Renunciation by Ayya Anandabodhi

This seemed an appropriate choice of talk following our recent visit to the Buddhist Monastery at Chithurst. The nuns community there has been steadily diminishing in the wake of the controversy over Bhikkhuni ordination.

Some of the nuns left to form the Aloka Vihara in San Francisco, which is supported by the Saranaloka Foundation. This was established in 2004 to support nuns from Chithurst and Amaravati monasteries to come to the United States to teach. After numerous visits, enthusiasm for the presence of women monastics allowed Saranaloka to extend an invitation to the nuns' community to set up a permanent monastery in the United States.

The decision of the nuns to take bhikkhuni ordination was followed by a decision of the Saranaloka Foundation to allow the evolution of Aloka Vihara to include ordained bhikkhunis. It is the intention of the Board of Directors to offer support to both the siladhara (10-precept nuns) in England, when they come to America to teach or visit and to the Aloka Vihara and its resident nuns who take bhikkhuni ordination.

The Aloka Vihara is well supported and both Ayya Anandabodhi and Ayya Santacitta are in residence there.



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