The Buddha had experienced the greatest pleasures in worldly life: beautiful, comfortable, delightful experiences through the five senses. And he had experienced the most profound, refined pleasures through the mind in meditation practice. He said that when he found a path between these two extremes it was like walking through a dense forest and finding an ancient path that had been forgotten. Following that path led to an overgrown city, where there had once been gardens, pools, and mansions—places of peace and joy now lost and forgotten. The Noble Eightfold Path is this forgotten path that leads to that place of freedom, awakening, peace, joy, and contentment.
Ayya Anandabodhi
Residential Retreat Teacher, Monastic
Ayya Anandabodhi first encountered the Buddha's teachings in her early teens, igniting a deep interest in the Buddha's Path of Awakening. She lived and trained as a nun in the Forest Tradition at Amaravati and Chithurst monasteries in England from 1992 until 2009, when she moved to the US to help establish Aloka Vihara Forest Monastery, a training monastery for women. Her practice and teaching are guided by early Buddhist scriptures and through nature's pure and immediate Dhamma. In 2011, she took full Bhikkhuni Ordination, joining the growing number of women who are reclaiming this path in the Theravada tradition. She currently resides at Aloka Vihara, near Placerville, CA.
Ayya Anandabodhi's Upcoming Programs
Retreat | On-Land
May 30 - June 4, 2025 | Friday - Wednesday | 5 nights
Finding Freedom in Relationship with Ourselves, Others, and the World
Registration Opens November 13, 2024. Working with the Four Establishments of Mindfulness, we will explore how we create entanglements and therefore can free ourselves from these recurring patterns. Turning towards these tangles with kindness and understanding allows the metabolizing and releasing of old habits. In keeping with the 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastic tradition, this retreat will include daily periods of devotional chanting and an adherence to the Eight Precepts. This retreat also includes sitting and walking meditation, practice meetings with teachers, and Dharma talks.
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Ayya Anandabodhi through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.