Meet the Taraloka community
Saddhanandi has been involved with the FWBO since 1983. For most of that time she has lived and worked with teams of women, starting in Glasgow and then moving to Taraloka in 1994. She was ordained in 1995 and became Chairwoman of Taraloka in 2000. She sees her practice mainly in terms of developing metta and mindfulness, following a path of ‘becoming more human’.
Kulaprabha has been living at Taraloka since 2002. Her main job is to lead and develop our retreats but she looks after the website, keeps an overview on our finances, and loves going out on the motorized mower in our grounds! She first contacted the Dharma whilst working as a scientist in Glasgow and was ordained in 1988. On retreat, her interests lie in integrating study, reflection and meditation practice on a particular theme, particularly developing reflections based on conditioned co-production. More recently she’s initiated a project to make Taraloka more energy efficient and sustainable. Her own website is here.
Desiree joined the community in June 2009, after being involved with supporting Buddhafield retreats for several
Desiree
years. The effects of having grown up in South Africa during Apartheid strongly motivate her love of and devotion to the Bodhisattva Ideal and the vision of a sustainable New Society. Desiree’s background is in social work and women’s projects. You might come across her with a wooden spoon in one hand and a hammer in the other, as she is responsible for the food and the maintenance.
Ginny
Ginny arrived at Taraloka in August 2009 to look after grounds and maintenance. She has lots of energy and loves being outdoors. Previously, between mountaineering and rock-climbing trips, she worked as a physiotherapist in Sheffield. On meeting Buddhism, her passion for the mountains translated into a strong feeling for meditation and devotion. She is very interested in integrating meditation and daily life, and also in how to build a spiritual community.
Jo
Jo first came to Taraloka on an introductory weekend in January 2007 and has never looked back! She joined the operations team in September 2009 to help with the running of the retreat centre. She will be working mainly as Bookings Secretary and is likely to be the person you speak to when phoning the Taraloka office. She joined us from Worcester where she spent eleven years as a teacher and was an active member of the flourishing Worcester sangha. She enjoys tai chi, meditation and cycling and hopes to further explore ‘work as practice’ during her time at Taraloka.
Ratnasuri Ratnasuri was ordained in 1983 and is a founder member and pioneer of Taraloka, having moved there in 1985 at the start of the project. She was one of the first women Preceptors but now, in her mid-eighties, she is retired from ‘public life’. After 25 years at Taraloka she continues to engage in its collective life here. She also supports retreats using her perceptive clarity in conversations about meditation and Buddhist practice. A former artist, she spends her free-time reading poetry, listening to music and growing orange trees.
Lindsay joined the community in January 2007 and until recently worked as the Bookings Secretary. She is responsible for the practical running of the Retreat Centre and is currently supporting her new team-mates in the operations team. Before living at Taraloka, she worked as a physiotherapist, then travelled in India and Thailand and finally was part of a Karuna team: fund-raising in the UK for Ex-Untouchable social projects in India. Lindsay is also enthusiastic about inspiring and supporting other young women practising the Dharma and is involved in running activities for young Buddhists.
Samantabhadri moved to Taraloka in 2008. Her main responsibilities are leading retreats and running the bookshop. Previously she lived in Colchester and held a senior position at the Sixth Form College, where she also taught English Literature. She was a longstanding women’s mitra convenor in Colchester: leading classes and study groups, welcoming beginners and supporting women in the ordination process. For a while, she was also a carer for her mother. Her enthusiasms include: study, meditation, the arts and enjoying the countryside.
Suchitta
Suchitta is technically the newest community member having arrived in November 2009 but she lived and worked at Taraloka throughout 2007, when she took on the challenge of the Taraloka gardens. She first contacted the Dharma when studying Music at university and was ordained in 1990 whilst working as a music therapist. She worked for two years at the Wellington Buddhist Centre in New Zealand, followed by six years at the FWBO Centre in Brighton. She is particularly interested in Dharma study and the place/space of mantra in spiritual practice. When she moves back here, she will initially be focussing on helping our new support team. When she was living last year she took on looking after the gardens and then took over the greenhouse to grow tomatoes ….. She is also an avid late night remover of slugs and snails from our flower beds. They find themselves next morning moved over the fence into the field!
