Ajahn Santacitta

Ajahn Santacitta was born in Austria in 1958. After graduating in hotel management she studied cultural anthropology at Vienna University, specializing in dance and ritual. During her studies at university she worked in avant-garde dance theatre as a performer and costume designer. In the early 1980s, Ajahn Santacitta was a founding member of a community of ecologists, artists and social workers near Vienna, which is still thriving today.

Always looking for more depth and meaningful direction, she met her first teacher, Ajahn Buddhadasa, in 1988 and lived for several years in Thailand before moving to Amaravati Monastery in 1992. After becoming an anagārikā in 1993, she spent part of her training with the mae chi (nuns) of Wat Nong Pah Pong and other branch monasteries in Thailand. In 1998, she received siladhara ordination with Ajahn Sumedho as her preceptor and teacher.

Currently Ajahn Santacitta resides at Aloka Vihara in San Francisco, she teaches in the wider Bay Area and other parts of the U.S.

Ajahn Sundara | Ajahn Candasiri
Ajahn Kovida | Ajahn Anandabodhi | Ajahn Metta
Ajahn Santacitta | Ajahn Bodhipala | Ajahn Cittapala