Venerable Bhante Vimalarmasi
PictureVenerable Bhante Vimalaramsi
June 26, 2023, the Venerable Bhante Vimalaramsi died while in hospice care near St. Lous.  Bhante was a distinguished American Buddhist monk with more than 50 years of meditation practice. He taught tranquil wisdom insight meditation (TWIM) since the mid-1990's in Europe, Asia, and North America. Bhante was the founder and abbot of the Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center near Annapolis, Missouri. For many years he was the U.S. representative to the World Buddhist Summit and Conferences and regarded as master meditation teacher. 

TWIM principles and practices that he taught originated in the discourses of the Buddha in the Pali cannon. He referenced vipassanā insight and samatha tranquility as being equally yoked together in mediation (jhāna) both in theory and practice.​ Hundreds of his Dhamma talks are available on his YouTube channel: TWIM Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center. HERE
PictureBhante Vimalaramsi, U.S. Sangha Representative to the World Buddhist Summit 2014, Kobe, Japan
His approach to teaching meditation included personal one-on-one daily interviews to expedite progress into and through the stages of mediation (jhāna) to awakening. He often said that  practicing loving-kindness was fun to do. It was neither difficult nor a test of endurance but a joy-filled journey on the middle path of clarity, joy, and wisdom he added, ff you can smile, meditation is easy. He claimed that the principles of TWIM practice originated not form him but from the words of the Buddha alone.

Bhante did not teach cultural or institutional Buddhism, theory or scholarship but instead, the Buddha's formula of the Eightfold Path. The purpose of the jhanas was to cultivate  wise-attention,  tranquility, and insight leading to the liberation of mind. His legacy is many hundreds of students that he taught and coached with dozens of TWIM teachers world-wide that carry on the same dedication for sharing the Dhamma.
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Easter Retreat 2019, Venerable Bhante Vimalaramsi, St. Francis Retreat Center, San Juan Bautista, California.
TWIM mediation retreats, he believed, must be results-oriented yielding mental, emotional, and meaningful personality development. Retreat courses were structured to be ideal for beginners to easily learn effective meditation that offered relief from craving, the cause and condition of suffering. TWIM retreats drew advanced meditators that had become discouraged or plateaued in their progress. The practice he pointed out, immediately dissolves barriers by relieving craving, the cause of suffering. The practice gradually develops a foundation for the Noble Eightfold Path culminating in the direct experience of nibanna. 
Bhante is the author of numerous books including, Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation: "How to Attain Nibbana Through the Mindfulness of Lovingkindness" and "Life is Meditation - Meditation is Life: The Practice of Meditation As Explained From the Earliest Buddhist Suttas".

Residential Retreats
Tranquil Insight Wisdom Meditation retreats at the Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center in Missouri. Participants receive TWIM course instruction including  one-on-on personal guidance with senior TWIM teachers personally instructed, trained, and certified by Bhante to lead extended residential retreats. ​
Online Retreats
Online and Zoom retreats are open to beginners and experienced meditators. Participants receive TWIM course instruction including  one-on-on personal guidance with a TWIM teacher personally instructed and trained by Bhante.