Project update March 2025

Fundraising update, villa updates and more!

Greetings everyone! 
It has been a full and active start to 2025 and the Chinese year of the Snake! We would love to share our latest updates with you here. 

Retreat centre concept design 

The REN XUE Centre Australasia Steering Group has been overwhelmed by the offers of assistance and donations following our presentation in Dunedin. We are all truly amazed by everyone’s offers. The project has received financial contributions, large and small, one-offs and some ongoing. The project has been enhanced with offers of assistance from professionals offering their skills and time to donate to the project in the form of marketing, strategy and fundraising, collaboration and art projects along with a huge amount of interest.

We will endeavor to involve everyone who has offered to be involved in one way or another. We are a very small team, made mostly of volunteers, so everyone's enthusiasm is incredibly encouraging.

As a result of these contributions the project to develop a REN XUE Retreat Centre in Golden Bay/Mohua, New Zealand/ Aotearoa is now well underway. A project management company has been engaged to help us with the next stage of development, which will involve transforming the amazing concept design into reality. This will involve obtaining planning permission and then a detailed design. The Concept Plan we shared in Dunedin which can be seen on the website Retreat Centre Plans  has an indicative costing of NZ$32 - NZ$38 million.

Future costings will be required once a detailed design has been completed for all aspects of the Centre which will include all the underground infrastructure and services as well as the actual Retreat Centre Building.

At this stage of funding, it is expected that the construction will be staged, with stage one estimated to cost NZ$15.8 million. This would achieve the construction of all the key infrastructure, the main hall, kitchen/dining, and one accommodation unit. This would result in an interim REN XUE Retreat operating on the site.

Project funding update:
Approximately:
$6 million has been spent on the project to date
$5.6million has been pledged to the project!!!

What do we need? Our fundraising aim for stage one is NZ$20 million so we are currently seeking NZ$14.4 million.

If you would like to be a financial partner in the Project, please contact Cat [email protected] or Rosie [email protected] to discuss how you can become involved or go directly to our donations page: Donate - Ren Xue Centre Australasia

Other Project news:
The Healing land movie
Another big thank you is owed to Alex Emmerich for his amazing movie which has now had 40,000 views and allows many to appreciate what is happening as part of the Ren Xue Centre Australasia Project - Thank you Alex. This inspiring film is now available for free on, Ren Xue TV

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Hosting
Jackie and Kiri (and a team of volunteers) have had a lovely time meeting and hosting people who came to visit the project either before or after Yuan Tze’s Seeing your Original Face #4 Retreat. Many guests volunteered on the Ren Xue Farm - thank you for everyone's efforts. As the project develops, and hosting guests associated with the retreat becomes more established we would love to learn from experiences. If you came to visit the Retreat Centre Site or the Ren Xue Farm we would appreciate it if you could email Rosie with any feedback at [email protected]

Villa Update

The renovation project is nearing completion and Sharon Munro has accepted the role of Villa Manager. If you have any questions or would like to know more about the Villa, please feel free to contact Sharon at [email protected].





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Above: Sharon and her sister Vivien with Leroi the painter inside the Villa

We are so excited about this milestone in the project. Recently some of the local teachers built a Qifield together and these are some of the heartfelt sharings after we connected our hearts with this beautiful place to create positive intentions for this beautiful space. Please feel free to add your own intentions for how this space will develop and put it in the Qifield.

" No identification- it’s for everyone"
 " Zi Du Du Ren- joyful, light, it helps people to uplift themselves and provides support to help others"
"people living together working on themselves supporting each other to grow"
"provides a place for connection that people can come"
"Just magic!"
"A supportive community hub which will help to nourish the centre and help it to grow"
"A nourishing place, a nurturing nest"
"Building strong foundations for the Ren Xue retreat centre - a mini centre"

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We look forward to holding an opening ceremony next week during the REN XUE leadership course being held in Golden Bay and look forward to sharing more as plans unfold.