Coming together for meditation, Buddhist ritual and Dharma study are important conditions for deepening one's practice. We meet together every Wednesday evening for our Sangha (Community) Night where we meditate and explore an aspect of the Buddha's teaching through a talk and discussion. If you are new to meditation, we are happy to provide support and guidance for you. Everyone is welcome to join us.

With our program we aim to provide varied opportunities with Introductory courses in both meditation and Buddhist studies and day retreats to take your meditation and Dharma practice to a deeper level. We also offer workshops and classes in the arts, working with addiction, practicing in the workplace and more.

We offer all of our programs and retreats on a 'dana' basis. The Sanskrit word 'dana' means generosity, which is a fundamental Buddhist principle. Because the Dharma is so precious, in the spirit of the Buddha himself, we choose not to put a price on it. So rather than charge for classes, we offer them freely and then ask for your donations.

Suggested sliding scale for donating to our programs is provided with each listing. 

All of our workshop facilitators, presenters and study leaders offer events on a volunteer basis. We thank them for sharing their skills, experiences and inspirations.

If you value the programs and classes at the Portsmouth Buddhist Center, we hope that you will be inspired to help us with the most obvious form of support, money through donations. We have a dana bowl in the center, again, chosen in the spirit of the Buddha who carried a wooden bowl on his alms rounds through the villages seeking support in the form of food from his local community.

The Circuit of Generosity 
We would like to thank Mark McNabb, owner of the McNabb Group, who, when we were first looking for space in Portsmouth (2010) for meditation and Dharma classes, offered us use of several vacant offices (2011-2013). To support the circuit of generosity, we gave a donation on his behalf, to The Music Hall and Womenaid of Greater Portsmouth. We were well supported for the first few years before moving to our space at 84 Pleasant Street in the summer of 2013.

Here we built up our place of practice, seeing hundreds of people come through the doors to learn meditation, explore Buddhist teachings and develop friendships. We were gradually building momentum, and on several occasions our shrine room overflowed into the meeting rooms for such wonderful occasions as mitra ceremonies.

In April 2017 the State Street Saloon caught fire and burned down, causing severe damage to the adjacent buildings, ours being one of them. We were very grateful that Scott Lombardo, founder and trustee V-MAT, a free Martial Arts Program for U.S. Military Veterans, Reserves and Active Duty, allowed us to meet temporarily at their dojo that summer. We quickly discovered it was a short walk to the nearby Goodwin Park and spent many a Sunday mornings under the flowering trees.

By the fall we developed a relationship with PPMTv, Portsmouth Public Media Tv, and arranged to use one of their studios in the historic South Meeting House for our Sunday morning meditation and Dharma teaching. For our introductory courses and larger gatherings we have trucked over to Gateway Taiji, and are grateful to Bill Buckley for use of his beautiful space, especially for our mitra ceremonies.

2019 Spring - In Search of Our New Home

Thank you all for your generous support in a variety of ways. Together we are creating a substantial place of practice that will bring benefit to many beings!

The Portsmouth Buddhist Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit with tax-exempt status, tax ID# 45-2836893.