About

Kalyana Mitta Sangha means “community of spiritual friends” in Pali, the vernacular form of Sanskrit in which the earliest Buddhist scriptures were recorded. Often used to describe someone in the teacher role, the term kalyana mitta can refer to anyone on the path of Dharma who is a guide, support or merely co-traveler. This site is intended primarily as a resource for members of the vipassana meditation group at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Chelmsford, Massachusetts. We hope to provide a community forum for news and general discussion, and all members are encouraged to share their thoughts and questions. The group meets on Tuesdays from 7:30pm to 9:30pm and is open to the public regardless of meditation experience.

Guiding Teacher 

Abhaya Sandy Kopka is a graduate of California Pacific Medical Center’s Institute for Health and Healing year-long Clinical Pastoral Residency, Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Community Dharma Leader training and the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies Chaplaincy training. She is a Spirit Rock endorsed hospital chaplain and has practiced and studied vipassana meditation for since 1989. Abhaya is currently on leave from her teaching duties; in her absence the meditation group is facilitated by her senior students.

Guest Teachers

Venerable Ajahn Mangkone Dhammadharo is Abbot of Wat Buddhabhavana in Westford, Massachusetts. Born in Laos in 1968, he was ordained as a monk in the Theravada Buddhist ‘forest tradition’ in Australia in 1992 and has taught and practiced in the United States since 1996.

Ajahn David Chutiko is Vice Abbot of Wat Buddhabhavana. Born in Malden, Massachusetts, Venerable Chutiko was ordained in Thailand in 1996. He conducts weekly English-language Dharma and meditation classes at the temple, and is permanent guest teacher to the the joint Taiwanese/Sinhalese Community Youth Program at the Massachusetts Buddhist Association Center in Lexington. Venerable Chutiko has also taught semi-monthly to his prison sangha at the Federal Medical Center at Devens for over three years. He is committed to interfaith dialogue and teaches frequently in Christian and secular venues in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and elsewhere. Venerables Mangkone and Chutiko join the meditation group on the first Tuesday evening of each month. (For additional information on Wat Buddhabhavana, please see the profile on Harvard University’s Pluralism Project web site.)

Doreen Schweizer of the Valley Insight Meditation Society in Lebanon, New Hampshire, has been practicing meditation and yoga since 1969 and teaching in a variety of settings and formats since 1987. She has been a student of Theravadan Buddhism since 1990. Doreen completed the Community Dharma Leaders program through Spirit Rock Meditation Center with Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia as her mentoring teacher and Jack Kornfield as her sponsoring teacher. She is also a Visiting Teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts.