Thanissara

Thanissara (she/her) is Anglo-Irish from London. She started Buddhist practice in the Burmese school of U Ba Khin. She was then inspired to ordain after meeting Ajahn Chah. She spent 12 years as a Buddhist monastic, serving as a cofounding member of Chithurst Monastery and Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. She has facilitated meditation retreats internationally for the last 30+ years and has an MA in Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy Practice from University & the Karuna Institute in the UK. ​With Kittisaro, she co-founded Dharmagiri Sacred Mountain Retreat in KwaZulu-Natal and helped initiate and support several community development projects in rural South Africa. They also cofounded Sacred Mountain Sangha, a California-based nonprofit. Thanissara is a poet and author. Her current book is Time to Stand Up, An Engaged Buddhist Manifesto for Our Earth.