Hello! My name is Eric Woudenberg and I have been living in Goffstown for about 30 years on and off. I have been interested in Buddhism since the early 80's, with a fairly steady meditation practice going for the last 15 years. Although I love meditation practice and would encourage everyone to give it a taste, I am not a meditation teacher and do not wish to present myself as one in any form.
My interest is in fostering a peer-led meditation setting where we support each other and help hold the meditation space in a way that invites people to explore meditation practice. I see it it as unhierarchical -- the intention is to support a community of people interested in meditation practice and allow them to explore Buddhism as it suits them.
Although I have had some experience with Zen Buddhism in Japan, I have been practicing mainly in the Theravada Buddhist tradition; this is the Buddhism of Thailand, Burma, Sri-Lanka, Cambodia and Laos. And although I do particularly love the Insight (Vipassana) practices of Theravada Buddhism, I think my choosing it had as much as anything to do with Goffstown's proximity to the Insight Meditation Society in central Massachusetts.
Since its founding in 1975, the Insight Meditation Society ("IMS") has been a wonderfully potent source of Buddhist teaching in the West. Over the years, dozens of accomplished teachers from around the world have led meditation retreats here, offering the Theravada Buddhist teachings to many thousands of students. It is here that I attended many retreats and learned what I know about Buddhism.
And out of my deep gratitude for the wisdom I have received from IMS, its teachers and the Buddha Dharma, I wish to help form the Goffstown Insight Meditation Group.