Maha Upasika Dr. Bongkot Sitthipol

Thailand

Maha Upasika Dr. Bongkot Sitthipol was born in Aranyaprathet (now Sakaew Province), Thailand. She was the owner of and teacher at Sermsuoy Bongkot Beauty Salon School, certified by the Thai Ministry of Education. While she led her secular life, she observed that life is impermanent, subject to birth, old-age, sickness and death. Eventually, she reached the decision to renounce the world.

Following in the footsteps of Maha Kassapa Thera, a close disciple of the Buddha praised for his pilgrimage practice (Tudong), she made pilgrimages for the sake of Dhamma all over Thailand including in Aranyaprathet, Prachinburi, along the Cambodian border, in Khao Kho, Doi Tung, Phu Vuew, along the Laotian border, in forests in Thong Phaphum, Kanchanaburi, and along the Burmese border.

At present she is the Dhamma Master of Dan Mahamongkol, a meditation center for women, located in a forest setting in Kanchanaburi along the famous and picturesque river Kwai. Maha Upasika Bongkot Sitthipol, Mother in the Dhammaland, as her disciples know her, is the president of several centers and foundations for meditation, as well as, forest protection and restoration projects. She is the founder of Dan Mahamongkol in Savatthi, India, a great tribute to Buddhism. Recently in 2003, she completed her pilgrimage along the historic sites of the Buddha in India, followed by her 1,000 disciples.

She has taught Dhamma to more than 10 million people from over 100 countries, while also focusing on reforestation and forest protection projects as an expression of her loving kindness to save all beings spiritually and physically, not only in Thailand, but also in India and the rest of the world.