Dharma Gates

Join us for a meditation retreat with Bhante Rahula June 9th-14th in Virginia! Head to the link in our bio to learn more 📿✨

In a time of instability, polarization, and rapid change, our world needs grounded and courageous human beings. This retreat is an invitation to become one.

Many young people are asking deeper questions: How do I live with integrity? How do I stay steady without closing my heart? How do I build a life that truly serves?

This retreat is an invitation to begin answering those questions for yourself, from the depths of your own being.

Guided by Bhante Rāhula and rooted in the earliest teachings of Theravāda Buddhism, we will train in the Buddha’s path: ethical integrity (sīla), steady presence (samādhi), and liberating wisdom (paññā).

At Dharma Gates, meditation practice is not about stepping away from the world. It is about strengthening your capacity to show up to it. During this retreat we will explore how the Noble Eightfold Path supports courageous relationships, meaningful work, and wise engagement in a complex time.

A central pillar of this retreat is spiritual friendship — kalyāṇa-mittatā — which the Buddha called “the whole of the holy life.” We practice together. We grow together. In silence, in dialogue, and in shared commitment, saṅgha (community) becomes both refuge and training ground. This retreat is designed especially for young adults (age 18-35) seeking depth, direction, and community rooted in the Dhamma, the teachings of the Buddha.

Held at the wonderful Serenity Ridge Retreat Center in Virginia — surrounded by rolling hills, forest trails, and vast skies — the land itself becomes a training ground for steadiness and renewal.

You will leave clearer, stronger, and more rooted in purpose — ready to show up to your relationships, your work, and your commitments with wisdom and heart.

Retreat Structure

The retreat will include:

• Silent sitting meditation

• Walking meditation

• Dharma talks

• Q&A with Bhante Rāhula

• Personal practice interviews

• Loving-kindness (mettā) meditation

• Time for rest and reflection

Practice will unfold in a supportive container that balances silence, instruction, and community.

Introducing… our rebooted DG blog! ✍️ We are now on Substack, with posts written by DG community member Miro Malebranche ✨We’ll be posting musings on Buddhist practice, stories, interviews with young practitioners, dharma book reviews, and whatever else we fancy writing about 😊 Head to the link in our bio to subscribe and read our first couple of posts 🙏