Tim Geil and Tuere Sala co-teach in the main sanctuary of University Friends, before the pandemic. The new space will be one floor down.
Photos by: Nora Langan, Cheryl Marland, Peter Weertman

Seattle Insight Meditation Society (SIMS) is finalizing steps for a long-term Seattle practice center, intended to support dharma teachings, practice, and community for years to come.

The new SIMS center will be on the lower level of University Friends Meeting building, which is close to the University of Washington. The move will be a relatively short one, because SIMS for the last several years has been leasing upstairs space in the same building, offering teachings, meditation and retreats.

The new SIMS facility will be in the lower level of the University Friends building.

Renovations on the new 2,­000-square-foot space will increase capacity, so we can expand programs, sits, and dharma talks for the community.

We have signed a 10-year-lease for the space with University Friends. We also have a “reasonable green light” from the city for permitting, according to former SIMS former Board President Rob Long. Negotiating permits has been a slow process requiring some patience. 

The ground-floor space became available, when a new home was found for the men’s shelter that has been there. 

University Friends, a Quaker center, will continue to be Seattle Insight Meditation Society’s home.

Our vision for the space includes a meditation hall that will seat up to 75 people, with new windows to bring in light. The space also will include meeting rooms, a library, and possibly a kitchen.

We also plan to install a permanent hybrid audio-visual system, so people will be able to attend SIMS events online or in-person. The pandemic has taught us how to offer the dharma online, and a result is that SIMS now includes members from far outside Seattle.

However, all this will take much work, because the new space is now very spartan. Currently the space consists of two large rooms, and bathrooms in need of updating. Ventilation is limited.

Kalid Azad, current facilities manager, helps set up the hybrid audio-visual system at University Friends.

A volunteer visioning committee developed a vision for the space after months of meetings, study, and input from sangha members. The detailed vision was then submitted to local architects. All along we worked to ensure that all bids included Black, Indigenous and People of Color professionals.  Once we had bids we started fundraising.

This summer two of our long-time SIMS local dharma leaders, Susan Alotrico and Sooz Appel, led a very successful fundraising campaign they dubbed “Grow Our Roots.”

Backed by a tireless team of volunteers the campaign raised $164,377, nearly 10 percent above the original goal. We were pleased and heartened to see the very generous response of our sangha.

The campaign harnessed social media, while sangha members turned to longtime friends for contributions. Also several benefit talks were offered by precious teachers from the vipassana tradition, including Sharon Salzberg, Philip Moffitt, Venerable Pannavati Karuna, Ofosu Jones-Quartey, and of course our beloved founding teacher Rodney Smith.

Sangha members joined together to move out of the former SIMS center south of downtown Seattle.

One consequence of this campaign was an opportunity for SIMS leaders to reflect on who we are as a sangha, and how we can be more welcoming and inclusive. 

“We have wanted to look ahead to ensure SIMS is a welcoming refuge to future generations, especially BIPOC and younger audiences,” said Appel. “The benefit talks are one way we are building on that energy to focus on enlarging, diversifying and expanding our sangha, as we prepare for having our own home in 2022.” 

The SIMS sangha has practiced in the vipassana Buddhist tradition for about 25 years, originally founded by a group of long-time practitioners to support the teachings of Rodney Smith. SIMS’ mission is to offer the Buddha’s teachings, and to support spiritual community, in the Pacific Northwest.

Tuere Sala teaching at the former downtown Seattle practice center.

SIMS has had a bit of a nomadic history. For many years we found temporary homes all over Seattle — St. Mark’s Cathedral, The Center for Spiritual Living, Congregation Beth Shalom — and most recently the first floor of an office building in the area of Seattle known as SODO (South Of Downtown). 

While each space had unique benefits and challenges, the sangha longed for a place to call home.  Efforts to purchase a building were stymied by rapidly increasing property prices.

Developing plans for the new space during a major pandemic has provided lots of opportunity to practice. Sickness, supply-chain challenges and increasing prices have given us moments to review and reflect.  A foundation has been laid for the next decade and hopefully longer, and we continue to move forward with enthusiasm and diligence.