An Introduction in Two Parts:
Part I: About Mountain Stream
Part II: About Vipassana Meditation Practice


Table of Contents


Part I: About Mountain Stream
Overall Purpose
Growth
Size and Attendance at Activities
Special Relationship With Other Organizations
Resident Teacher
Financial Support
Payments for Benefits and Services
Dana
Newsletter
Activities Open to the Public
Attraction of New Members
Other Religious Activities

Ordination and Other Certification
Places of Retreat
Ordination and Charters
Chartering

Part II: About Vipassana Meditation
Written Creed or Statement of Faith
Non-exclusivity
Code of Doctrine and Discipline.
Forms of Practice and Schedule of Activities
Buddhist Hierarchy/Ecclesiastical Government


Part I: About Mountain Stream

Mountain Stream Meditation Center has held Buddhist meditation groups in the Northern California Sierra Foothills since 1986. Mountain Stream was started by our resident teacher, John M. Travis. As interest in Buddhism has grown, so has Mountain Stream. Today we have meditation groups meeting in many communities, we hold retreats many times a year, publish and distribute a newsletter to over 2,000 individuals, and generally serve as a center for the Buddhist community in the Northern California Sierra Foothills.

The primary form of practice for Mountain Stream is the retreat practice. Recently, Mountain Stream purchased a property in North San Juan, CA. It is our hope and intent to develop this property as a spiritual center where teachers and students from around the world may come to experience silent meditation retreats. Mountain Stream became a California Non-Profit Corporation in 1994. In 1995, we were granted a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt designation as a church from the United States Internal Revenue Service.

Overall Purpose
The overall purpose of the Mountain Stream Meditation Center is to provide for the practice of Buddhist meditation in the northern Sierra Nevada region of California. The particular type of Buddhist meditation is known as Vipassana or "insight" meditation, one of the classic meditation practices of the Buddhist tradition in Asia.

There are two main parts of the Buddhist tradition: Theravada and Mahayana; vipassana comes from the Theravada tradition whereas Tibetan and Zen Buddhism are part of the Mahayana tradition. The Theravada tradition has been kept strongly alive in monasteries throughout Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma. Theravada hearkens back to the original teachings of the Buddha; the actual teaching of the practice is to be found in the Buddha's "Discourse on Mindfulness," which in the Theravada Buddhist tradition one might think of as analogous to the Sermon on the Mount in the Christian tradition.

There are four primary means by which Mountain Stream's purpose is carried out. The first means is the organization and administration of meditation retreats, at which vipassana meditation is taught and practiced. We publish a newsletter ("Dharma Stream") announcing the dates and times of the many meditation retreats we hold. Meditation retreats are the principal means by which intensive instruction in and practice of vipassana meditation is carried out, and the holding of such retreats in California and the northern Sierra Nevada region is a principal function of Mountain Stream. Retreats are conducted by the resident teacher at Mountain Stream (John M. Travis) and also by teachers from other areas who are, from time to time, invited by Mountain Stream to lead retreats. In general the teachers that we invite are from the following groups: 1) the resident guiding teachers at Spirit Rock Center, a non-profit religious organization in Woodacre, California; 2) the resident guiding teachers at Insight Meditation Society, a non-profit religious organization in Barre, Massachusetts or; 3) persons designated by these resident guiding teachers as being qualified to lead vipassana Meditation retreats.

The second means by which the purpose of Mountain Stream Meditation Center is carried out is the holding of regularly scheduled meetings for meditation practice, instruction, and the organization of community development activities. These groups are known as "sitting groups," and generally meet for a period of a few hours on a weekly basis. Times and telephone contact numbers for these groups are also listed in our newsletter.

The third principal means for the carrying out of the purpose of Mountain Stream is the holding of community development activities, such as potluck dinners, community service workdays, and structured instructional dialogs with other Buddhist meditation leaders and groups. Weekly meetings and community development activities are organized and led by the resident teacher and by his senior students.

The fourth principal means of carrying out the purpose of Mountain Stream is the holding of introductory classes in vipassana meditation practice. These classes are organized and led by the resident teacher or by his senior students. These classes take place usually twice a year.

Growth
In the last 10 years, as the northern Sierra Nevada region has grown in population, many people with prior exposure to Buddhism have moved to the area and formed sitting groups which meet weekly for meditation and religious instruction. A number of these people have been students of the guiding teachers at Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California, and/or at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, before coming to the Sierra Nevada region and want to continue to deepen their study and practice of vipassana meditation. Many others became interested in joining the Mountain Stream's sitting groups after taking one of our introductory courses in Buddhist meditation.

As a result, there are now sitting groups in Nevada City/Grass Valley, Auburn, Sacramento, Placerville, Truckee, Chico, Davis, Reno/Carson City and other communities in the northern Sierra Nevada region. Mountain Stream specifically sponsors the groups in Nevada City/Grass Valley and Auburn, and has a looser relationship with more independent and far-flung groups. Our resident teacher visits the Grass Valley and Auburn groups frequently and the other groups usually several times a year.

Mountain Stream also sponsors monthly daylong retreats in Nevada City, quarterly daylong retreats in Reno/Carson City, weekend retreats and longer retreats and various sites. At early organizational meetings of Mountain Stream Meditation Center in 1995, strong sentiment was expressed for the sponsorship of multi-day, residential retreats led by our resident teacher or visiting teachers. This has been one of our primary goals. We recently acquired a property on Robinson Road in North San Juan in hopes of realizing this goal.

Mountain Stream holds introductory classes twice a year in three separate sites, for a total of six yearly introductory classes. The classes last six weeks. Mountain Stream assumes the cost of adverting the classes and charges only a small registration fee to cover costs.

Size and Attendance at Activities
Since the Mountain Stream newsletter mailing list is made up of addresses of persons who have attended retreats, introductory classes or weekly sitting groups conducted by Mountain Stream and have asked to be informed of future retreats and sitting group activities, it may be seen as perhaps the most accurate overall measure of the number of persons who depend on Mountain Stream Meditation Center to provide vipassana instruction and activities. The number of active subscribers to the newsletter at the time of this writing is over 2,000. Average attendance at meditation retreats has ranged from ten to twenty-five retreatants, depending on format (i.e., non-residential or residential). Average attendance at weekly meditation groups in Auburn and Nevada City ranges from ten to twenty-five persons, depending in part on what activities in addition to silent meditation may have been planned for a given meeting. If a special teacher is invited to a sitting group and advance advertising is done, we have had as many as one hundred people attend sitting groups. Average attendance at introductory classes ranges from ten to twenty, depending on advance advertising. Neither introductory classes nor the Auburn or Nevada City sitting groups are planning on relocating to North San Juan. These activities need to be centrally located.

Special Relationship With Other Organizations
As stated above, the overall purpose of Mountain Stream is to provide for the practice of vipassana meditation in the northern Sierra Nevada region. In the United States, the largest and most active centers for the observance of this meditation practice are the Insight Meditation Society, a non-profit religious organization in Barre, Massachusetts, and Spirit Rock Center, a non-profit religious organization in Woodacre, California. Each of these centers has "resident guiding teachers" who are the most senior of its ordained meditation teachers, and who oversee all religious instruction and meditation practice at the two centers. The resident guiding teachers of the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts are Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg; resident guiding teachers at the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California, are Jack Kornfeld, Ph.D., and Sylvia Boorstein.

These four resident guiding teachers comprise a Teachers Advisory Committee for Mountain Stream Meditation Center. The purpose of this committee is to advise the Board of Directors of Mountain Stream on the conduct of religious activities, such as the identification of teachers to lead meditation retreats, the conduct of such retreats and related activities, and other matters related to religious observances, instruction, and practice.

Thus Mountain Stream Meditation Center may be considered an informal spiritual affiliate of the centers in Massachusetts and in Woodacre, California. There is, however, no interlocking directorate among the centers and no fiduciary relationship. In every legal sense, therefore, Mountain Stream is a freestanding organization, and its Board of Directors is answerable to no other organization.

Resident Teacher
The resident teacher of Mountain Stream Meditation Center, John M. Travis, has been a student of vipassana meditation since 1969. His work and teaching have been very important in the growth and development of Buddhism and meditation in the northern Sierra Nevada region. His background and many years of training ideally suited him to this role, having spent many years with recognized Asian Buddhist masters. Initially he studied Tibetan Buddhism, first under Thubten Yeshe and later with the Venerable Kalu Rinpoche. Mr. Travis took Initiation with His Holiness the 16th Karmapa who then became his primary teacher. In 1970 he began his studies in the vipassana tradition with Munindra, later becoming a student of S. N. Goenka. In 1979, Mr. Travis became a monk under the Venerable Taungpulu Sayadaw. His teachers are widely recognized today as among the great Asian masters of Buddhism of our time.

Mr. Travis continued his studies in Asia and later in the U.S. where he began teaching at a weekly sitting in Nevada City, CA, in 1986. He began leading daylong retreats as well at this time. From 1988 to 1993, Mr. Travis devoted himself to formal teacher training with Jack Kornfield, Ph.D. at Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California. After completion of his training he was ordained and given Dharma transmission in the vipassana tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw and Achaan Chaa. Mr. Travis is thus authorized to lead meditation retreats and give religious instruction. He has functioned in the role of resident teacher of Mountain Stream Meditation Center since its inception. His responsibilities include planning, preparing for, and conducting various observances and instructional activities including retreats, sitting groups and introductory courses on behalf of Mountain Stream.

Mr. Travis is also a counselor. In addition, he works as a teacher for Spirit Rock Center. These activities require him for about 20 hours a week. Mr. Travis is a world-renown teacher. He travels extensively and is much in demand, leading retreats all over the United States.


Financial Support
Financial support for Mountain Stream comes primarily from contributions from those who attend our retreats and sitting groups and introductory classes. We recently began a fund raising program, sending out a postcard in our newsletter requesting support. It is anticipated contributions from attendees will continue and that requests for funding will continue to be the primary means by which financial support will be sought.

Mountain Stream received a bequest from a deceased benefactor in 1995. This was used to purchase a property on Robinson Road in North San Juan, CA. Mountain Stream hopes in the future to hold silent retreats and community activities at the property. We are in the process of applying for permission, from local government agencies, to build a retreat center.

Payments for Benefits and Services
Regular weekly meditation groups and other similar weekly activities are offered free of charge.

To date, Mountain Stream Meditation Center has conducted daylong retreats at the home of local congregants. In the future, multi-day residential retreats are anticipated and might necessitate instituting fees to cover costs. These costs include the rental or upkeep of facilities for the retreat, the cost of providing food for retreatants, the cost of travel and other expenses of the teacher(s) who will be leading the retreat, and the incidental costs to Mountain Stream of administering the retreat (such as printing and postage costs of announcing the retreat and communicating with the registrants, phone calls, and office supplies). Based on retreats conducted by Spirit Rock Center and Insight Meditation Society, it is expected that the total registration fee for a multi-day, residential retreat would not exceed $45.00 a day per person.

As mentioned above, introductory classes last for six weeks. They meet for 1 to 2 hours each week. A registration charge of $20.00 per person is requested.

Mountain Stream regularly offers "scholarship" programs for those who wish to attend our classes or retreats but cannot afford them.

Dana
An important tradition with vipassana meditation is that there shall be no charge for the teachings. Dana is a Pali word meaning generosity. Dana is traditionally offered at sitting groups, classes and retreats to support the teachers and any staff so that they may continue their dharma work. Registration fees do not cover the teachings, which are freely given because they are considered priceless. Vipassana teachers rely on Dana as a primary means of support. This tradition derives from the close relationship between the monasteries and the communities in Asia. Monks are dependent on the community for their daily food, and in return supply the community with spiritual inspiration.

Newsletter
Dharma Stream is a twice yearly, 8-page newsletter published and distributed by the Mountain Stream Meditation Center. It includes articles by the resident teacher, articles, poetry and artwork of participants in the sitting groups and an activities calendar. The activities calendar lists upcoming sittings groups, retreats and introductory classes sponsored by the Mountain Stream community as well as other related and community service presentations.

Activities Open to the Public
Meditation retreats, weekly sitting groups and introductory classes are open to the public and advertised by the posting of flyers posted in bookstores, community centers, and similar venues in the northern Sierra Nevada area. Everyone who attends a retreat has their name added to the Mountain Stream mailing list, which is also the distribution list for the newsletter, in which weekly sitting groups, retreats and introductory classes are advertised. Participants also invite family, friends and acquaintances to come to sitting groups and related activities.



Part II: About Vipassana Meditation

Written Creed or Statement of Faith
The essential teachings of the Buddha are summarized in a wide variety of translations of sacred texts and commentaries upon them. Among the most succinct and germane of the contemporary writings is Walpola Rahula's What the Buddha Taught, which contains both a summary of teachings and excerpts from the actual sermons of the Buddha, the Sanskrit word for which is sutras. In one single sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta, the Buddha set forth the essence of his message, the "Four Noble Truths," which formed the basis not only for the balance of his own teachings but for all subsequent doctrinal developments as well. It is customary during selected observances for the ritual recitation of these teachings to be performed, as a chant or spoken hymn.

Non-exclusivity
One of the Buddha's central messages, as contained in the texts cited above, is the universality of the human condition. He also preached the universality of the potential for enlightenment; that is, there are many means by which it can be obtained. He therefore advised against the unquestioning, uncritical acceptance of any religious dogma or doctrine, and instead counseled a careful examination of its effects upon followers and those around them. For that reason, vipassana meditation groups in the United States do not ask that practitioners forswear adherence to any other religious tradition as a condition of becoming vipassana meditation practitioners. However, at meditation retreats, all retreatants are requested to take vows (see next topic) and to strictly adhere to them throughout the course of the retreat.

Code of Doctrine and Discipline
At the opening ceremonies for every retreat, all retreatants take the "three refuges" and "five precepts." This ceremony, which dates back to the time of the Buddha, consists first of retreatants taking refuge in the Buddha (the spirit of limitless compassion in oneself and in all beings), the Dharma (the Truth, also translated as the Teachings), and the Sangha (spiritual community of Buddhists). Having done so, retreatants then vow to adhere to the five precepts. These vows, which were also set forth by the Buddha as the necessary moral conditions for the establishment and maintenance of spiritual community, are as follows: (1) to refrain from killing or knowingly harming other sentient beings; (2) to refrain from intoxicants or other substances which cloud the mind; (3) to refrain from sexual misconduct; (4) to refrain from lying or other harmful speech; and (5) to refrain from stealing or otherwise taking that which is not given. The substance and context of the refuges and precepts are discussed in Walpola Rahula's What the Buddha Taught.

At the closing of each meditation retreat the teachers leading the retreat emphasize the importance of seeking to adhere to these precepts not only at religious retreat settings but in daily life as well, if the benefits of vipassana practice experienced at retreats are to be realized in some measure in one's family, in one's local community and in society.

Forms of Practice and Schedule of Activities
As explained above, there are two primary forms of practice in the vipassana meditation tradition as practiced at the Spirit Rock Center in Woodacre, California, and at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and at Mountain Stream Meditation Center. The first is the intensive, multi-day meditation retreat, and the second is the regularly scheduled (e.g. weekly) multi-hour meditation sitting group meetings, which are accompanied by instruction.

The retreats are intensive periods of secluded training in this form of the practice of meditation. In these retreats a rigorous daily schedule of sitting and walking meditation is conducted in complete silence, with a minimum of diversion and no contact with other persons outside of the retreat grounds. A typical daily schedule of meditation practice on retreat might look like this:

5:00 AM Bell Rings to Awaken Retreatants
6:00 One hour sitting meditation
7:00 Silent Breakfast
8:00 Sit
9:00 Walk
10:00 Sit
11:00 Walk
12:00 Silent Lunch (final meal of the day)
1:00 Sit
2:00 Walk
3:00 Sit
4:00 Walk
5:00 Tea
6:00 Sit
7:00 Dharma Talk by the Teacher
9:00 Sit
10:00 Retire

In this schedule, "sit" refers to all retreatants sitting in silent meditation together in the Zendo, or temple. "Walk" refers to a walking meditation practice, in which the continuity of devotional practice is maintained by the repetition of a silent internal chant while walking at a slow, measured pace outside the meditation center. Dharma Talk refers to an instructional talk delivered by one of the teachers leading the retreat.

Weekly sitting groups are the other primary form of practice in this Buddhist tradition. These weekly meetings usually open with the ringing of a gong and forty-five minutes of silent sitting meditation. A Dharma talk or lesson based on selected Buddhist scriptures or commentaries follows the meditation. This talk is prepared and presented by the resident teacher or a visiting teacher. If a teacher is not in attendance, one of the senior members of the group may lead the meditation and the following discussion. Often a general sharing of experiences and insights is encouraged for the last half hour. Announcements are made of upcoming events and activities before a final short loving kindness meditation that signals the end of the sitting.

Buddhist Hierarchy/Ecclesiastical Government
In the forest monasteries and meditation centers of Burma and Thailand, Theravada Buddhist teachings, practices, and traditions are shared at the present time just as they have been continually from the time of the Buddha. The greatest acknowledged contemporary leaders of this tradition in Asia include the Venerable Achaan Chaa and Achaan Buddhadasa in Thailand, and Ven. Sunlun Sayadawa and Mahasi Sayadaw in Burma. In 1965, the World Buddhist Council designated Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw as chief questioner, the "central role in clarifying and preserving the Buddhist teachings for generations to come."

During the past three decades several Western scholars and devotees have undertaken intensive Buddhist meditation practice in south and Southeast Asia, including ordination as monks and nuns in the Theravada tradition. After years of training in the monastic orders, Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw authorized four Americans-Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg and Jacqueline Schwartz-to independently undertake perpetuation of the Theravada tradition in the United States.

Upon Dharma transmission (i.e., ordination), Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg became the resident guiding teachers at the Insight Meditation Society, a non-profit religious organization founded in accordance with applicable state and federal law in Barre, Massachusetts, in 1976. Dr. Kornfield moved to northern California in the early 1980's where he aided in the founding of Insight Meditation West (now the Spirit Rock Center), a non-profit religious organization founded in accordance with applicable state and federal law in Woodacre, California, in 1985. Dr. Kornfield is now the senior Theravada elder authorized by Ven. Mahasi Sayadaw in California. Since 1986, Dr. Kornfield has been conducting a training for vipassana meditation teachers in Marin County, California. Another resident guiding teacher at the Spirit Rock Center is Sylvia Boorstein.

These guiding teachers at the Spirit Rock Center and at Insight Meditation Society are the senior American heirs to the vipassana tradition transmitted to them by the recognized hierarchy of Southeast Asian vipassana meditation masters, and they are all members of the Teachers Advisory Committee of the Mountain Stream Meditation Center. Messrs. Goldstein and Kornfield are among the foremost-published authors and scholars of vipassana meditation in the English-speaking world. Among their best-known works are: (1) The Experience of Insight, (2) Living Buddhist Masters, (3) Seeking the Heart of Wisdom-The Path to Insight Meditation and (4) Insight Meditation-The Practice of Freedom. Dr. Kornfield's most recent (and best selling) book on applied insight meditation practice is A Path With Heart.