Dhamma Modana Blog
Centre Planning
This page is a permanent home for the project — what is here today, what is being built, and how the centre will serve students into the future. We update it as the work moves forward, so it always reflects where things stand. For news and milestones along the way, see our Centre Updates posts.
The vision
A peaceful, dedicated Vipassana centre on Vancouver Island, built in keeping with the tradition as taught by S.N. Goenka, in the lineage of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. A place where students can come, meditate, and serve in the silence and simplicity the practice asks for, supported by accommodation, a Dhamma Hall, and management facilities that have been built thoughtfully, to code, and to last.
The land
The centre sits on two adjoining lots totalling approximately 13.5 acres in North Cowichan on Vancouver Island. The main lot — 3.5 acres, zoned Private Institutional (PI) — holds the existing meditation-centre building on a knoll at its heart. The second lot of 10 acres, zoned Rural Zone (A2), extends the property into forested land with walking trails for students. The land is gently sloping from north-west to south-east. A registered land survey (April 2026) provides the boundary, contours, and existing footprints that guide all planning.
What is being built
The plan is a phased build — careful, sequenced, and designed so that students sitting courses during construction are not disturbed by the work going on around them.
Upper septic field. A new septic system in the upper, southern portion of the property closest to Calais Road, designed by Spring and her team, set three metres clear of the east boundary.
Management residences. Self-contained homes for management, each with kitchen, living, bedroom, bathroom and a mudroom suited to our climate. Each includes a flexible back room — one used as a full laundry facility for management, the other as a guest bedroom and en-suite for visiting old students, ATs on early steps, or short-stay guests.
AT Suites. A small block of dedicated suites for assistant teachers serving courses, positioned in the quiet middle zone between the management residences and the Dhamma Hall.
A new Dhamma Hall. The heart of the centre will be rebuilt with a capacity of 80 students and servers, so the hall is built once, properly, and serves the centre’s full future — not only the courses we are running today.
Two residential blocks for 20 students each. Two new residential blocks run along the east side of the property, parallel to Wicks Road, on the north side of the Dhamma Hall. Each room has its own private bathroom.
What this build means for student capacity
When the work in this master plan is complete:
- 40 students per course — the 2 new residential block plus the renovated existing accommodations will be developed to support servers/part-time students and double the centre’s current sitting capacity.
- 80 student-and-server capacity in the Dhamma Hall — the hall is being built for the centre’s full future, not only for present demand.
- 40 private bathrooms — every room in the new residential block is en-suite.
The build doubles what the centre can hold today, and lays the foundation for further growth without rebuilding the heart of the centre.
Where things stand
This is the section we keep current. (Last updated: see the most recent Centre Updates post for the latest detail.)
- A registered survey of the property has been completed.
- The septic design is in progress; once complete, the install will go to tender with three bids.
- The team is exploring British Columbia’s catalogue of pre-approved residential designs alongside two architect leads. The Dhamma Hall will require its own custom architect.
- A general contractor / build partner is being sought, with the hope of engaging one partner who can grow with the project from septic through residences to the hall.
- A master plan drawing — laid over the registered survey — is been prepared and is being refined.
The planning group
A small core group is steering the project, with input from the wider Dhamma community.
How to support
The Dhamma is built on Dana — the offering of what one freely wishes to give, in support of practice and of those who will practise after us. Every contribution, however small, supports the centre coming into being.
You can offer Dana toward the centre at any time through the official donations page: Dana — Vipassana Meditation as Taught by S.N. Goenka.
There will also be specific moments — septic, residences, the hall, the residential block — where particular needs are shared with the community. Those will appear in the Centre Updates posts as they arise.
Stay in touch
To receive Centre Updates by email as they are published, please send a blank email to: [email protected]
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For questions or to offer skills, contacts, or expertise, please write to: [email protected].
This page is kept up to date by the centre planning group. For the most recent news, see the latest Centre Updates post. With metta — the Dhamma Modana centre planning group.
Dana Possibilities
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Monthly donations or dana ($5/$10/$20) can be set up through e-transfer, your employer, or through Canada Helps. Small monthly donations have provided the centre with almost $4,000/month. Monthly pledges are a great support for covering the costs for maintenance, utilities, insurances and taxes in the past year. The centre has been able to hold 8 courses this year, though since the shut-down in March 2020, the occupancy of the center is running at less than 20% person capacity. Please email [email protected] with any questions about setting something up.