Anagārika Stuart

Anagārika Stuart was born in Shoreham, UK. Since travelling in his twenties he has been practising meditation and yoga. His work was mainly been in IT, but later became focused on care work, also studying dietary habits to an extensive level. Later on in life, Anagārika Stuart developed more Buddhist meditation practices from different traditions. From these insights he decided to go forth as a samana (religious seeker) and joined the community during an anagārika ‘going forth’ ceremony held at Amaravati on 10 December, 2011.

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Anagārika Stanislaus

Originally from Poland, Anagārika Stanislaus spent most of his life living in Germany. He spent an extended period of time living at Plum Village in France before coming to Amaravati for the first time in 2010. Anagārika Stanislaus was part of the lay support team for the Amaravati Winter Retreat in 2011. He had his anagārika ‘going forth’ on 31 March, 2011, the final day of the Winter Retreat.

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Bhikkhu Thanavaro

Ven. Thanavaro was born in Budapest, Hungary, where he studied and practised Buddhism before coming to Amaravati for the first time in 2007. He took the anagarika precepts in July 2009 and received the pabbajja (novice ordination) on 27 July, 2010, with Luang Por Sumedho as preceptor. On 10 July, 2011 Ven. Thanavaro received the upasampada (full ordination) as a bhikkhu, with Ajahn Amaro as his preceptor.

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Ajahn Gandhasilo

Ajahn Gandhasilo was born in 1959 and raised in Hertfordshire. He first saw a Buddhist monk on Ilkley Moor in 1980 and his first encounter with the Theravada tradition was at Chithurst monastery in 1985. After spending two years as an anagarika Ajahn Gandhasilo received the bhikkhu ordination at Chithurst in 1990. He has witnessed the development of Amaravati monastery and the transformation from the old school buildings into the new Temple that exists today. Over the years Ajahn Gandhasilo has spent virtually all of his monastic life England and has had the good fortune to experience life in all four of the UK monasteries in our tradition.

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Sāmanera Narindo

Sāmanera Narindo was born to Chinese-Malaysian parents in the Netherlands in the winter of 1981. In addition to pursuing his studies, he helped with his parent’s restaurant business. In 2005 he completed his studies (LL.M. in Financial Law & M.Sc. in International Business Administration), and started working in international sales and marketing for a Dutch multinational. His interest in people of various cultures resulted in traveling to different countries. In 2004, during his study exchange in Singapore, he came across a well informed Buddhist who introduced him to Buddhism in connection with many different traditions, but especially with the Ajahn Chah lineage.

To Sāmanera Narindo’s own amazement the Buddhist teaching revealed itself as something he has incorporated partly in his life without knowing it to be “Buddhist.” The emphasis in the Buddhist teachings on one’s own (good) morality and sharing goodness in body, speech and mind was very inspiring. His strong aspirations resulted in taking seriously the Three Refuges and Five Precepts. Since 2004 he had been spending his holidays mostly in Asia (Thailand, Burma, Tibet, Malaysia, Singapore) to visit Buddhist places with his Dhamma friends.

After several years he felt a necessity for more guidance in his meditation practice, and he looked for meditation classes connected with the Ajahn Chah lineage. In 2009 he found such a meditation retreat centre in Great Gaddesden on the internet, and in June of that year, during a 10-day, retreat he surprised himself: there was a sudden urge to renounce his lay-life. He spent several months properly finishing his work and saying goodbyes to friends and relatives. In the winter of 2010 he arrived in Amaravati and found the monastery supportive for the practice. In May 2010 he was given the opportunity to take the Three Refuges & Eight Precepts as an anagārika, with Luang Por Sumedho as preceptor. Sāmanera Narindo received the pabbajja (novice ordination) on 10 July, 2011, with Ajahn Amaro as his preceptor.

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Ajahn Kalyano

Ajahn Kalyano was born in Hitchin in 1961. He has been a practicing Buddhist since he was 17. He began visiting Amaravati in the 1980’s. As a layman his path of practice and enquiry led him to work in hospitals for nearly twenty years specialising in neurological rehabilitation and learning disabilities as a Clinical Psychologist, Physiotherapist and T’ai chi teacher. He has a particular interest in exploring the relationship between body and mind. He took full ordination at Chithurst Monastery in 1995 and has since travelled to Italy, Thailand and Australia.

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Ajahn Amaro — Abbot

Born in England in 1956, Ven. Amaro Bhikkhu received his BSc. in Psychology and Physiology from the University of London. Spiritual searching led him to Thailand, where he went to Wat Pah Nanachat, a Forest Tradition monastery established for Western disciples of Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, who ordained him as a bhikkhu in 1979. He returned to England and joined Ajahn Sumedho at the newly established Chithurst Monastery. He resided for many years at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, making trips to California every year during the 1990s.

In June of 1996 he established Abhayagiri Monastery in Redwood Valley, California, where he was co-abbot with Ajahn Pasanno until July, 2010. Ajahn Amaro has written a number of books, including an account of his 830-mile trek from Chithurst to Harnham Vihara called Tudong - the Long Road North, republished in the expanded book Silent Rain. Other works published by him include Small Boat, Great Mountain (2003), Rain on the Nile (2009) and The Island - An Anthology of the Buddha’s Teachings on Nibbana (2009) co-written with Ajahn Pasanno. Ajahn Amaro returned to Amaravati in July, 2010. At the invitation of Luang Por Sumedho, Ajahn Amaro has been appointed to assume the duties of abbot of Amaravati, commencing after Luang Por Sumedho retires in the autumn of this year.

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Anagarika Chiara

Anagārikā Chiara (Bertotti) was born in Ireland to Italian parents and raised in Italy. She has always been committed to freedom, starting with freedom from injustice on Earth through her involvement in political theatre. Anagārikā Chiara has also been involved in enabling children to realise freedom through creativity in primary school education, where she was a teacher. In 1998 Anagārikā Chiara met Ajahn Thanavaro at Santacittarama monastery in Italy. Since then she began to realise the impermanence of everything, and that death can arrive at any moment. Her quest for freedom of the heart is why she entered monastic life, ordaining for one year as an anagārikā in 2006. In 2009 Anagārikā Chiara returned to Amaravati to resume monastic training.

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Ajahn Sukhacitto

Bhikkhu Sukhacitto was born in Germany in 1963. He first came into contact with Buddhism in 1986 in Thailand by attending a meditation retreat, offered through Wat Suan Mokkh. He ordained there as a novice in 1989 and as a Bhikkhu in 1990. He moved to the West in 1993. Since then he has lived at various monasteries in the West, including Dhammapala Monastery in Switzerland for six years. He first visited Amaravati as a monk several times in the 1990s. He stayed at Amaravati for the 2007 and 2008 winter retreats and came to live at Amaravati in April 2009.

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Retreat Centre Staff

Click here to read about our Retreat Centre Staff.

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Joanna Swiecka (Niccalā)

Joanna was born in 1973 and brought up in the North East of Poland. She came to England at 19 propelled by a strong desire to leave Poland, travel and study English. In her early twenties, she married (and divorced!) studied law, was called to the Bar of England and Wales, worked with refugees in a legal setting and explored other human rights issues. The death of a loved one put her on a path of enquiry which lead her to a meditation class with the FWBO in London in 2002 and to a retreat at Amaravati a year later.
She felt an immediate heart connection to the teaching. She joined the Retreat Centre as office manager in May 2009.

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Ajahn Anando

Ajahn Anando was born in Blackheath, south east London on the 6th March 1966. He served as a soldier in the British army for three years mostly living in West Germany. After leaving the military he spent time studying health and fitness at East London University, then established a small fitness company which he ran successfully for several years.

His interest in meditation began in 1992 and increased to the stage where ordination as an anagārika became an obvious step. After several years in training he took higher ordination as a Bhikkhu, with Luang Por Sumedho as preceptor, before the Vassa retreat of 1997. Spending his first two years as a Bhikkhu at Amaravati he then moved on to Thailand living for a year at Wat Pah Nanachat, then a year at Tan Ajahn Anan’s Monastery near Rayong. This was followed by four years in Australia helping to establish a new forest monastery near Melbourne. Presently he is residing at Amaravati.

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Bhikkhu Santamano

Ven. Santamano was born in Wallasey in 1980. He and his parents moved to India for a few years before returning to England in 1993. His initial interest in Buddhism came through reading the works of D T Suzuki and started going to meditation classes at the Buddhist Society in London. There he learned of Amaravati and started listening to Dhamma Talks on the Internet. Ven. Santamano began visiting Amaravati as a guest and coming to retreats. He took the anagarika precepts in December 2008 and received the pabbajja (novice ordination) on 27 July, 2010, with Luang Por Sumedho as preceptor. On 10 July, 2011 Ven. Santamano received the upasampada (full ordination) as a bhikkhu, with Ajahn Amaro as his preceptor.

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Ajahn Dhammanando

Ajahn Dhammanando grew up in Carshalton, Surrey, a fairly typical suburb of South London. He attended Mitcham Grammar school and went on to study English and History at Keele University in Staffordshire at a time when the curriculum there was broad and multi-disciplinary. He was aware of certain deep questions, barely articulated, on the inside, however he did not pursue a spiritual quest to find answers as the religions which he encountered in the UK appeared to him only marginally relevant. He was forced to the conclusion that other people must have similar questions but that everyone suppressed them.

It was after graduation on going to Thailand as a volunteer teacher for VSO that he found some initial signposts, although at that time he had almost no understanding of Buddhism. The Thai people lived in a different way and different values were in evidence, all of which he found inspiring. The culture shock on return to the UK was far worse than had been the initial one on going out. He did his best to take up a career and do the conventional things but that shock of return to the West only served to deepen the questions. So it was that, on first hearing the Dhamma from Ajahn Sumedho at Hampstead in January 1982, having been invited to a ceremony there by a Thai student, it began to find a resonance with him. One month later the Thai friend took him down to visit Chithurst Monastery and in Easter that year he joined a 10 day retreat during which both the teaching and the practice succeeded in unlocking doors and opening windows. For the first time ever, those deeper questions had begun to be addressed.

He continued his career as a lecturer in Industrial Language Training but began to spend more time with the Sangha, usually going on brief retreats or giving lifts to monks. In 1984 he helped to establish a meditation group in Northampton and he hosted those senior monks who came there to teach. In 1985 he took a year off work in order to spend time as Anagārika in Amaravati and Chithurst. This experiment extended to 20 months in the end and although he eventually returned to the lay life it was to a different job, teaching in a secondary school in Croydon.

Four and a half years ensued during which he studied for an MA at Essex University, among other things. The realisation gradually dawned that Going Forth was what he really needed to do and that his more worldly interests were of lesser importance. In 1991 he returned to Amaravati to re-ordain as an Anagārika and was happy to spend two years in that role there and in two other monasteries.

In July 1993 he took Upasampada with Luang Por Sumedho at Chithurst and trained initially with Ajahn Sucitto as his Acariya. Between 1997 and 2004 he went on to train in Switzerland, then Italy, followed by a return to Amaravati and then to Chithurst again before going overseas to Australia and New Zealand, spending time in different monasteries in Australia before living two years at Bodhinyanarama in Wellington.

He returned to the UK in May 2007 to be nearer his parents and, ever since then, he has been resident at Amaravati but has also made occasional trips abroad to teach in France, Slovenia and Hungary. Currently he makes regular teaching visits to a local prison in Bovingdon and assists in receiving school groups at the monastery.

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Sister Bodhipala

Sister Bodhipala was born in South-East Asia in 1940, married, has three children and five grandchildren. She was ordained as Anagārikā in 1998 and as Sīladharā in 1999. Venerable Ajahn Sumedho was her Preceptor.

Her daily life in the monastery is a challenging one since she has to simplify the complexity of her thoughts in order to give space to the intuitive knowledge to develop. She was trained in Applied Mathematics and worked as a computer programmer for nearly twenty years. Therefore she is not surprised that this process involves a lot of patience, endurance and is time consuming. She considers the work in the monastery as tools to measure her level of practice and also as the litmus to test her ability in maintaining herself as an observer instead of as a doer.

She realizes that no better place on earth that allows her to be an Observer of the activities of her mind and at the same time she can accumulate her good deeds by serving the Sangha Community at Amaravati.

Written on
Thursday 14, December 2006

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Sister Tisara

Sister Tisārā (Miriam Dean) was born in England in 1967, growing up in Belgium. She encountered the Buddha’s teachings in 2002, notably through Bhante Bodhidhamma who was her meditation guide from 2003-2005. A heart wish to live as a monastic came about at this time, so in 2005 she left work and life in London to find a place of practice. Events brought her to the community of Sīladharā in the UK, taking Anagārikā precepts in Nov 2006, then Sīladharā Pabbaja in March 2010.

Sister Tisārā (Miriam Dean) was born in England in 1967, then grew up in Belgium, spending 14 years of her life at the European School of Brussels, a big, busy, diverse, multi-national place which shaped her outlook on people. Following a degree in Biological Science, she worked in the scientific publishing industry, partying hard, independent, doing what one does.

Apart from a phase in her teens when she was involved in a Christian Community modelled on the spirituality of Taizé, for a long time she didn’t know how to give form to her aspiration for real freedom. Eventually, life’s disappointments and a bereavement made her take stock and return to that wish for contemplation. She encountered the Buddha’s teachings in 2002, notably through Bhante Bodhidhamma with whom she did periodic intensive retreats from 2003-2005 and to whom she will always be grateful for his guidance and good humour.

A heart wish to live as a monastic came about at this time, so despite not having much idea what it is all about, in autumn 2005 she left work and life in London to find a place of practice. Events conspired to bring her to the community of Sīladharā in the UK, taking Anagārikā precepts in Nov 2006, then Sīladharā Pabbaja in March 2010. These days, she has a somewhat better idea of what life as a nun is like (not easy!) but much more than that, feels deeply fortunate for the chance to explore how to live in the Dhamma, wherever and however that goes.

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Joshua Pogge

Joshua was born in Northallerton, Yorkshire, and moved to Ireland in the early seventies. He worked in retail for 20 years. During this time Joshua explored different spiritual paths and became interested in Buddhism in 1999. He attended a 10 day workshop at Kagyu Samye Ling, then visited Amaravati for one week, then ten days, then a month. Eventually Joshua moved to Amaravati as a long term lay resident in 2003 and worked as a groundsman. He became part of the Retreat Centre staff in the winter of 2008.

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Suvira

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.

She became a volunteer at Sathira-Dhammasathan (Mae Chee Sansanee’s Dhamma Centre) and also at Maya Gotami Foundation, a charity for the poor youth in Thailand and for supporting Tsunami victims, founded by Ajahn Gavesako.

In 2001, Suvira resigned her job at Telecom Asia, a leading telecommunication company in Thailand, and came to Amaravati. This was the first time in her life she had left her home country, and also her first experience of residing in a monastery. Her intention was to live in a more committed way for developing the spiritual life.

After finishing an initial one year commitment working as the office assistant, she found the life at Amaravati beneficial and joyous, so decided to stay on.

Also, the teaching of Luang Por Sumedho has been giving her great inspiration and happiness. Now the deep appreciation of the support from the Sangha as well as the kind lay supporters makes her feel as if surrounded by family and friends.

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Bhikkhu Appamādo

Appamādo Bhikkhu (Vasco) was born in Portugal in 1976. He studied both Marine Biology and Environmental Engineering at the University of Faro. Sometime later Venerable Appamādo became interested in meditation and as a consequence Buddhism. He came across Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in a book written by a friend, Maria, where she describes her journeys and her time in the monastery.

From that point on Venerable Appamādo started to find out more information about Theravadan Buddhism and Amaravati on their website. He then decided to come and visit as a lay guest in November 2004 and stayed on as one of the winter retreat support team of 2005. After this Venerable Appamādo went back to Portugal for five months to put things in order to make it possible to visit Amaravati for a longer period. He returned to England in September 2005 and visited Chithurst Monastery. By that time his mind was made up to undertake Anagārika ordination, which he did in December 2005 at Amaravati.

After nine months, having seen the benefits of practising as a monastic, Venerable Appamādo requested Sāmanera ordination, which took place three months later in December 2006. He was ordained as a Bhikkhu on 4 July, 2009, with Luang Por Sumedho as preceptor.

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Ajahn Metta

Ajahn Metta was born 1953 in Germany. She became an Anagārikā in ‘93 at Amaravati and took higher ordination as a Sīladharā in ‘96. During her monastic life she has been involved in many areas of the community. She is one of the group of senior nuns leading the Sīladharā community. For the past few years she has been teaching meditation workshops and retreats. Prior to monastic life she worked as a secretary and office assistant. She is a mother of a grown-up son and was living a family life before entering the monastic path. She has been practising meditation since ‘84 and has experience of living in other spiritual communities in Europe and Thailand (Wat Suan Mokkh).

“I became interested in the spiritual path about 20 years ago. I was practising meditation in different groups and workshops for a number of years before I entered a spiritual community in Switzerland, looking for a situation where the practice was ‘the focus of the life’ and experiencing that ‘not quite right’ feeling. I left the community and continued to practise ... When I came to Thailand I made the connection with the Theravada Tradition at Wat Suan Mokkh where I got interested in the monastic life. What struck me most at that time, was the integrity of this life and the people I met (like Ajahn Buddhadasa). I heard about Ajahn Sumedho and Amaravati when I was there and after my return to Europe found my way into this community.”

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Sister Brahmavara

Sister Brahmavara (Susan Pritchard) was born 6 August 1964 in Reading, England. She studied medicine at Sheffield University, trained as a doctor in Auckland, New Zealand and worked as a GP in Shropshire. She started meditating while she was a medical student under the guidance of SN Goenka and spent a few years in India at Goenka centres, studying Pali, sitting and serving on retreats. She came to live at Amaravati in October 2000 as a retreat centre manager but soon after arriving requested anagārikā ordination. She ordained as a sīladharā in October 2004.

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Bhikkhu Vinita

Ven. Vinita was born in Embilipitiya, Sri Lanka in January of 1977. He received Samanera (novice) ordination in 1994 under the guidance of Venerable Piyananda Mahanayaka Thera, the abbot of the meditation Centre at Lellopitiya, Ratnapura, Sri Lanka.

In 1996 he had the opportunity to read the teachings of Ven. Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho, which inspired him to learn more about the Thai Forest Tradition lineages. Soon afterwards Ven. Vinita started to look for a monastic community that followed the Ajahn Chah tradition.

In the same year, Ven. Vinita met Ajahn Vimalo (a disciple of Ajahn Sumedho) during his stay at Lanka Vipassana Centre in Colombo with Ven. Pemasiri Thero. The time spent with Ajahn Vimalo (the first western monk that he had ever seen) further increased Ven. Vinita’s interest in the Ajahn Chah communities.

In 2003, with the kind invitation of Ajahn Vimalo and the English Sangha Trust, Ven. Vinita accompanied Bhikkhu Kiribathgoda Nyananananda on a visit to Amaravati. In 2005 Ven. Vinita stayed at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery during the rains retreat (Vassa).

Ven. Vinita returned to Amaravati in 2006 in order to receive Upasampada (bhikkhu ordination) and to train under the guidance of Luang Por Sumedho, whose presence filled him with faith and helped him gain confidence in his life.

From December 2009 to June 2011 Ven. Vinita lived at Hartridge Buddhist Monastery in Devon, after which he returned to Amaravati.

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Sister Cittapala

Born in Germany in 1949, she worked for nearly 20 years as a teacher and artist in Hamburg. In 1990/91 she went to Indonesia to study awareness movement (Amerta Movement - The River of Life) with Suprapto Suryodharmo - a practice which connected her more and more with Buddhism. After meeting Luang Por Sumedho in 1994, she felt so supported by his teachings that she came to Amaravati, where she has been living since 1996. In 1999, she asked for Sīladharā ordination.

Here she is supporting the community and is involved in family activties, especially exploring ways of practice and teaching which use formal meditation as well as painting and movement - for liberation.

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Bhikkhu Ahimsako

Ven. Ahimsako (Craig Randolph) was born near San Francisco, California in 1959, and spent most of his life living abroad and pursuing a career in classical ballet as a dancer, teacher, and educator. While living in England he traveled to Sri Lanka where his interest in Buddhism prompted him to begin visiting the London Buddhist Vihara and Amaravati Buddhist Monastery. He began his monastic life in 2002 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery (in northern California) with co-abbots Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro. Ven. Ahimsako received the Upasampada (Bhikkhu ordination) in 2004 with Ajahn Pasanno as preceptor.

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Ajahn Nyanarato

Ajahn Nyanarato (Shigehito Nakao) was born in 1958, in Nara, Japan. His sincere interest in the meaning of the life began when he was being trained as a medical doctor in Kyoto University.

After graduation, he decided to go to India for spiritual pursuit, instead of becoming a doctor. He spent one year there, then moved on to Thailand, where he visited various monasteries, such as Wat Pak Nam, Wat Suan Mokkh, etc.

After another year of exploring in Thailand, he came to Wat Pah Nanachat. Being impressed by the serene presence of the Sangha, he finally found a place to settle down. In 1986, he became ordained as a Samanera and received Upasampada the following year.

Later, he started to live under the guidance of Ajahn Gavesako, a senior Japanese disciple of Luang Por Chah. In 1989, both of them walked from Tokyo International Airport to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park (around 1,000 kilometers) as pilgrimage. It took 72 days and was supported by the word of Ajahn Gavesako, “every single step of ours is a peace march.”

When Ajahn Gavesako set up Wat Sunandavanaram in Kanchanaburi in 1990, he joined in and lived there for 10 years. He worked for Maya Gotami Foundation, a charity for the poor youth in Thailand, established by Ajahn Gavesako, as well.

In 2000, he went to Nepal and intended to spend a few years in Sri Lanka. But the political situation at that time did not allow him to do so. As he also had an interest in learning how to live in the Sangha in the West, he came to England instead and spent the Vassa at Chithurst. He moved to Amaravati in 2001. Deeply inspired by Luang Por Sumedho and his teaching, he has resided here ever since.

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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.

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Ajahn Jayanto

Ajahn Jayanto (Chris Bowen) was born in 1967 in Boston, Massachussetts, USA. In 1988 he left university in order to pursue something more meaningful, and within a year had found his way to Amaravati in order to join the monastic community. After eight years training, mostly in the monasteries at Chithurst and Harnham, he spent another eight years in Buddhist countries in Asia, mostly in Thailand. He returned to Britain in order to live at Amaravati in March, 2006.

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Luang Por Sumedho — Founding Abbot

Luang Por Sumedho was born in Seattle, Washington in 1934. After serving four years in the US Navy as a medic, he completed a BA in Far Eastern Studies and a MA in South Asian Studies. In 1966, he went to Thailand to practice meditation at Wat Mahathat in Bangkok. Not long afterwards, he went forth as a novice monk in a remote part of the country, Nong Khai, before receiving full ordination in 1967.

A year of solitary practice followed. Although fruitful, it showed him the need for a teacher who could more actively guide him. A fortuitous encounter with a visiting monk led him to Ubon province to practice with Luang Por Chah. He took dependence from Luang Por Chah and remained under his close guidance for ten years.

In 1975, Luang Por Sumedho, established Wat Pah Nanachat, International Forest Monastery where Westerners could be trained in English. In 1977, he accompanied Luang Por Chah to England and took up residence at the Hampstead Vihara, with three other monks.

Luang Por Sumedho was made an Upachaya (ordination preceptor) in 1981. Since then he has given upasampada (Bhikkhu precepts) to more than a hundred aspirants of many nationalities. Luang Por Sumedho was integral in establishing the Forest Sangha tradition in the United Kingdom. He was central in establishing Amaravati Buddhist Monastery and Chithurst Buddhist Monastery. He remained as senior incumbent at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire until November 2010, at which time he handed over the duties of abbot to Ajahn Amaro. Luang Por Sumedho is now based in Thailand where his monastic life began in 1966.

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Ajahn Candasiri

Ajahn Candasiri was born in Scotland in 1947 and was brought up as a Christian. After university, she trained and worked as an occupational therapist, mainly in the field of mental illness. In 1977, an interest in meditation led her to meet Ajahn Sumedho, shortly after his arrival from Thailand. Inspired by his teachings and example, she began her monastic training at Chithurst as one of the first four Anagārikā.

Within the monastic community she has been actively involved in the evolution of the Nuns’ vinaya training. She has guided many meditation retreats for lay people, and particularly enjoys teaching young people and participating in Christian/Buddhist dialogue.

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Ajahn Sundara

Ajahn Sundara was born in France in 1946. She studied dance in England and in France. In her early thirties, after working for a few years as a dancer and teacher of contemporary dance, she had the opportunity whilst living and studying in England to attend a talk and later, a retreat led by Ajahn Sumedho.

His teachings and experiences of the monastic way of life in the Forest tradition resonated deeply. Before long, this led to a visit to Chithurst Monastery in England where in 1979 she asked to join the monastic community as one of the first four women novices. In 1983 she was given the Going Forth as a S?ladh?ra (10 precept nun) by Ajahn Sumedho. After spending 5 years at Chithurst Monastery she went to live at Amaravati Monastery where she participated in the establishment of the nuns’ community. From 1995 until 1998 she spent 3 years deepening her practice, mostly in Thai Forest Monasteries. In 2000 after spending a year as the senior incumbent of the nuns community at the Devon vihara, she came to the States where she was based at Abhayagiri Monastery. She lives at present at Amaravati Monastery.
She is interested in exploring ways of practicing, sustaining and integrating Buddhist teachings in Western culture. Since the late eighties, she has taught and led meditation retreats worldwide.

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