VIPASSANA IN THE NORDIC AREA – SOME IMPORTANT EVENTS

Appr. 528 BCEEnlightenment of the Buddha, in Bodhgaya, India
  
July 1969S N Goenka conducts his first 10-day course in Bombay, India
  
August 1992First 10-day course is held in Sweden, in the Stockholm archipelago. During the coming years one or two courses a year are held in Sweden. 
  
April 1998First 10-day course is held in Denmark
  
June 2004First 10-day course is held in Finland
  
July 2005First 10-day course is held in Norway
  
January 2007A property is bought in Östergötland province to establish a Vipassana centre. Goenkaji names the centre Dhamma Sobhana (”The Beauty of Dhamma”) and it opens on February 1, 2007. 
  
April 2007First 10-day course is held at the centre with 53 students. This was also the first course to be given bilingually, in English and Swedish. During this year, seven 10-day courses are held at the centre, with about 400 students. 
  
December 2011The annex to the main building is renovated and starts being used as a meditation hall for about 80 students. The centre now holds fifteen 10-day courses a year plus some 3-day courses, with about 1 100 students.  
  
September 2013The centre buys forest land from a neighbour, to be used for building a new meditation hall. 
  
2017The 10-day course is given in Danish, Norwegian and Finnish for the first time. This year the centre holds twenty 10-day courses, three 3-day courses, one Satipatthana course and many childrens courses, with a total of 1 700 – 1 800 students. All 10-day courses are fully booked with long waiting lists. 
  
2018The centre trust decides to build a new meditation hall with capacity for 120 students plus servers. An architect is hired and plans for the new hall are approved. The hall was completed in 2021.