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.

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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.

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Ajahn Metta was born 1953 in Germany. She became an Anagārikā in ‘93 at Amaravati and took higher ordination as a Sīladhāra 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 Sīladhārā 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).

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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 Sīladhārā  in 1999.  Venerable Ajahn Sumedho was her Preceptor.

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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 Sīladhāra 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.

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 anagārika ordination. She ordained as a sīladhāra in October 2004.

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 Siladhara in the UK, taking Anagarika precepts in Nov 2006, then Siladhara Pabbaja in March 2010.

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Sister Manita

Sister Manita was born in Spain in 1959, to a quite poor family. She did not have any religious background and her formal education finished after primary school. During her teenager years she worked in a factory in Spain and in 1979 Sister Manita moved to France where she went on to succeed in business and raise a child.

Suffering led her to an interest in spirituality, investigating Taoism, Zen, Dogen and Ryokan. In 2005 she came to Amaravati and in 2006 became an Anagārikā. Over the years Sister Manita has discovered the profundity of the Lord Buddha’s Teachings. She ordained as a Sīladhāra in March, 2010, with Luang Por Sumedho as her teacher and preceptor.

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 realised 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.