Our History
Ayya Anandabodhi and Ayya Santacitta lived and trained with the Siladhara at Amaravati and Chithurst Buddhist Monasteries in England from 1992 to 2009. These communities were founded by Venerable Ajahn Sumedho, the foremost western disciple of the Venerable Ajahn Chah, a meditation master of the Thai Forest Tradition.
In 1983 four women took the 10 precept ordination at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery with Ajahn Sumedho as their preceptor. These women were: Venerable Rocana, who later died on pilgrimage in India, Ajahn Sundara and Ajahn Candasiri, who both continue to lead the Siladhara Order in England, and Thanissara, who lived as part of the order for 12 years before leaving to establish Dharmagiri Hermitage in South Africa. Read Forest Sangha Newsletter that commemorates the 25th Anniversary of the Siladhara Order.
With full ordination for women not being available in this lineage, a system of training based on the bhikkhuni and samaneri vinaya was developed for the growing nuns' community in England, which came to be known as siladhara training. In 2009, Ayya Santacitta and Ayya Anandabodhi moved to the US to establish a training monastery for women and after some time saw that in order to fulfill their intention, a more broadly recognized form of ordination was needed. In April 2011 they took leave of the Ajahn Chah lineage and the Siladhara Order so as to pursue bhikkhuni ordination with Venerable Tathaaloka Theri as preceptor.
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