Barre Center for Buddhist Studies

Turn onto Lockwood Road at the rock with BCBS carved into it, and the farmhouse sits at the end of the road, about a quarter mile on. In 1991, when the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies opened, the farmhouse was the only structure on the property. The Center had been founded the year before by meditation teachers Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg, with a particular aim: to integrate Buddhist study and practice rather than treat them as separate pursuits.

The campus has since grown across 90 wooded acres in the hills of central Massachusetts, land the Center says was stewarded for generations by the Nipmuc people. There is now a dharma hall, classroom and meditation spaces, and cottages for staff, practitioners and the resident monk and scholar, Bhikkhu Anālayo. The library holds more than 10,000 titles. Vegetarian meals are served in the dining room, with vegetables and fruit from the garden when available. Walking trails run through the woods and fields, and a stupa houses relics of Sariputta, one of the Buddha's foremost disciples.

Residential programs typically combine sitting and walking meditation, talks, group discussion and some periods of noble silence. They run from two days to two weeks. Online programs bring in participants from more than 70 countries. Path Programs follow a consistent cohort over several months to more than a year, and Immersive Online Programs run for two to three months. Study centres on the sources of early Buddhism, with teachers drawn from several traditions, from Chan to Theravada.

Most programs suit beginners and experienced practitioners alike, and participants do not need to identify as Buddhist. The Center also publishes the Insight Journal, begun in 1989, and runs a daily online sit.