The Southeastern Buddhist Retreat Center Annual Meeting brings together community members, practitioners, supporters, and partner organizations for a morning of learning, connection, and shared purpose. This gathering highlights StarlitePhi’s progress, vision, and the collaborative work happening across Gainesville’s Buddhist community.
Date: Saturday, November 1, 2025
Location: Santa Fe College Blount Hall, Room DB‑109/110
Address: 530 W. University Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32601
Schedule:
Board members and volunteers of the Southeastern Buddhist Retreat Center (StarlitePhi) are working to create an international, nonsectarian Buddhist retreat center that will help people cultivate peace within–the first step to creating peace in our wider communities and the world. Here in North Florida, we are blessed to have a variety of Buddhist groups from a number of different paths. We are happy that for our inaugural annual meeting, we will have guest speakers who are affiliated with two of those groups.
Ayya Marajina Bhikkuni of Bhava Nirodha Nilaya (cessation of suffering, the third Noble Truth of Lord Buddha) has spent the last 13 years studying the mind through the Tipitaka, the “Three Baskets” of Theravada Buddhism. She was ordained in 2012 at Aranya Bodhi Hermitage in California with Pavattini-Upajjhaya Venerable Tathaloka, Maha Theri and dual ordination presided by the Venerable Seelawimala Maha Thero of the American Buddhist Seminary in Sacramento as Kammavacacariya. She is a Cuban-American, fluent in Spanish and English and currently teaching in Cuba and Florida.
Nancy Lasseter has been a student of Vipassana meditation since 2002. Her teachers include Marajina Bhikkhuni, Steve Armstrong and Kamala Masters, Ajahn Sucitto, Ayya Anandabodhi and Sayadaw Tejaniya. She is drawn to the Thai Forest practices and the Early Buddhist practices but also receives wisdom from many other Buddhist practices. In 2019, she opened Karuna Cottage with her husband Ewen Thomson where she teaches three groups per week. She is also an Integrative Therapies Wellness Educator for the University of Florida Health Arts in Medicine Program where she teaches Beginners Meditation online.
We are also looking forward to hearing from Lama Losang, the founder, StarlitePhi president emeritus and the resident teacher and spiritual director of Gainesville Karma Thegsum Choling (Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism).
The Annual Meeting is an opportunity for StarlitePhi leadership, volunteers, and community members to come together in support of our shared mission. Board members and volunteers will present updates on the retreat center’s progress, discuss upcoming initiatives, and share ways the community can help bring StarlitePhi’s long‑term vision to life.
Everyone is welcome to attend this free event. We are asking for RSVPs so we can plan for the continental breakfast. Information about how to RSVP is given below. Please share this information, including the request for RSVPs, with anyone you know who might be interested. Thank you!
Want to help? Information about how to volunteer and/or donate is available.
Organized and sponsored by the Southeastern Buddhist Retreat Center.
Co-sponsored by Gainesville Karma Thegsum Choling & the Gainesville Buddhist Alliance.
Information & RSVP: info@starlitephi.com or 321-216-0505
StarlitePhi is built on generosity, community, and shared purpose. Your support helps us create a self‑sustaining center where seekers can ignite their inner spark, unlock wisdom, and cultivate peace.
Information about volunteering and donating is available on our website.
