Evening with American nun Tathaaloka (Feb 4)

Ven. Tathaaloka; InsightLA.org; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Join Ven. Tathaaloka at InsightLA's East Hollywood for meditation with a Dharma talk and discussion.

• Ven. Bhikkhuni Tathaaloka Theri
• Feb. 4, 2019 7:30-9:00 PM
• InsightLA's East Hollywood Meditation Center
• 4300 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90029) (MAP)

ABOUT: Ven. Tathaaloka Theri was born in Washington, DC in 1968 to environmentally-minded scientist parents. She followed her mother’s example by observing nature for answers and for peace and her father’s example of inquiry through scientific research and investigation. At 19, urgently inspired by the sudden death of someone with whom she’d been close, she left college and made her way to Europe and India, entering monastic life as a trainee-renunciate (anagarika). Later she met her female mentor in Buddhist monastic life in South Korea, Elder Myeong Seong Sunim, under whose guidance she trained for 10 years. Ven. Tathaaloka received her “going forth” with her nun mentor in 1993 and novice (samaneri) precepts in 1995. Returning to the US in early 1996, she received full nun ordination (bhikkhuni upasampada) with an international gathering of Monk and Nun Sanghas in Los Angeles in 1997, with the late Ven. Ratanasara Mahathera as her preceptor (pajjhaya). Since then she has focused on studying and practicing this Doctrine and Discipline (Dharma-Vinaya) and has conducted research in comparative nun's monastic discipline (vinaya) and world Nun's Order history, contributing articles on these subjects. Recognizing the growing number of Theravada nuns and novices in the US and the true value of coming together in harmony, she proposed and participated in the founding of the North American Bhikkhuni Association (NABA) in 2005. Several months later, she also participated in founding the Dhammadharini Vihara and the Dhammadharini Support Foundation. In 2009, she received the gift of use of a forest, coastal redwood land, for an off-the-grid women’s monastic hermitage called Aranya Bodhi. She currently resides as the abbess of Dhammadharini Vihara in Santa Rosa and the Aranya Bodhi Hermitage on the Sonoma Coast in Northern California, where she provides spiritual guidance and monastic training in conjunction with hermitage prioress Ven. Ayya Sobhana. Ven. Tathaaloka is the second Western woman to be designated as Theravada Bhikkhuni preceptor (pavattini/upajjhaya); she also serves as a senior monastic advisor to the Dhammadharini Support Foundation, the Alliance of Bhikkhunis, and Sakyadhita USA.