Dhamma Uyyāna: a permanent home for Vipassana in Central Brazil

For more than twenty years, students of the Central Plateau sat their courses in rented venues. That is changing. On 24 hectares (about 60 acres) in the Serra dos Pireneus near Pirenópolis, a few hours' drive from Brasília, the Associação Vipassana do Planalto Central is building Dhamma Uyyāna, the Dhamma Garden, the region's first permanent Vipassana center.

The land was donated to the association in 2012. Since 2004 this community has organized 45 ten-day courses, along with Satipatthana, three-day, Anapana, one-day and Pali courses across the region. The first ten-day course on the land itself was held in December 2020. Native Cerrado vegetation has been preserved throughout the work.

Where the work stands

The Dhamma hall is built. It seats 100 people, students and servers together, across 200 square meters under a thermoacoustic roof, with walls of ecological brick and EPS panel chosen for thermal and acoustic comfort in a climate of extremes. Its design goes back to studies made in 2013 by the architect Martin Stephens and the meditator Elza Pedroza, sized to the small flat area this hilly terrain allows. Interior wiring and dimmable lighting are finished. Painting, flooring and window screens remain. Four one-day courses have already been held in the hall, the most recent in August 2026.

The male and female dormitories are rising now, 240 square meters each, 27 students per block. Foundations, sewage lines, steel structure and roofing were completed in the first quarter of 2026, together with the collective bathrooms, the biodigesters and the server room. Walls are going up in the same mixed system used in the hall. Each block includes accessible bathrooms, ramps to several rooms and wider doors, so that students with limited mobility can sit courses here.

What comes next

Old students in Brazil have carried this work through their danā and their service. The steps ahead have been costed and scheduled:

• Subfloors, plumbing and electrical work to complete the dormitories

• Expanded energy supply for the growing center

• Accommodations for servers

• Dining areas finished and the kitchen adapted for full courses

• Furnishing and equipping the halls, dining areas and kitchen

• Support areas for course service

• Residences for assistant teachers

Once the dormitories and the kitchen are ready, Dhamma Uyyāna can begin hosting regular ten-day courses, along with Satipatthana, three-day, one-day, children's and teen courses, for the Central Plateau and beyond.

MAKE A DONATION

How You Can Support

Your support can make a lasting impact on this center, which is entirely funded by dana, the practice of selfless generosity. Whether through financial contributions, volunteering, or sharing this project with others, each act of support brings Dhamma Uyyāna closer to its vision of a sustainable, welcoming home for the practice of Vipassana.

We invite each and every one of you to plant seeds of Dhamma in our flowering garden. By joining us in this effort to spread Dhamma and cultivate peace in Central Brazil you help toward creating a place where countless individuals can come to practice, serve, and strengthen their understanding of liberation and compassion.

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If you have any problems or questions with your donation you can reach us at donations@vcf.dhamma.org

*Note that VCF can also receive dana in the forms of: cash, check, wire transfer, crypto currency, securities, or other complex donations. Feel free to reach out to us if you would prefer to donate via one of these alternative methods. Also, VCF allocates 2% of any international donations to the admin fund to help cover any operational & legal costs related to international giving.