Data Protection Policy

Privacy Policy for the Web

Your privacy is important to our organization. To better protect your privacy, we provide this notice telling you about our information practices and the things you should be aware of about how your information is collected and used both at our web site site and in general by our many affiliated organizations around the world. 

The Information We Collect

If you choose to register for a Vipassana meditation course via our on-line or conventional registration application, the types of personally identifiable information that may be collected include: name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, fax number, and all the other highly personal information that is called for on the application form and on the course registration form. Your personal information contained in your course application and registration forms are stored in a secure manner within our facilities and the only persons having access thereto are those who have a specific "need to know", such as the course registrar, the center/course manager and the assistant teacher(s) conducting the course(s) to which you seek admission.

How We Use Your Information

We use the information you provide about yourself in your application and registration forms to evaluate your application for admission to a course and to register you for that course. In addition, we have found that people who attend a Vipassana course frequently attend subsequent courses over their lifetime. In order to facilitate subsequent attendance at courses and to maintain a record of a student’s history and experience we may maintain the course data of each student indefinitely in the absence of a legal prohibition to do so in certain jurisdictions or a request by a student to destroy his or her data. In some cases we may use your name postal address and/or email address to send you information about Vipassana related activities and facilities, if you have not opted-out of such contact. 

The Japan Vipassana Association does not ever make your personally identifiable information available to third parties, for commercial or any other reason unless as required by law. However, the Japan Vipassana  website accepts credit card based donations and, in which case, personal information related to those donation financial transactions is processed in the usual manner. Otherwise, we do not disclose your personal information. 

All teachers and assistant teachers of Vipassana as well as all meditation center staff and Dhamma workers only have access to your information submitted on the course application and registration forms on a "need to know" basis. Such information is maintained in confidence and safeguarded against disclosure to or access by third parties once it reaches the center or the non-center course registrar to which it is submitted. However, the particular manner in which your information is maintained, stored and used is governed by the particular privacy policy applicable within the country where the particular course for which you are registering is being held. The only risk of inadvertent disclosure of your information can be in the case of applications submitted by email and that is while the information is being sent over the open internet, as under some circumstances our email application facilities are not secure. Please do not use the email application facility on this website unless you are prepared to personally take this risk.

Our application forms and the personal data contained therein are handled by storage and processing on computers. In addition, our computers are located in various countries of the world. Your submission of an application form to attend one of our courses constitutes your unequivocal consent to the storage and processing of your application data on a computer and to the sharing of your personal information contained in the application form within our organization. For the welfare of the students, it may be necessary for us to take and retain notes on any health concern or behavior in relation to the course that is inconsistent with the Code of Discipline or that otherwise indicates that a student should be restricted from attending future courses or will need additional support during a future course. In the rare event of this occurring, these notes will be entered on a computer and shared in confidence with assistant teachers and authorized course registrars involved in future courses. Your attendance at a course will constitute unequivocal consent to the handling and storage of such notes within the organization. 

Collection of Information by Third-Party Sites

This Privacy Policy only addresses the use and dissemination of information that we collect from you. Our website may contain links to other sites whose information practices may be different than ours. Visitors should consult the other sites' privacy notices as  we have no control over information that is submitted to, or collected by, these third parties. Since our Vipassana organizations do not control the privacy policies of third parties, you are subject to the privacy customs and policies, if any, of that third party, and our Vipassana organizations shall not be responsible for the use or dissemination of your personal information by that third party. 

Therefore, we encourage you to ask questions before you disclose your personal information to others. 

Country Specific Privacy Requirements

Please note that individual countries may have particular privacy law requirements. Our Vipassana organizations around the world have developed specific privacy policies to comply with these requirements that may differ in specific details from the policies set forth above. You may obtain these specific requirements by contacting the course registrar of the center to which you have submitted your application and/or registration forms or at the course site upon your arrival.

Opt-Out/Opt-In

We provide you with the opportunity to "opt-out" of having our Vipassana organizations send you e-mail or postal mail about our services or other information related to Vipassana. In other cases, it may be possible for you to "opt-in" to certain local information distribution lists.  If you choose to have your name, email address or other personally identifiable information removed from our database, you can do so by sending an e-mail to us at the local Vipassana Center and request removal.

How to Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about the privacy policy or its implementation you may contact us at: [email protected]

Effective Date

This Privacy Policy is effective as of October, 2009.  The Japan Vipassana Association reserves the right to modify the terms of this policy at any time and in our sole discretion.