Thanissara

UK

Thanissara

United Kingdom

Thanissara is an Anglo-Irish, Buddhist teacher from London. She started Buddhist practice in the Burmese school of U Ba Khin in 1975. She was inspired to ordain after meeting Ajahn Chah. Thanissara then became a Buddhist nun for 12 years, and was a founding member of Chithurst and Amaravati Buddhist monasteries in England.

Her practice and teachings are also influenced by Kuan Yin Dharma via transmission from Master Hsuan Hua, a Chinese meditation master.

Thanissara holds an M.A. in Core Process Mindfulness-based Psychotherapy Practice from the Karuna Institute, UK. With Kittisaro, she co-founded Dharmagiri Sacred Mountain Retreat in South Africa in 2000. She also helped initiate and support a number of HIV/AIDS response projects in deep, rural South Africa. Together they co-founded Chattanooga Insight, in Tennessee, USA and Sacred Mountain Sangha, in California, which offers a 2-year Dharmapala program.

Thanissara is a Climate Activist and applies the Dharma to this time of planetary emergency.

Thanissara facilitates meditation retreats and teaches across the United States, in South Africa and in the United Kingdom. She has done so for the past 30 years.

Thanissara is the author of several books, including her most recent, Time to Stand Up, An Engaged Buddhist Manifesto for Our Earth, and is co-author with Kittisaro of Listening to the Heart, A Contemplative Journey to Engaged Buddhism.