ABOUT US
OUR HISTORY
The Canmore Theravada Buddhist Community (CTBC) grew out of what was originally called the Bow Valley Sangha meditation group. Sanghamitta (Mary Dumka) started this Theravada Forest Tradition mediation group in 1994, and has hosted it weekly and then twice weekly since that time.
OUR COMMUNITY
In 2016, the group's name was changed to the CTBC Meditation Group because we learned that "sangha" refers to monastic communities, or to the group of enlightened beings, but not to lay meditation groups.
The CTBC organization itself, run by a volunteer board, was created in 2014 because Sanghamitta wished to see the teachings of this tradition continue to be easily available in the Bow Valley. To this end, she has offered her home to become a vihara (monastic residence) for Theravada monastics, under the auspices of the CTBC. This became a reality Dec 11, 2022 when Ayya Ahimsa arrived as our resident nun.
OUR MISSION
The mission of the Canmore Theravada Buddhist Community (CTBC) monastery is twofold: CTBC is firstly committed to providing support to its four long term residents and secondly to the wider Buddhist community of practitioners and supporters.
The support for the four residents is a quiet environment with an emphasis on lengthy daily times of solitude devoted to meditation. So at this time CTBC is not accepting any day visits or overnight stays, apart from those offering meal dana to the community. A few times a year we will have an open house for anyone wishing to visit the monastery.
The support for the wider community is three weekly offerings of Dhamma teaching and additional opportunities to join the resident community for meditation time.
The three weekly offerings are:
1. Tuesday Meditation Group 7:30pm - 9:00pm
2. Thursday Sutta Contemplation 5:45pm - 7:15pm
3. Friday Meditation Group 8:30am - 10:00am
The additional opportunities are:
1. Moon Days 8:30am - 5:00pm
2. Evening Silent Meditation Tuesday through Sunday 7:30pm - 8:30pm
3. One on one interviews with Ayya Ahimsa or Sanghamitta by arrangement. (email: canmore.t.buddhism@gmail.com)