council. Careful thought was given to develop this new organization. For example, to facilitate inclusivity with decision-making, council adopted a non-hierarchical consensus model.
The EIM sangha eventually outgrew the space at the Riverdale Rink Shack and in the fall of 2023 relocated to a larger space at Belgravia Community league where we currently hold our Saturday sits.
To find out more about the history of the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Meditation Centre, read This Fantastic, Unfolding Experiment.