The Anuruddha Project

A three-month immersive community, deepening Buddhist practice through meditation, teamwork, and outdoor living.

June 21st - 20th September 2026. Applications now closed.

The 2026 Project

Are you interested in throwing yourself into a full-time adventure that is designed to challenge you and give you essential skills to meet the challenges of the world?

Are you interested in understanding yourself, the Buddhist path and Buddhafield more deeply?

The Anuruddhas were a band of friends who lived and practiced side by side in the Buddha's time. When the Buddha visited them, he was deeply moved by the ease of their harmony - the way their compassion for one another had become a living practice. Inspired by their example the Anuruddha Project invites us to gather together in the same spirit: to cultivate kindness, awareness, and the art of living well in community.

This is an invitation to step into a small, wholehearted world for three months, a place to learn the ways of Buddhafield and the ways of the Dharma. The project aims to equip participants with practical skills, a living connection to Buddhist teachings, and an embodied sense of the Buddhafield ethos: resourceful, joyful, grounded, and quietly radical. It also offers something less tangible yet more precious, a network of friendships, inspirations, and possibilities that can deepen and enrich the whole experience of our life.

Over the course of three months, much of our time will be woven into Buddhafield events. We will learn how to create retreats and bring them alive: hammering in storm pegs, stirring pots in improvised field kitchens, loading lorries, raising geodesic domes, and discovering how work itself becomes a practice—something that strengthens our meditation, our friendships, and our sense of what it means to be human.

Buddhafield is much more than tents, camp fires and cooking etc. At its heart lies a much larger question:

What will we be doing?

For a more detailed structure for our days see the FAQ below. Here is our provisional itinerary:

We will start with a couple of days 'induction' in Sagaravajra's beautiful forest garden near Broadhembury.
We then move to Bowerwood to help tat-down the retreat structures and will stay on for a few days after to work on the land.
Then it is off to the festival site where we will be working as part of the site crew for the set up and tat down with some on call during the festival. We leave on Saturday 25th July and may be able to have the weekend off.
Next we move to our Frogmill site near Dartmoor to start setting up for then joining the Village 1 working retreat.
From 6th - 15th August we will have our own retreat on our Bowerwood land, where we will deepen into the dharma and community, whilst doing some light work.
We then return to Frogmill for the working retreat which includes within it the Wheel of the Year retreat.
We transition from this tat-down to set up for Green Earth Awakening. We will join as team for this event within various roles - tbc.
We will spend our final day together checking out and having fun.

What is Buddhafield really?

To explore this, we will step back and look at the wider vision.

For decades, people from all walks of life have gathered under the Buddhafield canopy to experiment with new ways of living—ways that ask:

How do we live together as an effective, harmonious community? Is that even possible?
How do we extend kindness beyond the human circle—to the land beneath our feet and the beings with whom we share it?
How do we live simply, honestly, and sustainably, with creativity as our compass?

This long, collective inquiry has borne rich fruit—alongside challenges, questions, and, occasionally, some insightful answers. These will be our material for reflection and exploration.

Many people speak of a curious magic at Buddhafield events—something both familiar and mysterious, subtle and unmistakable. It moves through the landscape and through us, softening and opening our hearts. We call this the Dharma—the thread that ties everything else together. To deepen our relationship with this thread, we will engage in:

regular meditation, and learning how to work and play within meditation.
discovering how to turn work into play, and play into wisdom
shared study of traditional Buddhist texts
retreats, conversations, friendships, and the steady cultivation of insight

Who is the project for?

Adults of any age with a sincere desire to understand Buddhist teachings and to live them in the rhythm of daily life.
For someone who loves community, who feels at home outdoors, who finds nourishment in nature.
For those with some prior experience of Buddhafield, Triratna, and meditation—and who sense the call to go deeper.

If this feels like your next step, we invite you to submit an application form before February 14th. From there, we’ll arrange an online conversation and begin the journey.

A few words about us...

The two main people facilitating will be Alobhin and Antonia.

Alobhin is a member of the Triratna Order. He was ordained in 2006 and is currently living an itinerant life supporting Buddhafield for much of the summer months. He has facilitated the Anuruddha Project for last three years and is keen to develop and improve the project going forward.

Antonia is joining for 2026 to support the organisational aspects of the project. She was involved in Buddhafield teams in the early days then left to find a deeper connection with Nature based spirituality. On returning to Buddhafield she realised this was her Sangha and she is now training for ordination.

Storm will be holding the admin part of the project, liaising with you by emails and supporting you in the lead up to the project. She took part in the Anuruddha Project in 2024, and did logistical support for the project in 2025

FAQS

What will the work involve on a day-to-day basis? How many hours a week will I be working/studying?

This will change a lot. During event set-ups, you might work 6-8 hours a day; whilst during the event, it might only be one hour. Study is similar - it will ebb and flow with the needs of the program. We plan to have an 8 day Anuruddha only retreat in August with teaching and lots of Dharma discussions.

An average day might look like this during event set-ups:

7.30am - meditation
8.15am - breakfast
9am - morning circle and check-in
9.30am - 12.30 pm - work period, with breaks as needed.
12.30pm - meditation
1pm - lunch
2pm - reconvene for work
5.30pm - meditation
6pm - dinner
8pm - shrine activity

A bit more about the feel of the Anuruddha role...

There is an intensity to being an Anuruddha - you're outdoors in all weather, doing physical work and building relationships with your fellow band of Anuruddhas as well as meeting new retreatants and teams all the time. The magic lies in this connection to the elements, your body and your community, but it's worth being prepared and game for the physical and emotional work of it. We can discuss this more if you are invited for a chat following your application, if you'd like. However, if you feel a tingle of excited anticipation about the challenge and potential here, that's a sign you might be in the right place.

Is this work paid? Or does it come with any allowance etc?

This is not a supported role and does not come with any allowance. However, all your food and drinks will be provided. You will need to provide your own transport, or lift share, to the first event.

Will I need to pay anything to take part in the Anuruddha Program?

We are offering the Anuruddha Project in the spirit of dana and will not be charging anything to take part. Previous participants have found that they needed money to cover their personal costs during the breaks in between events.

What teaching support is provided?

There will be one order member overseeing the project all the way through, It is possible that other order members will drop in for one or more events through the season.

What food is provided?

Three organic vegan meals a day, plus snacks and drinks.

We can accommodate most dietary restrictions.

Will I need to provide my own accommodation?

Yes, a tent or van, plus your own bedding.

Are there any behavioural agreements when taking part in the programme?

Yes. No drinking alcohol or taking drugs while taking part. Also, no fish or meat on any of the sites or events.

The aim of the project is to create a spiritual community together and we will be working with the 5 Precepts (These are: I undertake the training principle of abstaining from taking life. I undertake the training principle of abstaining from taking the not-given. I undertake the training principle of abstaining from sexual misconduct. I undertake the training principle of abstaining from false speech. I undertake the training principle of abstaining from intoxication.)

When will I find out if my application has been successful?

Applications will close on the 28th of February. In previous years we have had many more applicants than places and we may want to talk to you to clarify your responses prior to deciding who to interview. We aim to invite around 12 to online interviews, afternoons of March 16-19th, so please keep some space open. We hope to make our selection of the 7 who will join the project by early April.

Please contact us on anuruddhas@buddhafield.com if you have any further questions.