Dhamma Puneti

Dhamma Puneti (“Re-experiencing the Dhamma”) is a Vipassana centre near Udon Thani city in north-east Thailand. It teaches Vipassana as taught by S. N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. According to dhamma.org, its first ten-day course was held in June 2016.

The centre is at Ban Na Somboon, in Kok Sa-ard subdistrict. Dhamma.org describes rolling hills around it, forest on the land itself, and rubber and sugar cane plantations beyond, with no close neighbours.

Its schedule is mostly ten-day courses, with three-day courses for old students and occasional Satipatthana Sutta courses for experienced students. The centre’s page gives the language of instruction as English and Thai unless a course says otherwise. Some courses are marked “Thai speakers only”; most ten-day courses in the current schedule are not. Check the comments column of each course before applying.

A ten-day course follows the format in the Code of Discipline: twelve days counting arrival and departure, Noble Silence, five precepts, men and women kept apart, and set interview hours. The practice starts with observation of the natural breath and widens to observing the changing nature of body and mind, as described in dhamma.org’s introduction to the technique. Courses are run on donations from students who have completed a course.

Dhamma Kamala in Prachinburi was the first centre of this tradition in Thailand.