Sister Thitamedha

Russia

Born on October 4, 1961 in Russia , near Moscow , Sister Thitamedha had a mother who was an intelligent, caring and good woman, who came from Siberia to study economics and supported herself throughout her studies. Her father was very kind and generous, and carried sweets in his pockets for children and seeds for birds.

The greatest influence in her life was her paternal grandmother who was a devout Christian, compassionate and wise. She invited Thitamedha as a girl along with her brother and cousins to enjoy their summers in the countryside with her.

Dr.Thitamedha graduated from the Medical College of Ryazan and worked as a general practitioner in a hospital and a clinic, where she faced the basic suffering of life and death and the limitations of the material world. She sought the purpose of human life and the reason for suffering, and experienced transformation in her life in 1989 when she heard the teachings of the Buddha. She writes, “I still remember that evening and the sense of exquisite happiness and relief that I had found what I was looking for. I found my Path.” Within two months she left the medical profession to dedicate her life to Dhamma.

At that time a Buddhist Temple in St. Petersburg was returned back to the people. During the Communist state period it had been used as a radio station and a science research institute. Dr. Thitamedha cleaned it and helped make the first puja (prayer offering) there in 60 years. Her Buddhist pursuits led her to meet the Theravada tradition via a German friend Wiebke Jensen in 1991.

She eventually made her way to England and the Theravada teachings of Bhikkhu Sumedho at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery where she ordained as an ‘anagarika’ (8 precepts) first and then as a Siladhara in 1996.

Sister Dr. Thitamedha enjoys being a Buddhist nun and living with noble colleagues in England at Chithurst Forest Monastery. Over the years her mother, father and beloved brother passed away. Sister Dr. Thitamedha takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, and is a forest meditation master.