Tiratanaloka Unlimited is a project I believe in. This is the real reason I’m sharing this with you: I want you to know what I believe in. It inspires me, gives light in a dark world, I want to share this with you because I think it would brighten your day.

My challenge is to raise £1000 by cycling 300 miles over 5 days.

The backstory

Tiratanaloka are fundraising for a bigger retreat centre with a bigger team, helping women prepare for ordination for many years to come. Ordination in Triratna means dedicating your life to wisdom and compassion for the sake of all beings but right now dozens are waiting for a space on each training retreat and many more would come if they were able.

In 2022, the number of women training for ordination had grown so exponentially that they'd outgrown the current building. They launched a campaign, Tiratanaloka Unlimited, to find a bigger property that could house the growing aspirations of women in the movement.

Four years later, they have bought a larger property thanks to the hard work and generosity of many people: previously a Carmelite monastery, the new centre will hold double the amount of women on retreats.

The team are working hard to transform the new building into a beautiful, functioning Buddhist retreat centre, and need support in funding essential work to:

- Transform the chapel into a Buddhist shrine room

- Update the electrics, plumbing and kitchen to support the amount of people who will be coming on retreat

- Furnish the rooms with beds, bunk beds, sofas

Your support will help make these crucial renovations possible so that they can run the new retreat centre, for women training for ordination, and for the benefit of all beings.

The ride

Start: Padmaloka, men’s ordination training retreat centre, 29th March

Finish: Adhisthana retreat centre, burial place of our founder Bhante Sangharakshita, 2nd April

Via: the new Tiratanaloka, women’s ordination training retreat centre, former Carmelite monastery.

I am immeasurably richer for having the Buddha in my life, as well as the transformative path he taught and the community of fellow Buddhists who are treading this path alongside me. I want these riches to be available to everyone - especially women, still overcoming the disadvantage of prejudice in our society.

A retreat centre like the one they’re making could be described as a place of value amidst the wilderness. A place women can go to encounter other women living by their highest values and learn to do the same. I want everyone to have the opportunity to do this.

My bicycle journey links two established retreat centres with the new (work literally in progress) Tiratanaloka: three places of deep human value amidst life’s sometimes empty landscape.