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With its proximity to the Denver International Airport, Dhamma Sela serves students from the local Rocky Mountain region as well as the larger central and western areas of the U.S., and beyond. The 156 acres, purchased by the Rocky Mountain Vipassana Association (RMVA) in 2017 will be able to host 80-student courses year-round, expanding the number of students served by more than ten-fold and meaningfully reducing waitlists across the region.
Past
The roots of Vipassana in Colorado go back decades, with the first courses held in 1983.
In 2002, Goenka visited Colorado and recommended that RMVA build a meditation center near Denver. The quiet and secluded property on the high plains of the Colorado Front Range was named Dhamma Sela, meaning Rock of Dhamma.
In May 2021, Dhamma Sela hosted its inaugural 10-day course within the main house on the property. This house currently serves as the residence for students and servers, as well as the kitchen, dining area, and Dhamma Hall. Since then, many hands have come together to expand the center’s capacity.
Present
At present, the center hosts five 10-day courses, two children’s and teens courses, and nine one-day courses each year, in addition to six formal service periods. Due to infrastructure limitations, however, courses remain single-gender and capped at 15 students per course.
Development is currently underway on a phased construction plan for a long-term, full-scale center. Phase 1 of the construction plan involves building a Multi-Purpose Building (MPB) and two residences housing 20 students each. Initially, the MPB will function as a combined Dhamma Hall, kitchen, and dining area. In a later phase, once a dedicated Dhamma Hall is constructed, the MPB will serve solely as the kitchen and dining facility.
In 2023, Dhamma Sela broke ground as the first trenches were dug for water piping, and a new water treatment system was installed. In 2024, the center installed a solar well, placed a 10,000-gallon potable water cistern and two 20,000-gallon fire water cisterns, and laid more than 1,400 feet of underground piping to bring water to the future campus site. During this time, schematics for the Phase 1 buildings were also completed.
In 2025, with the Development Committee forming professional collaborations with an architectural design team and a construction management team, significant momentum continued. Land was cleared for the parking lot and Phase 1 buildings. Trees were removed and stumps buried, fire hydrants installed, and roads regraded. Concurrently, underground civil work was completed, including connecting all three water cisterns to the water treatment system and installing drainage and septic systems.
Future
The construction of the Multi-Purpose Building has been made possible by a generous old student donation. However, due to rapidly rising construction costs, these funds will only cover the civil work and construction. An estimated $2 million remains needed for the construction of the two residences.
Without the construction of these buildings, course capacity will remain limited, even with the completion of the Multi-Purpose Building. Once the current house is repurposed, it will only be able to accommodate up to 22 students and servers combined. To reach the goal of offering 80-student courses year-round, and to meet the clear and ongoing demand reflected in long waitlists, RMVA is seeking additional Dana to complete the residential buildings and bring Phase 1 to completion by the intended timeline of 2028.
Old students can give to this initiative in two ways:
Directly to Dhamma Sela. Click here for the Dhamma Sela donation page.
The Vipassana Community Fund has created a dedicated page to Dhamma Sela to facilitate dana for the residences. Old students who wish to support this project can visit: https:// vcf.dhamma.org/us-sela. VCF is able to facilitate complex donations such as crypto currency, stocks, shares and land. They also support the anonymity of the donor and can manage large-scale dana donations. Donations may be received from any old student or anyone (individual or organization) affiliated to an old student in some way.
