Dhamma Sumeru Vipassana Centre sits within the global network of Vipassana centers in the lineage of S.N. Goenka and his teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin. Located in Mont-Soleil, Switzerland, the center runs the standard 10-day residential course as its core offering, with longer 20-day, 30-day, and Satipatthana courses available to students who have established the practice. It can host roughly 80 students at a time. All courses are taught using the recorded discourses and instructions of Goenka. Local assistant teachers, authorized within the tradition, supervise the schedule and meet with students briefly each day. The technique unfolds in a fixed sequence: anapana for the first three days, then full-body sweeping with vedana observation from day four onward. Noble Silence is held from the evening of day zero through the morning of day ten. What sets this center apart from secular mindfulness offerings is the unwavering form. The same schedule, the same instructions, the same five precepts, and the same code of discipline are used at every Goenka center worldwide. Students sit roughly ten hours a day in the meditation hall, eat vegetarian meals provided by old students, and follow a disciplined day from 4am wake-up through 9pm. The center accepts students by application only. New students take the 10-day course; old students (those who have completed at least one 10-day) may apply for the longer courses. There are no fees. Courses run on donations from old students who have sat at least one 10-day course and want to support a future student's seat. Listed types include: 10-day silent (Goenka). Languages of instruction: German, French, English. What students often value about the Goenka network is its predictability. A 10-day course in Igatpuri runs the same hours, the same instruction tracks, and the same code of discipline as a 10-day course in Massachusetts, Spain, or Australia. The recordings of Goenka's evening discourses are the same. The technique progression is the same. Students who complete a course at one center can return to any center in the world and recognize the form. This consistency is intentional: the tradition prizes preservation of the technique above the personality of any single teacher. The center serves both first-time students and returning practitioners who have built years of daily sitting practice on this technique. Old students often come back for service periods, cooking and cleaning during a course as their own practice, or for the longer Satipatthana, 20-day, or 30-day retreats that ask for sustained equanimity in the face of more difficult sensations. The full curriculum, taken across many years, builds toward the 45-day and 60-day courses available only to deeply established students.
The day begins at 4am and ends with the final group sitting at 9pm. Students alternate sitting and walking, with three group sittings of strong determination (adhitthana) each day during which students aim to remain still. Anapana, observation of natural breath at the nostrils, fills the first three days. Vipassana proper begins on day four: a methodical sweep of attention through the body, observing sensation without reaction. Evening discourses (one each night, recorded by Goenka) frame the technique within the Buddha's teaching. Group sittings happen three times a day. Brief teacher interviews are available for technique questions. Noble Silence covers speech, gesture, eye contact, reading, writing, and devices. Phones and valuables are stored on arrival. Day ten lifts silence so students can re-enter speech gradually before departing on day eleven. The instructions across the ten days move through a careful arc: sharpening attention with anapana, sweeping the body to develop equanimity with sensation, working with subtle and gross sensations alike, and on day ten introducing metta bhavana (lovingkindness) so students leave with a practice that radiates outward as well as inward. The form does not change between centers; what shifts from sit to sit is the student's relationship to the same set of instructions.
The lineage runs from Ledi Sayadaw in Burma through Saya Thet Gyi to Sayagyi U Ba Khin (1899-1971), who taught lay Vipassana in Rangoon. S.N. Goenka (1924-2013), a Burmese-Indian businessman, trained under U Ba Khin and was authorized to teach in 1969. Dhamma Sumeru Vipassana Centre is one of the centers in the network Goenka founded to preserve this technique. Local assistant teachers are appointed by the tradition after years of practice and service, and conduct courses using Goenka's recorded materials rather than personal teaching.
Adults willing to commit to ten full days of silence and a fixed schedule, with no prior meditation experience required.
Old students who have completed at least one 10-day course and want to deepen with longer Satipatthana, 20-day, or 30-day sittings.
Those who prefer a technique presented without religious ritual, taught the same way at every center worldwide.
Arrival is the afternoon before day one. Students hand in phones, books, journals, food, and any religious objects, then receive a room assignment. Men and women are housed and meditate separately. Day zero ends with introductory instructions and the start of Noble Silence. There is no contact with the outside world for ten days. Teachers are available for short technique questions. Most students find days two, three, and six the hardest. Day ten breaks silence at mid-morning and feels socially disorienting after nine days of inner work. Departure is after breakfast on day eleven.
Accommodations are simple, typically single or shared rooms with shared bathrooms in the dormitory style standard across the Goenka network. With capacity around 80, the center is built for the practice rather than for comfort. Two vegetarian meals are served daily (breakfast and lunch); old students take only tea and fruit at 5pm, new students may take light fruit. Dietary needs are accommodated within the vegetarian frame. Walking paths within the course boundary are reserved for students.
Courses are offered free of charge. Dhamma Sumeru Vipassana Centre runs entirely on dana, the voluntary donations of old students who have completed a 10-day course and wish to give so that another student may sit. New students cannot pay. At the close of a course, old students may make an offering of any amount, or none. The system has supported the global Goenka network since 1969 and remains the only accepted form of payment.
A 10-day silent course at Dhamma Sumeru Vipassana Centre runs the same form Goenka brought from Burma in 1969, free of charge, supported entirely by the gifts of past students.
No. The standard 10-day course is designed for new students with no prior meditation background. The technique is taught from the beginning, day by day. Longer courses (20-day, 30-day, Satipatthana) require at least one completed 10-day course as a prerequisite.
The day starts at 4am and ends at 9pm, with about ten hours of sitting meditation broken into morning, midday, and evening blocks. Two vegetarian meals are served. Noble Silence is held from the evening of day zero through the morning of day ten.
Nothing. Courses run on dana. Only old students who have completed a 10-day course may donate. New students cannot pay. Donations cover the next student's room, board, and course materials.
The tradition asks students to commit to staying the full ten days when they apply. Walking out is strongly discouraged because the technique builds across the days. Teachers are available to help students through difficult sittings.
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