The Port Townsend Sangha

Welcome to the Port Townsend Sangha

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The Port Townsend Sangha website provides information on Meditation, Fellowship and Dharma Study opportunities in Port Townsend, Washington. While our focus is on Vipassana, or Insight Meditation, all who wish to meditate or who are interested in the dharma are welcome at all announced events. Program details and schedules are below.

The Sangha is an informal, leaderless, volunteer-driven, peer-led group. It’s members include all seekers interested in the Buddhist path. Sangha members and friends have gathered weekly for over 23 years. If you have questions, please email us.

WEDNESDAY MEDITATION ON ZOOM: The Sangha meets every Wednesday evening at 7 PM on Zoom to meditate, listen to a dharma talk, and discuss our practice. The links to these meetings are below, or will be sent if you subscribe to our newsletter.

MONDAY MEDITATION AT THE FRIENDS MEETINGHOUSE: On Mondays, participants gather in person at 7 PM at the Friends Meeting House on the corner of Sheridan and 19th Streets in Port Townsend.

THURSDAY OUTDOOR MEDITATION AT CHETZEMOKA PARK : During the summer when the weather is warm, we meet at Chetzemoka Park in Port Townsend. Meditation in the park is closed for 2025. We hope to see you in the park next year.

RETREATS: The Sangha occasionally offers weekend and one-day Retreats, open to the public. Information will be posted on our website.

NEWSLETTER: A weekly newsletter is sent to subscribers with the link to the Wednesday Zoom meetings and information on events and programs.

CHANT: At the start of weekly meditation, we often play the devotional chant known as the Salutation to the Buddha. A recording and the words of the chant may be found here.

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Wednesday, February 11th Meditation on Zoom

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Jack Kornfield

Please Join Us Wednesday

February 11th, at 7 PM on

Zoom for Meditation and a

Talk from Jack Kornfield

Here is the link to this online gathering

After 30 minutes of silent meditation, we will listen to a dharma talk from Jack Kornfield. The title of Jack’s talk is “This Very Place: Letting Go and Finding Freedom“. In this rich and often humorous talk from the 1990s, Jack explores the art of letting go as the gateway to freedom, inviting us into the coolness of nirvana, and the wholeness found only here and now.

You can listen to “Letting Go and Finding Freedom” here.

Jack Kornfield (born 1945) is an American psychologist writer and teacher in the Vipassana movement in American Theravada Buddhism. He trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, Burma and India, first as a student of the Thai forest master Ajahn Chah and Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. He has taught mindfulness meditation worldwide since 1974. In 1975, he co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, with Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein, and subsequentlyin 1987, Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. Kornfield has worked as a peacemaker and activist, organized teacher training, and led international gatherings of Buddhist teachers including the Dalai Lama.

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Wednesday February 18th Meditation on Zoom

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Tuere Sala

Please join us Wednesday,

February 18th, at 7 PM on

Zoom for Meditation, and a

Talk with Tuere Sala

Here is the link to this online gathering

After 30 minutes of silent meditation, we will listen to a dharma talk from Tuere Sala. The title of Tuere’s talk is “The Importance of Maintaining Inner Stability in External Uncertainty“. When external conditions begin to fluctuate and spin at a fast pace, we need to know how to ground and stabilize ourselves internally. This is what the four foundations of mindfulness are pointing towards.

You can listen to “The Importance of Maintaining Inner Stability” here.

Tuere Sala is a Guiding Teacher at Seattle Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Retreat Center. She is a retired prosecuting attorney who has practiced Vipassana meditation for over 30 years. Tuere is committed to lay practice and inspired by bringing the Dharma to nontraditional places. She is a strong advocate for practitioners living with high stress, past trauma and difficulties sitting still. Tuere has been teaching since 2010 and has a long history of assisting others in establishing and maintaining a daily practice.

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Monday Meditation at the Port Townsend Friends

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You Are Invited to Attend

Meditation and Discussion

At 7 PM in Port Townsend

Each Monday at the Friends

The sangha gathers each Monday, at the Friends Meeting House on the corner of Sheridan and 19th Streets in Port Townsend, WA.

The subject matter of dharma talks is chosen, and discussions are led by volunteers on topics most often related to insight meditation (vipassana).

We arrive silently before 7 PM, begin mediation at 7 PM. After about 20 minutes, a bell rings as a signal for who wish begin walking meditation. The group takes a break for tea at 7:40 – for socializing. At 8 PM, dharma talks, presentations and discussions begin.

More information on the weekly format is found here. All are welcome.

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Service and Dana

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Dana is charitable giving. Each year, members of the Port Townsend Sangha contribute time and funds to organizations providing services to the most vulnerable members of our community with the goal of reducing suffering among the area’s most at-risk populations.

In 2024, donations were made to Dove House, Jumping Mouse and Bayside Housing, offering counseling, shelter, support for children and services to the homeless and others in need. For more information on Sangha charitable donations, please contact us.

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The Sangha Lending Library

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The PT Sangha Library shares space with the Quaker’s Library at the Friends Meetinghouse. It is open on Monday evenings when the Sangha meets.

We have a wide variety of books on Buddhism, Buddhist practice, meditation and other spiritual traditions.

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Port Townsend Sangha’s Nonresidential Weekend Retreats

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The Port Townsend Sangha conducts non-residential weekend retreats with visiting teachers live, in person, and on Zoom. Information on the Sangha’s Retreat Program is found h ere.

Information on these events is posted on this website and is sent to our mailing list.

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Port Townsend Sangha One Day Retreats

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One-day meditation retreats are offered the Sangha in person and on Zoom. There is no charge to attend.

Information on these events will be posted here, and Zoom meeting invitations will be sent to our mailing list or may be obtained by writing us. More information is here.

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