Dhamma Sumeru

"Dhamma Sumeru" is the first Swiss Vipassana Centre named in Pali "the heavenly mountain of the Dhamma".

It was founded in November 1999 and is located on the Mont-Soleil ("Mount Sun") in a village of the Swiss Jura mountains on an altitude of 3600 feet surrounded by pastures, fields and forests. Mont-Soleil means in English "Sunny Mountain" as it is one of the sunniest places in Switzerland and is situated near St.Imier, between Biel and La Chaux-de-Fonds.

The house was built in 1904 and was used as a hotel up to the 1920s, as it was then transformed in a holiday camp for children. It had still the same purpose when the Swiss Vipassana Association bought it in autumn 1999. The house is in the middle of two acres of land with many tall trees, green pastures and walking paths.

Old students (i.e. students who have completed at least one 10-day course with S.N. Goenka or one of his assistant teachers) from the three countries support the operation of the Centre. Courses are taught in Italian, German, French and English