97A Meegolla Rd - Matale District - Sri Lanka
hello@nalanda-center.org

History

History

Nalanda Retreat Center

The story of a place,
the birth of a path...

Why Sri Lanka

Wherever I traveled and meditated, I explored the possibility of establishing a small center. Ideas arose, but none took concrete form. Then one day, like one seed among countless others carried by the wind, one suddenly took root: the place had been found.

Why here?

India is immense and sometimes challenged by hygiene issues, Thailand is overcrowded with tourists, Burma (Myanmar) remains too closed, Indonesia is too distant…
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, is often referred to as the Switzerland of Asia: a small country where distances between coastlines and mountains are short. Above all, it is a Buddhist country, long accustomed to foreigners after having been successively colonized by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British.

The climate is mild to warm throughout the year, the vegetation lush, and the Sri Lankan people are known for being warm, welcoming, smiling, and deeply relaxed.

The center
of the island

 

The coastal areas are highly touristic and less secure. The center of the island, more preserved, is known as the Buddhist Cultural Triangle.

Temples line the roads, stupas rise on the hills, and Buddha statues are carved into rocks or hidden in caves. Nature is deeply respected here: massive trees shelter shrines and small roadside stalls.

The Sri Maha Bodhi (Bo Tree), considered the oldest living tree in the world planted by humans, originates from a cutting of the tree under which the Buddha attained Enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, India. It is located only 1.5 hours from the retreat center.

For centuries, Sri Lankans have built reservoirs and dams to irrigate their fields, especially rice paddies. These lakes attract abundant wildlife, and during the dry season even wild elephants come to drink.

Our land lies on the shore of one of these reservoirs, in the very heart of the island, facing the renowned Nalanda Gedige Temple, which houses a standing Buddha statue, a symbol of protection.

 

Why Nalanda?

 

The region bears the name Nalanda, recalling the famous Buddhist university of ancient India that flourished between the 4th and 9th centuries CE.

It was distinguished by the diversity of its teachings: Buddhism, Hinduism, yoga, philosophy, and medicine.

This spirit of openness lies at the heart of the Nalanda Retreat Center. Just as many paths lead to the summit of a mountain, most authentic traditions ultimately guide us toward discovering our true nature within.

 

 

 How it all began?

Shantini, initiator and founder of the Nalanda Retreat Center, recalls:

“After attending numerous meditation retreats in India, Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka, the idea kept returning to me: one day to build a bungalow in Asia, in a place infused with Dharma, where I could retreat once my activities in Switzerland had come to an end.”

Then an obvious question arose:

Why isolate myself completely? Why not share this place with friends and meditate together?

The idea matured and evolved into the vision of a retreat center. In the summer of 2017, when I spoke about it with Tilmann Lhundrup, my Mahamudra teacher, he replied somewhat impatiently:

“You’re not going to wait another ten years!”

I immediately contacted Kumar, whom I had met in 2004 during the tsunami. He spoke English, understood Western culture well, and had already built several houses. I knew I could trust him and asked him to look for land near a lake.


 

Discovering the land

 

When I arrived in December 2017, Kumar had still not found anything suitable. But the very next day, a friend mentioned a plot of land for sale near a lake.

We went to see it immediately.
          ”It was magnificent. Simply perfect.”

There was no way I could say no.
          ”It was an enthusiastic “yes, yes, yes!”

A house with two large rooms had already been built, but construction had stopped six months earlier, most likely because a large part of the land was too close to the lake and therefore non-buildable.

The purchase was finalized on March 21, 2018, in Matale, north of Kandy.

 

 

 An obstacle…

and a blessing

 

One issue remained: the neighboring property’s fence stood too close to the house, and a magnificent ficus tree was pierced by six rows of barbed wire.

Fortunately — or miraculously — this neighboring land came up for sale at that very moment. Rumor had it that potential buyers wanted to build a chicken farm there… unthinkable.

Although expensive, the land had to be acquired: to free the ficus from its thorns and restore balance to the place.

We had to overcome several obstacles, particularly financial ones, further complicated by the Easter 2019 bombings, which deeply shook the entire country.


 

The birth of

Nalanda Retreat Center

 

The early stages were dedicated to clearing the land: dense bushes, woody mimosa roots, while waiting for building permits, whose approval required more than a year of complex administrative procedures.

Then, slowly, the center began to take shape.

 

 

Brick by brick, thanks to the hard work of a dedicated team of local workers, the following emerged:

    • the grandparents’ house
    • the main house
    • the workers’ house
    • the carpentry workshop
    • the sacred circle around the ficus tree
    • an individual bungalow
    • the residence
    • the villa
    • the jungle bungalow
    • and the circular meditation hall

 

Nalanda Retreat Center

Today

The Nalanda Retreat Center is a place dedicated to those who wish to deepen their meditation practice in the heart of vibrant tropical nature, lulled day and night by the songs of birds, wild peacocks, and the murmurs of the forest.

December 2025, the center is fully completed and ready to welcome all those in search of inner truth.