Ep. 280 – IMS 50th Anniversary w/ Dipa Ma
Metta Hour with Sharon Salzberg
Be Here Now Network
4.6 • 682 Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For episode 280 of the Metta Hour, we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Insight Meditation Society, which opened doors on Valentine’s Day in 1976.
Today, IMS is one of the Western world’s oldest and most respected meditation retreat centers, dedicated to providing a spiritual refuge for all who seek freedom of mind and heart. The Retreat Center offers a range of silent meditation courses, ranging from a weekend to three months. IMS Online offers retreats, sanghas, dharma talks, courses, and other programming to support your practice from our virtual meditation hall. IMS also has two adjacent retreat facilities – the Retreat Center and the Forest Refuge – that are set among almost 400 secluded wooded acres in the quiet country of central Massachusetts.
In this episode, Sharon presents a special episode from the archives of IMS history featuring her teacher Dipa Ma. Originally recorded in October of 1984, when Dipa Ma was visiting IMS, this dharma talk was given as part of the 1984 three-month retreat. Through an interpreter, Dipa Ma shares the story of how we came to meditation following tremendous loss. She reflects on her early years of practice under the tutelage of Anagarika Munindra and how she gradually began teaching meditation. She also takes questions from the audience about her practice from the attending three-month retreatants.
Resources
A full transcript of this episode is available right here.
To learn more about the Insight Mediation Society, click here.
To learn more about Dipa Ma, click here.
To learn more about the Dharma Seed archive, click here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Metta Hour podcast with Sharon Salzberg. |
| 0:17.4 | I'm Lily Cushman, I produce this podcast, and we're back today with episode 280, |
| 0:25.4 | celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Insight Meditation Society. |
| 0:32.6 | So I'm going to let Sharon tell you all about this episode, |
| 0:36.5 | and we do have a transcript of today's episode available in the show notes. |
| 0:41.6 | So you can take a look there if you are a reader as well as a listener. |
| 0:46.7 | So here we go. |
| 0:50.4 | Hello, this is Sharon. |
| 0:52.3 | And I'm recording this in February of 2026 on the eve of the 50th |
| 0:58.1 | anniversary of the Insight Meditation Society. We opened the doors those many years ago |
| 1:04.9 | on Valentine's Day in 1976, and here we are, all these many years later. I wanted to do something special to celebrate |
| 1:14.7 | this milestone with all of you. I know many of you have been to IMS to sit, or maybe more recently, |
| 1:21.5 | took part in some online offerings. Many of you have a connection to the community that is IMS. |
| 1:29.8 | Many of you have heard me tell the story over the years of how IMS came to exist in the late 70s |
| 1:36.2 | when we were just young adults, if that, having returned from Asia with a tremendous enthusiasm |
| 1:42.9 | and love for the Dharma. |
| 1:45.3 | And I'm struck now as I look back on those days how much of a positive force was generated |
| 1:51.5 | through our efforts and enthusiasm, especially when we didn't really know what we were doing. |
| 1:58.1 | I remember those early word of directors meetings when somebody would say |
| 2:02.6 | something like, you didn't budget for depreciation and one of us would say, what's depreciation? |
| 2:09.4 | It was an interesting time and a big learning curve. Looking back into some of the archives of the |
| 2:16.5 | early years of IMS, I wanted to share with you a little |
... |
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