CEIE Buddhist Dharma Talk with Ven. Ayya Santussika Bhikkhuni

Friday, Feb. 3, noon–1:15 p.m.
In-person at Case Commons or via Zoom
Register here

Venerable Ayya Santussika Bhikkhuni will join the gathering at Casey Commons virtually to discuss “The Relief Found in Practicing the Teachings of the Buddha.”

This event can be attended through Zoom or in-person. It will also be recorded. The talk will be preceded by a sitting meditation led by Rev. Taijo Imanaka. A Q&A will follow the talk. 

Venerable Santussika Bhikkhuni began exploring meditation in the late seventies. In 1996 she joined a Kriya yoga-based center, where she deepened her meditation practice and made spiritual development the central theme of her life. In 2002, she received a Masters of Divinity degree after completing a four-year interfaith seminar program to become a minister. The program emphasized meditation, study of the major world religions, meticulous ethical conduct and development of the skills required in ministry, such as spiritual guidance counseling, support for the ill and dying, teaching and conducting ceremonies.

In 1999, Ayya Santussika made her first trip to Thailand to visit her son who had ordained there as a monk in Ajahn Chah’s international monastery, Wat Pah Nanachat. As a guest at the monastery and mother of a monk, she was able to spend a lot of time with the monks and learn from many of Ajahn Chah’s students. Over the years, she traveled to Thailand once or twice each year to stay in various monasteries, learning from master teachers including Ajahn Jayasaro, Ajahn Anan, Ajahn Dtun, Luang Ta Maha Boowa and Ajahn Pannavaddho. During those years, she also visited Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery many times and in 2003 formally became a student of Ajahn Pasanno. In 2004, she spent time in Australia with Ajahn Brahm and at Ajahn Kalyano’s monastery near Melbourne where she met Ajahn Plien, whose teachings strongly impacted her development.

In 2012, with the help of Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi and her son, Ayya Santussika started Karuna Buddhist Vihara, a neighborhood Theravada monastery. In 2020, the neighborhood monastery moved to the redwood forest near Boulder Creek, Calif. as the result of a generous offering of land and a cabin. She and her Bhikkhuni sister, Ayya Cittananda are developing the Karuna Buddhist Vihara Forest Hermitage and offering many teachings on-line and in person. Their teachings are primarily based on the suttas of the Pali Canon as they are applied to everyday life and lead to awakening. 

Explanation of Buddhist Tradition

Theravada literally means “doctrine of the elders” and refers to the oldest and most conservative of the existent schools of Buddhism. The scriptures of Theravada are preserved in the Pali language in a collection called the Pali Canon. The Canon includes the Suttas, the teachings of the Buddha and his disciples, the Vinaya, the monastic code of conduct and the Abhidhamma, a later development of analysis and summary of the Buddha’s teachings. Theravada is primarily practiced in Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The tradition is led and preserved by monastics, bhikkhus (male) and bhikkhunis (female) who follow the Vinaya laid down by the Buddha. 

Register for the talk here.

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