Dedicated Practitioner Program (DPP7) Application
Tempel Smith, Bonnie Duran, MPH, DrPH, Kaira Jewel Lingo, Gullu Singh, JD and John Martin
April 30, 2022 - May 4, 2024
We are accepting applications to join our waitlist. Your application will be considered after the initial round of acceptances. All applications will go through a screening process by the teachers. Important note: Scholarships are very limited and reserved for those who are truly experiencing financial hardship.
Go Here to Learn More: Dedicated Practitioners Program Details
PROGRAM DATES: April 2022 – May 2024
All retreats held in-person at Spirit Rock Meditation Center:
Retreat 1: April 30, 2022 to May 6, 2022
Retreat 2: November 11, 2022 to November 17, 2022
Retreat 3: April 15, 2023 to April 21, 2023
Retreat 4: November 11, 2023 to November 17, 2023
Retreat 5: April 28, 2024 to May 4, 2024
PROGRAM PREREQUISITES:
- A minimum total of 50 nights residential retreat practice in the Insight Meditation (Vipassana) tradition
- A minimum total of 5 years daily dharma practice
- A letter of recommendation from a sponsoring teacher (someone who currently teaches at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock, Gaia House or is a recognized vipassana teacher), knows you and your meditation practice, and is supportive of your application to DPP
- For those who identify as white, completion of a White Awake multi-week program, either through Spirit Rock or through other respected organizations
- Personal and interpersonal maturity regardless of age, including:
- Maturity displaying emotional and relational intelligence, including the capacity to work with personal suffering
- Interpersonal maturity, to navigate relational difficulties with peers and teachers
- Interest and capacity to interact with people who will have different histories, stories and views than your own and a willingness to engage and discover with others
PROGRAM DETAILS:
Become a part of a community that will challenge, broaden, and vitalize your understanding and embodiment of the earliest Buddhist teachings. The Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP), designed as an intensive lay practice period, offers a comprehensive curriculum on the Buddha’s early teachings over two years. In addition to attending five 6-night in-person residential retreats, participants commit to maintaining a formal daily meditative practice, monthly coursework, monthly group meetings, a monthly “dharma buddy” meeting and contact with a mentoring teacher over the full period of DPP.
While the retreats are a very powerful part of the program, most of DPP is the personal engagement with the eight-fold path in the six months between retreats. Students who participated in the past six cycles of DPP reported a profound impact on their own meditation practice, providing a focus and inspiration for deepening their understanding of Buddhism, and bringing the dharma alive in new and unexpected ways.
We use the Dharma, our meditation practice, and our Sangha to explore the ways suffering and freedom are created in our own hearts, including an exploration of the gross and subtle manifestations of social suffering, and its impact on personal and collective well-being. Our intention is to create a diverse and vibrant community of dedicated practitioners who support one another in waking up and in bringing more wise compassion into the world. We are committed to having a minimum combined 50% BIPOC and LGBTQI+ participation in DPP.
Please note: DPP is not a teacher training program. Spirit Rock does periodically offer programs such as the Community Dharma Leaders Program, which trains participants in leading community dharma communities, the Dharma & Yoga Training Program for aspiring yoga teachers, and the Mindful Leadership Program geared toward leadership in social and environmental justice.
PROGRAM COMPONENTS and REQUIREMENTS:
- Attendance at all five 6-night residential retreats
- Completion of monthly readings, practices and reflections with personal engagement with the eight-fold path in the six months between retreats.
- Attending a monthly teacher-led group meeting. Traditionally DPP groups have formed in San Francisco, Marin County, the SF East Bay, Redwood City, Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver, BC and have met in person and now groups may be offered by zoom. The groups are asked to support the teachers with dana.
- Monthly meetings with “dharma buddies” in the program
- Maintain regular contact with mentoring teacher focusing on formal practice, DPP homework, and personal dharma development and integration. Mentoring meetings may be offered monthly or every other month, in person or by zoom at the teacher’s discretion, and will be offered held on a dana basis. We encourage you to reach out to teachers (including your sponsoring teacher) to see if they might be willing to mentor you in DPP. If needed we will support you in finding one.
- Interest and commitment to increase individual awareness of structural oppression internalized oppression and privilege (class, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.)
- The practice of dana (generosity) to support program teachers, group leaders and mentoring teachers
- Meeting all financial obligations outlined in this application relating to program fees
- Access to email and the internet, either through your own computer, through a DPP buddy, or through a family member or friend who would be willing to pass along all the messages related to DPP.
APPLICATION TIMELINE and PROCESS:
June 1 – August 15, 2021 – Applications accepted between these dates. Incomplete applications without an attached digital photo cannot be processed.
September 1, 2021 – Deadline to submit application. All applications sent after this date will be put in a waitlist reserve to only be reviewed if space opens up in the program.
October 1, 2021 – Notification of your status will be sent no later than this date via email.
November 1, 2021 – Commitment and payment deadline; 25% deposit required at time of acceptance; $100 non-refundable fee for all applicants, if cancel prior to Jan 1, 2022.
Applications will open June 1, 2021. Close September 1, 2021. Applications received after Sept. 1st will be considered after the initial round of acceptances.
A few things to consider and gather before getting started:
- This is an online-only application. You will receive a copy of your submitted application upon its completion.
- Allow yourself at least 30 minutes or more to complete this entire application.
- Gather details on your previous retreat experience; you will have to list your retreat time; Example format: date (month/year), location of retreat (what center), teacher(s), style of retreat (metta or vipassana, etc.), # of nights.
- Digital photo of yourself (headshot/”selfie”); take or choose a digital photo of yourself to be attached at the end of the application.
- Get prior approval from your sponsoring teacher before listing them on the application. You will be asked to submit a letter of recommendation from the sponsoring teacher.
- The form is compatible with mobile, tablet and computer devices.
TUITION
Participation in DPP requires a financial commitment. Payment plans are available for all levels of the sliding scale. Scholarship support is available to help with payment of fees but it will be limited.
Upon acceptance into DPP and to secure your spot, ALL participants will be asked to pay a minimum deposit of 25% (based on the rate you select). Should you need to cancel prior to Jan 1, 2022, all of the deposit is refunded except for $100 non-refundable fee.
You may pay the entire program fee in full or set up an installment plan for the remainder of the balance (after the initial 25% deposit). The payment plan will start Jan 15, 2022; and debit over 12 monthly installments during the first year of the program. Installments can only be set up on credit cards. We no longer set up installments on checking accounts. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Sliding Scale:
Supporter – $16,900 (guaranteed single room)
Benefactor – $13,700
Sustainer – $10,700
Base – $7,700
Scholarship Sliding Scale:
Scholarship Rate 1 – $5,700
Scholarship Rate 2 – $3,700
Tuition includes:
- Accommodations and meals at all five residential retreats
- All handouts and program materials
- Access to social media and online community building groups
Tuition does NOT include:
- Teacher support (dana); which is typically offered after each retreat
- Transportation costs to/from your home to Spirit Rock
- Dana for mentor teacher support and monthly group teacher support
CANCELLATION FEES
Participating in DPP7 will require your commitment of both time and financial resources. If you need to withdraw from the program, the following fee structure will apply.
$100 non-refundable, flat fee for all applicants on or before Jan 1, 2022 (deducted from a 25% minimum deposit)
10% fee* = Jan 2 – Feb 28, 2022
15% fee* = Mar 1 – Apr 28, 2022
25% fee* = Apr 29 – Nov 9, 2022
45% fee* = Nov 10, 2022 – Apr 13, 2023
65% fee* = Apr 14 – Nov 9, 2023
85% fee* = Nov 10, 2023 – Apr 26, 2024
No refunds = On or after April 27, 2024
*Fee deducted from refund; fee is a percentage of the total amount agreed to pay.
IMPORTANCE OF SANGHA
With the spread of mindfulness outside of traditional Theravadin countries, often taught by teachers with little direct contact to the Pali teachings, every generation must take time to find the roots of their understanding in the recorded words of the Buddha and his earliest community. If we study alone, we often feel a limited understanding of these ancient texts, yet together they can come more alive. Also, many past students of DPP have forged life-long friendships from within the program.
During free time around non-silent meals on the retreats, and any time in the months between retreats, students are encouraged to organize self-led student groups on topics of shared interests. This is to further extend the Dharma presented formally by the program teachers and to raise topics not covered in the formal DPP curriculum.
All who meet the prerequisites are welcome to apply. Spirit Rock and the organizers of DPP7 are deeply committed to creating a community of practitioners from diverse backgrounds and cultures – a mix of races, genders, ethnicities, classes, sexual orientations, ages, and abilities – to support each other’s Dharma practice.
About the Teachers
Tempel Smith
Tempel Smith teaches Mindfulness, Insight and Metta meditation with an emphasis on Buddhist psychology and mind-body awareness. He spent a year as a monk in Burma with Sayadaw U Pandita and Pa Auk Sayadaw. Tempel serves on the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, organizes the Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP) and Living Dharma retreats for Spirit Rock […]
Learn more about Tempel SmithBonnie Duran, MPH, DrPH
Bonnie Duran met the Dharma in 1982 when she sat a month at Kopan Monastery in Nepal and learned Vipassana in Bodh Gaya India. Since then, she has taken teachings from many western teachers including Marcia Rose, Joseph Goldstein, and Jack Kornfield, as well as Thai, Burmese, and Tibetan Monastic teachers. Bonnie is a graduate […]
Learn more about Bonnie Duran, MPH, DrPHKaira Jewel Lingo
Kaira Jewel Lingo is a Dharma teacher with a lifelong interest in blending spirituality and meditation with social justice. Having grown up in an ecumenical Christian community where families practiced a new kind of monasticism and worked with the poor, at the age of twenty-five she entered a Buddhist monastery in the Plum Village tradition […]
Learn more about Kaira Jewel LingoGullu Singh, JD
Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh is a corporate real estate attorney and dedicated Dharma practitioner. He teaches both secular and Buddhist classes, groups and retreats. He has taught mindfulness at universities, in law firms, bar associations and corporate settings. He is a graduate the 4-year Spirit Rock Teacher Training Program and qualified to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. […]
Learn more about Gullu Singh, JDJohn Martin
John Martin has been devoted to dharma practice since 2001, and has been teaching since 2014. He serves as the Co-Chair of the Spirit Rock Guiding Teachers Council. John teaches Vipassana, Metta and LGBTQI-themed meditation retreats. He also teaches in dedicated practitioner programs and supports practitioners in bringing practice to daily life. John's spiritual path […]
Learn more about John MartinCategories : Application, Dharma Training