A vision for meditation, retreat and the flourishing of the Dharma
In a world that rarely becomes quiet, there is a growing need for places where people can step away, become still and reconnect with what truly matters.
Tibetan Sakya Trust has a long-term vision to create a permanent retreat centre dedicated to meditation, authentic Buddhist teachings, spiritual practice and compassionate activity.
Inspired by Green Tara — the embodiment of enlightened compassionate activity — we envision a peaceful place where wisdom and compassion can flourish and where people from all walks of life can find space for reflection, learning and transformation.
This is the beginning of that journey.
A PLACE FOR RETREAT
Retreat gives us something increasingly difficult to find in everyday life: time and space to turn inward.
Away from ordinary distractions, practitioners can deepen meditation, receive teachings and dedicate periods of time to spiritual practice.
A future Green Tara Retreat Centre could provide a home for:
Meditation Retreats
Offering peaceful surroundings for periods of meditation, contemplation and practice.
Buddhist Retreats
Creating opportunities to study and practise authentic Buddhist teachings under the guidance of qualified teachers.
Personal Practice
Providing space for individuals to step away from everyday life for reflection and spiritual development.
Residential Retreats
Allowing people to stay for weekends, longer retreats and periods of dedicated practice.
Silence & Contemplation
Creating an environment where stillness itself becomes part of the experience.
A HOME FOR THE DHARMA
At the heart of the vision is the Dharma.
We hope to create a permanent place where Buddhist teachings can be received, studied, practised and preserved.
The centre could welcome qualified teachers from the Sakya tradition and wider Buddhist community, providing opportunities for teachings, meditation, study, empowerments and retreat.
It could become a spiritual home for an international community of practitioners while also offering people completely new to Buddhism an opportunity to encounter meditation and Buddhist wisdom.
ROOTED IN NATURE
The environment of a retreat centre matters.
We envision a peaceful setting surrounded by nature, with space to walk, meditate, reflect and simply be still.
Mountains, woodland, gardens or open countryside could provide a natural sanctuary away from the noise and pressures of everyday life.
The final location has not yet been determined.
Whether the future centre finds its home in the United Kingdom, the Himalayan region or elsewhere will depend upon careful research, feasibility, resources and the guidance of the Trust.
Our priority is finding the right place for the vision to flourish.
INSPIRED BY GREEN TARA
Green Tara represents compassionate activity — compassion that does not remain merely an intention but responds when beings need help.
It is this spirit that inspires the vision for the centre.
We hope it can become more than somewhere people visit for retreat.
It could become a place from which compassionate activity extends outward into the wider world: supporting communities, sharing teachings, encouraging service and bringing people together around the wish to benefit others.
A place where inner practice leads naturally to compassionate action.
A COMMUNITY THAT GROWS
Buildings alone do not create a retreat centre.
People do.
Teachers, practitioners, volunteers, supporters and visitors will all play a part in bringing this vision to life.
We hope to build a community around the project long before the doors of a permanent centre eventually open.
Through teachings, retreats, volunteering, fundraising and shared practice, the foundations of the Green Tara Retreat Centre can begin with the people who believe in what it could become.
BUILDING THE VISION RESPONSIBLY
Creating a permanent retreat centre is an ambitious undertaking, and we want to approach it carefully.
The journey may involve developing retreat programmes, exploring partnerships, conducting feasibility studies, identifying suitable locations, building sustainable funding and ensuring the Trust has the organisational strength required to operate a centre for generations.
Rather than rushing towards a building, our aim is to create strong foundations for something that can endure.
A LEGACY FOR GENERATIONS
Imagine a place where someone receives their first Buddhist teaching.
Where another person completes their first meditation retreat.
Where teachers transmit teachings they themselves received from generations before them.
Where practitioners find silence, community and spiritual friendship.
Where compassion developed through practice becomes compassionate action in the world.
Years become decades, and new generations continue walking through the same doors.
A retreat centre can become more than a property.
It can become a place of refuge, practice and wisdom whose benefit continues long after those who first created it are gone.
HELP PLANT THE SEEDS
The Green Tara Retreat Centre is a vision for the future, and every great vision begins by planting seeds.
Your support can help Tibetan Sakya Trust explore the possibilities, strengthen the foundations and work towards creating a permanent place dedicated to meditation, Dharma, retreat and compassionate activity.
Together, we can create something that may benefit countless beings for generations to come.