Saturday, July 10, 2010, 9am to 4:30pm
Ajahn Anandabodhi and Ajahn Santacitta will offer a window into their experience as Buddhist nuns in the lineage of Ajahn Chah. Sharing the challenges and blessings of living at the edge, where a longstanding Asian tradition meets the post modern Western world.
Ajahn Anandabodhi was born in Wales in 1968. She trained in catering and also worked in environmental conservation, all the while looking for spiritual direction. Visiting Amaravati in 1990, she experienced a sense of ‘coming home’ and in 1992 joined the community, taking ordination in 1995. She particularly enjoys ‘tudong’ – walking on faith and taking the sign of the samana out into the world.
Ajahn Santacitta was born in Austria in 1958. After graduating in hotel management she studied cultural anthropology at Vienna University and worked in avant-garde dance theater. Beginning in the 1980’s, she was a founding member of a community of ecologists, artists and social workers near Vienna, which is still thriving today. In 1988 she met her first teacher, Ajahn Buddhadasa, and spent several years in Thailand before coming to Amaravati in 1992. After becoming an anagārikā in 1993 she spent part of her training (1996-97) with the mae chi (nuns) of Wat Pah Pong and other branch monasteries in Thailand.