1. Ajahn Candasiri is one of the Theravada Buddhist monastics who co-founded Chithurst Buddhist Monastery in West Sussex, England, a branch monastery of the Ajahn Chah lineage.
12 Facts About Ajahn Candasiri
1. 2.
Ajahn Candasiri is currently ordained as a ten-precept siladhara, the highest level that is allowed for women in the Thai Forest Tradition.
3.
Ajahn Candasiri is one of the senior monastics in western Theravada Buddhism and trained alongside women who later became fully ordained bhikkhunis and abbesses of monasteries.
4.
Ajahn Candasiri worked as an occupational therapist in the United Kingdom after graduation from university.
5.
Ajahn Candasiri encountered the Buddha's teachings in 1977 through Ajahn Sumedho, after exploring several meditation traditions.
6.
Ajahn Candasiri became a renunciant in 1979, a white-robed, eight-precept anagarika, at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery.
7.
Ajahn Candasiri was one of four anagarika women who carved out an existence in the early days of Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, along with a group of monks.
8.
Ajahn Candasiri was one of the pioneer siladhara monastics who were trained by bhikkhus, in parts of the Suttavibhanga and a version of the Vinaya Patimokkha.
9.
Ajahn Candasiri had stayed in the siladhara community which shrank to three nuns at one point.
10.
Ajahn Candasiri is one of the siladharas who have been allowed to teach and lead retreats.
11.
Ajahn Candasiri lived at Chithurst until 1999 when she moved to Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, where she continues to teach.
12.
Ajahn Candasiri is one of the most senior monastics in the Amaravati Sangha.