Durham Dharma is an unusual Buddhist group: it has no leader, no lineage, no permanent meeting place, no treasury, and no formal membership.  Instead, they have pioneered a different model of Buddhist practice that eschews the congregational model in favor of an informal weekly gathering of peers from different backgrounds. 

The group meets on Wednesday evenings from 7:30-9:00 p.m. at the office of a member.  They begin with a half hour of silent sitting meditation facing the wall in a circle, opened and closed with two rings of a bell.  At the end of the period, the practitioners stand, face one another, and bow.

Following the first period of meditation, there is group discussion.  On the first Wednesday of the month, members share how their practice if going and bring up any topics relating to Buddhism they wish to discuss.  During the rest of the month the group conducts a book reading—books are read a few paragraphs at a time, then the material is discussed, until after a number of months the entire book is finished.  Book selections, like all other group activities, are made by consensus.  Most are by popular American Buddhist authors from a wide range of traditions, including Joseph Goldstein, Charlotte Joko Beck, and Pema Chodron.  After a half hour of discussion, a second thirty minute  meditation period is conducted.

Durham Dharma began meeting fifteen years ago and has attracted a small but consistent core group of participants.  There are about twelve regular attendees, six or seven of whom will attend any given meeting.  Most are female.  The group members all range in age from late 30s to 60s, many of whom have been Buddhist practitioners for several decades.  Members are primarily Euro-American but there are African-American members as well.  Most also attend other local Buddhist centers, such as the Chapel Hill Zen Center, and the range of Buddhist practice among individual members is primarily Zen and Vipassana.  Because both of these separate types of Buddhism center on similar silent meditation exercises, they are able to co-exist in Durham Dharma without disruption.
 

JW