Bhikkhuni Dhammananda

Thailand

Bhikkhuni Dhammananda, formerly Dr. Chatsumam Kabilsingh, born in 1944, was educated in India and Canada, and became the first Thai woman to receive a doctorate in Buddhism. She spent 30 years teaching Philosophy and Buddhism in Canada and later at Thammasat University in Bangkok, where she served as an Associate Professor, President of the Women and Youth Studies Program, and Chair of the India Studies Center. As an academic she has written more than 50 books, including on Women & Buddhism. She co-founded Sakyadhita, an International Buddhist Women's Association, and was its President from 1991-1995. For the past 20 years, she published Yasodhara, a newsletter on Buddhist Women's activities.

She gave up worldly interests and courageously chose to follow in her mother's footsteps to become a female monastic, committed to reclaiming the Bhikkhuni lineage, a heritage given by the Buddha. The responsibility which she shoulders is to educate the Buddhist community to have a better understanding of Buddhism. Bhikkhuni Dhammananda regularly offers training courses for Bhikkhunis and laywomen during the rains retreat. She writes regularly, offers Dhamma talks, and her teachings are accessible to the public.