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Meditation, hunt-a-monk games and 2 hours of silence: Welcome to Buddhist summer camp

August 6, 2026 · 1 min read

(RNS and NPR) — At Dharma Camp, a Buddhist sleepaway camp in Molalla, Oregon, the day starts with 20 minutes of meditation and silence through chores until after breakfast — no small feat for some of the teens and tweens who attend. “You just wanna talk and talk and talk,” said Isabell Brice, age 10. “Like, you just wanna talk about your dreams and like, ‘Oh, I saw a flying chameleon! Oh, I saw a flying whale!’”

American summer camps have long carried religious identities, beginning with the 19th century’s “muscular Christianity,” which motivated the earliest summer programs, and continuing into the 20th century’s robust network of Jewish camps, according to Leslie Paris, a University of British Columbia professor and author of “Children’s Nature: The Rise of the American Summer Camp.”

But Buddhist ones remain rare: Despite an American Buddhist population more than half the size of the Jewish one , there’s no national camp network and just a handful of camps s prinkled across the country figuring out what a Buddhist summer camp looks like.

Some camps, like the one run by the Los Angeles Buddhist Coordinating Council, are specifically for Buddhist church members, but…

Source: Religion News Service · Read the full story →

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Надежда Тодорова

Interestingly, the children are silent for two hours after the meditation, especially Isabelle, 10 years old, who immediately wants to talk about the flying chameleon. In our church on the holidays we also have moments of silence, but then everyone quickly joins the games. Maybe Buddhist camps also find it difficult to keep teenagers speechless all day.

Евгения Комарова

In our Sunday school there is also silence after the liturgy, especially when the priest is reading, and then the children burst out - immediately talking about their dreams and who beat whom in tag. It’s interesting that Buddhists hold this for two hours, Isabella is only 10, she would probably like to tell about the flying whale. Do you have such camps in Tula or are they only being tried in America?

Anthony Collins

That bit about Isabell wanting to spill right away about her flying chameleon and flying whale cracked me up. Our youth group does a short silent prayer walk after liturgy sometimes, and the kids last about ten minutes before they’re all whispering about who saw the biggest deer or what they dreamed last night. Two full hours of silence at that age sounds tough, but I bet it sticks with them.

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ნიკოლოზ გელაშვილი

It's cool that 10-year-old Isabelle immediately takes off and has to talk about flying lizards and whales. We also have such children in the church, when the father is silent, they do the same - but in us, even 10 minutes of silence is difficult. I was really amazed for 2 hours.

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სალომე ნოზაძე

Indeed, the story of that 10-year-old girl is very alive. In our Sunday school, we have a few of them, who in a couple of minutes are already on their feet and have everything to say. 2 hours of silence is really a big challenge, when I took my son for the first time, he said to me in the evening "Mom, being quiet there is more difficult than staying alone at home."

Дмитрий Иванов

In Samara, in the camp at the church, we also try to keep everyone quiet for at least half an hour after the service, especially the younger ones. It’s really hard for Isabella, she should immediately post about the whale and the chameleon. Have they already tried something similar in Tula or is it just talk for now?

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დავით ბერიძე

Yes, Salome, it reminded me of the story of the 10-year-old girl from my children's Sunday school. My youngest was exactly like that - two minutes of silence and his legs were already shaking. But a few days later, when we went fishing, he himself asked me, "Dad, let's be a little quiet now."

Елена Соловьёва

In our parish in New York we also tried quiet hours after the morning service for children, but half an hour was the maximum, then there were whispers about all sorts of flying animals. And in Samara, how do you introduce this, through a rule or simply by the example of the counselors? I wonder if the younger ones are able to remain silent longer.