Suvira (Nisakorn Wanaphong) was born in Nakhon Sawan, north of Bangkok in Thailand. After graduating from Sri Nakharinwirot University, Phitsanuloke Campus, she moved to Phuket and worked there for 5 years in her family business resort and in a bank.  Then she moved to Bangkok and worked in a computer company.

After she attended a 10 day meditation retreat course lead by Upasika Khun Runjuan Indrakamhaeng and others in 1992, her perception of life had totally changed and deep interest in Dhamma practice became established in her.

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Caroline Leinster

Caroline Leinster has lived at Amaravati since 2005 and is now the librarian. Born in London in 1954, she moved to Newcastle upon Tyne in 1977 to study sociology and social policy.  After a career with urban voluntary organisations and training in psychosynthesis psychotherapy she decided she needed the support and challenges of living as part of a spiritual community 24 hours a day.  She is finding Amaravati provides her with what she was looking for. Caroline discovered vipassana at Harnham Monastery near Newcastle in 1987;  she is a Trustee of the Magga Bhavaka Trust, who are the lay stewards for Harnham. 

Steve Carbert

Steve Carbert was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire in 1951. After studying mathematics he had a varied career which included architectural draughtsman, industrial engineering, computer programming and software development working around many parts of the UK.

His first contact with Buddhism was on a FWBO retreat in Brighton in 1979. He first made contact with Amaravati in 1985 whilst working as an Industrial Engineer in Aylesbury, a few miles away. After attending a few work weekends at Amaravati he realised that he had found a form of Buddhism which chimed with his natural inquisitiveness about the way things are.

When the opportunity arose to make a practical contribution to the running of Amaravati as the maintenance person, he decided that it would be the ideal opportunity to indulge his handyman skills and deepen his meditation practice. He joined Amaravati in May 2008.

Gatis Ozolins

Born in Latvia in 1979, Gatis graduated from university with a Master’s degree in Political Science in 2004, and worked four years in the Latvian civil service. Prior to coming to Amaravati, Gatis worked in retail for two years in England and Ireland.

While at university, Gatis became interested in Eastern philosophy and religions (Advaita Vedanta and Tibetan Buddhism, in particular). While still in Latvia, he was given a book authored by Luang Por Sumedho and found out about the Thai Forest Tradition and monasteries in England. 

When the opportunity turned up, having taken into account advantages of a more quiet and introspective way of life, Gatis became a long-term lay resident at Amaravati in September 2008, working as one of the monastery’s groundsmen.

Dan Sinnott

Groundsman Dan Sinnott was born in 1952 and grew up in a large family in suburban Chicago.  After graduating from the University of Chicago, he studied existential psychology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.  As a graduate student, he attended a vipassana retreat with Jack Kornfield at the Insight Meditation Society.  During this retreat, he met Luang Por Sumedho who was visiting the U.S. with a group of Thai monks. In 1982, Dan became a student of Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn, ordaining as a monk from 1993 to 2002. Prior to his ordination, Dan worked for 15 years in community mental health as a psychiatric social worker and teacher.  He took his encounter with Buddhist meditation as an invitation to find an authentic base for his Christian heritage, leading him to explore its contemplative traditions.

Dan came to Amaravati in November 2008 on a religious purposes visa which he hopes to extend beyond its two years.

Retreat Centre Staff

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