Gallery Description
In November 2008, a new altar was installed in the Retreat Center meditation hall, renovated in 2006.
The Retreat Center dining room got new dining tables and chairs, 2008.
A remodeled tea station and new flooring in the Retreat Center dining room, 2011.
The lower walking room at the Retreat Center was renovated in 2009.
Renovations to the bowling alley corridor, adjacent to the Retreat Center lower walking room, were also completed in 2009. The bowling lane itself was left untouched – one of the last people to have bowled there was His Holiness the Dalai Lama, during his 1979 visit!
25th Anniversary of the Women’s Retreat, 2009.
10th Anniversary of the People of Color Retreat, 2012.
Myoshin Kelley (L) was the Forest Refuge’s first Teacher-in-Residence when it opened in 2003. She remained there until late 2009. Sky Dawson (R) replaced her in 2010.
Revered Asian monastics have continued to offer the teachings at IMS. Shown here are Pa Auk Sayadaw (L), and Sayadaw U Tejaniya (R).
Ruth Denison (L), a pioneer and elder of the Western Buddhist community, offered her final retreat at IMS in 2011. She is shown here with Joseph Goldstein (R) at a farewell in her honor.
While offering a course at the Retreat Center in 2011, Ajahn Sucitto blessed trees that needed to be removed to make way for the upcoming construction of a new dormitory. The timber from the trees was later utilized in the building.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held September 9, 2012 to mark the start of a major project to construct a new Retreat Center dormitory and to renovate the Catskills building, giving every IMS retreatant a single room. This dhammacakka (wheel of dharma) mandala, created from flower petals, formed the visual centerpiece for the ceremony, and symbolizes the Buddha’s message of liberation.
The framing for the first floor of the new Retreat Center dormitory, November 2012.
Construction of an enclosed walkway connecting the new dormitory with existing Retreat Center accommodations proceeded throughout the fall of 2012 and into 2013.
A panorama of the finished new dormitory and the enclosed connector, fall 2013. Thanks to the generosity of our community, our ‘Single Rooms for All’ vision of greater accommodation privacy became a reality.
IMS Board President, Rosemary Blake, spoke at the ceremony about the joy of seeing the diversity of this year’s On September 11, 2013, IMS held a ceremony to honor the completion of the Retreat Center construction project. Three-Month Retreat – for the first time, there were 40 people of color participants.
Bhante Buddharakkhita led a circumambulation of the accommodations during the ceremony. New names were announced for each dormitory – Bodhi House for the new building, Karuna House for the renovated Catskills, and Shanti House for the former Annex.
One of the newly-renovated, peaceful bedrooms in the Retreat Center’s Karuna House (formerly the Catskills).
Timber for these stair treads, leading from the enclosed walkway to Bodhi House, came from the felled trees that had been blessed in 2011 by Ajahn Sucitto.
The informal sitting area in Bodhi House, the new dormitory, 2013.
At the Forest Refuge’s 10th anniversary ceremony, monastics led teachers, staff, retreatants and volunteers in a circumambulation and blessing of the meditation hall.
A new walking room was created in the lower level of Karuna House at the Retreat Center. It opened in late 2013.
The Buddha statue in the new lower Karuna House walking room, 2013.
In the fall of 2013, work began on making the front entrance to the Retreat Center’s main building fully accessible for anyone with mobility challenges. Here is the renovated foyer, December 2013.
With the Retreat Center front entrance ramp completed in 2014, our entire facility became accessible to those with mobility limitations.
The front entrance project also involved new steps and brick paving leading up to the main door.
Beloved Dharma elder Ruth Denison passed away in February 2015.
On September 15, 2015, IMS held a ceremony at the Memorial Wall at the Forest Refuge to honor Ruth Denison’s life and contributions to Western Buddhism.
An engraved memorial stone has been placed along IMS's Memorial Wall, and some of Ruth's ashes now lie beneath it.
In June 2015, a project to improve the Retreat Center dining room began. An extension was built to ease traffic flow, and to provide additional seating and a more accessible tea station. Work was completed in October 2015.
Another upgrade to the Retreat Center dining room involved the construction of an outdoor deck.
In December 2015, Caroline Jones stepped into the Teacher-in-Residence role at the Forest Refuge.
In late December 2015, improvements to the Retreat Center dining room were completed with the installation of ceiling fir trim and lighting, and new acoustical tiles to reduce noise.
