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Ruth Denison

Ruth Denison

1922 CE–2015 CE · Modern · Dhamma Dena (Joshua Tree, California)

September 29, 1922 – February 26, 2015

Ruth Denison (1922–2015) was a German-born American vipassanā teacher in the lineage of the Burmese lay master Sayagyi U Ba Khin, who authorized her to teach in 1969. In 1977 she founded the Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center near Joshua Tree, California, and she was among the first teachers in the United States to lead retreats exclusively for women. She was known for an embodied, sensory-awareness style of insight practice. She died in 2015.

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Dhamma Dena (Joshua Tree, California)

What they did here

DOCUMENTED: founded the Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center near Joshua Tree, California, in 1977; among the first to lead women-only meditation retreats in the U.S.

About Dhamma Dena (Joshua Tree, California)

Dhamma Dena is a desert meditation retreat centre at Joshua Tree, California, USA. It was founded by Ruth Denison, a German-born teacher of vipassanā in the lineage of the Burmese master U Ba Khin, who was among the first women authorised to teach in that tradition in the West.

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