Teachings

The majority of teachings presented below are by Ayyā Medhānandī Bhikkhunī, founder and guiding teacher of Sati Sārāņīya Hermitage. The daughter of Eastern European refugees who emigrated to Montreal after World War II, she began a spiritual quest in childhood that led her to India, Burma, England, New Zealand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and finally, back to Canada.

In 1988, at the Yangon Mahasi retreat centre in Burma, Ayyā requested full ordination as a bhikkhunī from her teacher, the Venerable Sayādaw U Pandita. This was not yet possible for Theravāda Buddhist women. Instead, Sayādaw granted her ordination as a ten precept nun on condition that she keep her vows for life. When a military coup closed Myanmar’s border, Sayādaw blessed her to join the Ajahn Chah Thai Forest Saņgha at Amaravati, UK. Ten years later. Ayyā felt called to practice as a hermit nun in New Zealand for 6 years and later in SE Asia.

In 2007, after nearly 20 years as a novice alms-mendicant nun, Ayyā fulfilled her long-held wish for full bhikkhunī ordination at Ling Quan Chan Monastery in Keelung, Taiwan. In 2008, on invitation from the Ottawa Buddhist Society and Toronto Theravāda Buddhist Community, Ayyā returned to her native Canada to establish Sati Sārāņīya Hermitage.

Below you will find all teachings by Ayyā Medhānandī or connected to Sati Saraniya Hermitage. Please use filtering and sorting options to find specific items. Please also consider subscribing to our podcast through Blubbry, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. For custom software, use this RSS feed for your.

Teachings

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