Dharma Gates Inc

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Isaac Mintz and honored by his family’s intention to support Dharma Gates in his memory. Dharma Gates is a nonprofit based in New York dedicated to opening pathways into deep meditation practice for young adults ages 18–35. Our mission is to help young people with an interest in Buddhism and spirituality connect to teachers, mentors, and community of peers to support them in deepening their practice.Our primary offerings are donation-based meditation retreats led by highly trained teachers from diverse Buddhist lineages. Isaac attended our fourth retreat in 2021, a week-long program that profoundly shaped the course of his life. Following this experience, he went on to lead Mindful Michigan, a student meditation community at the University of Michigan, and continued to pursue his passion for spirituality throughout college and beyond. This memorial fund will be dedicated to creating similar opportunities for other young people—to attend retreats, receive guidance from experienced teachers, and explore their spiritual lives in a safe and supportive way. Many of us at Dharma Gates feel deeply grateful to have known Isaac. We thank you for your support in honoring his memory.

Why support a young person from one of the most affluent countries in the world to spend a week in a beautiful location doing “nothing?” This is a good question. The purpose of Dharma Gates is not just to help young people suffer less, although this is good. It is to help young people remember that they are vital agents in this world. What young people in privileged countries choose to do with their lives—the careers, friends, mentors, and daily habits they choose—has tremendous systemic impact. Our collective future is highly dependent on the choices young people make, on the people they choose to become, on the values they uphold. Through meditation training, we learn how it feels to live inside a cruel mind, a kind mind, a distracted mind, and a clear mind. From this understanding, we can then choose how to live. We begin to understand that the burning of the Amazon and scrolling mindlessly on a smartphone are born of the same source: the destructive, conditioned behaviors of the human mind. Conversely, we see that each moment of our life is shockingly precious, and each moment of presence is healing the world. Our small acts of numbness, pretending we are powerless and our actions don’t matter, contribute to larger acts of violence. Our small acts of presence and love support greater peace beyond. There is something vital missing from our education systems, and from the values and lessons our society passes on to young people, something which rests at the core of every crisis we are facing. Restoring contact with our own basic love and sanity is worth any amount of money. In 2023, Dharma Gates offered multi-day retreats to 150 participants and one-day retreats to 50 participants. We also offered two online courses exploring living and ethical life and building a sustainable meditation practice to 77 participants over 13 total weeks of programming. We are proud to have maintained our commitment to the dana system: all of this programming has been offered to participants free of charge. In 2023, 77% of Dharma Gates expenses directly supported our programming while 3% support fundraising costs and 19% support our administrative costs. Our administrative costs provide livable compensation to our young team while allowing them to sit intensive retreats - thereby also supporting our mission. Dharma Gates' next chapter will require scaling with integrity: continuing to grow our team, building our base of financial support, cultivating relationships with more teachers and communities, and creating systems to more efficiently translate the support we receive into our programming and retreats. We invite you to support Dharma Gates’ retreats in 2024. Whatever you are able to offer will be put to good use to support young people to practice deeply. We thank you for considering a gift.