No one wants sickness. Nor does anyone want the pain,disability, anger, fear, vulnerability, uncertainty, or the way in which identity is stripped away that often accompanies illness. Yet, in every part of the process we are invited to understand more about who we really are and how we can grow from these experiences. With perspective and tools this unchosen path can show us a wholeness and profound well being that we didn’t know before.
Ajahn or Amma Thanasanti Bhikkhuni was born into a loving family of Jewish ancestry in Burbank, California. She was first introduced to Buddhist teaching and insight meditation in 1979 in a class taught by Jack Engler at University of California Santa Cruz. From that time she consciously committed to awakening and envisioned living her life as a nun. From the onset, Ajahn Chah, Dipa Ma and His Holiness the Dalai Lama were primary inspirations to her. Her teachers also included Christopher Titmuss, Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfeild, Peace Pilgrim and the work and teachings of Gandhi.
After completing a BA in Biology from UC Santa Cruz, she worked for a few years as an analytical chemist. In 1987 she went on a pilgrimage to India, Nepal and Thailand to meet and practice with Dipa Ma, his Holiness Dalia Lama, Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Buddhadasa; meditation masters she had heard about in 1979.
In 1989, she formally joined the Ajahn Chah lineage and the community of nuns at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery to begin training as a novice. That began the process of intensive training, study and meditation practice. After 2 years as an Anagarika, she received ordination in 1991 with Ajahn Sumedho as her preceptor. She lived at both Amaravati and Chithurst Buddhist Monasteries in England.
For several years Amma Thanasanti was involved in the leadership team and guidance of the nuns’ community at Chithurst and Amaravati. Since 1996 her community and monastic responsibilities were interspersed with teaching intensive meditation retreats in the US, UK, Switzerland and Australia.
In 2000 she took Bodhisattva vows with His Holiness Dalai Lama en-route to spend extensive time in retreat in the remote bush of Australia. From that point on, her practice shifted and the place of compassion and relationship with nature became central.
In order to pursue her vision of how monastic and lay practitioners can work together in the modern world to create viable communities for practice in the United States, she took the significant step of leaving the formal affiliations of Amaravati and associated monastic communities and returned to the USA. In 2009 she founded Awakening Truth a non-profit 501 (c)3 organization whose mission is to create a Bhikkhuni training monastery and facilitate ways monastics and lay practitioners can work together to support whole life practice.
In August 2010, after being a nun for 19 years, she was ordained as a Bhikkhuni at Aranya Bodhi Forest Hermitage, in the historic first dual Theravada Bhikkhuni ordination to be conducted in North America. Ayya Tathaaloka is her preceptor.
Amma’s work spans rigorous understanding of Buddhist teachings, non-dual meditation, depth psychology, subtle body energies, and the Divine Feminine. She teaches meditation as an art and skill, integrating body, heart and mind with finesse and compassion.
Currently she is based at the Shakti Vihara hermitage in Colorado Springs, Colorado as a solitary alms mendicant nun where her time is interspersed between writing, teaching and time meditating in the nearby Garden of the Gods.
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Mentor, Diane Wilde
News, Weekly MeditationWhen Meditation is Not Enough
After several years of teaching and practicing meditation, many of us have found that meditation on its own is not enough. While we may enjoy our times of silence, we find our times off the cushion, “in real life” are challenging and often painful. We might reflect, “What else can I do? What’s missing?” The Buddha’s approach to alleviating suffering begins with mindfulness of conduct, and this component of our practice is generally ignored by most meditators. There is a tendency in the West to dismiss virtue as simple Sunday-school type rules which no longer apply to our modern sensibilities. Yet the Five Training Precepts are part of a fundamental course of therapy for wounded minds. In particular, they are aimed at curing two ailments that underlie low self-esteem: regret and denial. We will discuss how to make the Five Training Precepts an integrated, and perhaps primary focus of our practice.
Day-long Retreat “Mobilizing Our Resources” with SIM Founding Teacher, Dennis Warren
News, RetreatSaturday, May 28, 2016 – 8:30-4:30 pm. One Day Retreat. MOVING TO THE NEW DHARMA CENTER – REFLECTING ON WHO WE ARE, WHO WE CAN BE, AND NEW DHARMA RELATIONSHIPS – with SIM FOUNDING TEACHER DENNIS WARREN
This one day will explore our move to the new Sacramento Dharma Center in the coming months. It will be a combination retreat, reflection and workshop for anyone interested in SIM’s future; and learning about and being involved in preparing for the move to a new Dharma Center.
It is important to recognize that preparation for the move involves both our community as a whole, and each of us individually. This move represents a significant transition for SIM’s 14 year history and for each of us as individual practitioners.
What are the challenges – for our community and each of us personally – in moving to a new Dharma Center? What are the opportunities? How will SIM maintain its unique identity when living so closely with two other Buddhist communities? How can SIM members contribute to making this move and transition in SIM’s history a smooth one?
Pre-registration is required, although there is no cost to attend. Register by sending an email to Dennis, dwwotp@gmail.com ,
The day will begin at 8:30 am and end at 4:30 pm at the Friends Meetinghouse at 890 57th Street. Bring your own lunch and plan on staying on-site during the lunch hour
Introduction to Meditation with SIM Founding Teacher, Dennis Warren
Meditation Course, NewsThis 45-minute introductory course is suitable for beginners or anyone who would like a refresher. It is offered on the fourth Thursday of every month before the regular sitting and dharma talk. There is no fee.
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher, Dennis Warren
News, Weekly Meditation“WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF LIVING THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE?” – with SIM FOUNDING TEACHER DENNIS WARREN – THURSDAY, May 26, 2016 – 7:00-9:15 PM
“What is the benefit of living the contemplative life?”
This is the question put to the historical Buddha by King Ajatasattu. The dialogue that continues is one of the most comprehensive and eloquent presentation of the Buddha regarding his teachings; a comparison of his teaching to the other major spiritual and philosophical theories of the time; the original Sangha’s code of ethics; the Buddha’s own lifestyle, and more.
The Samannaphala Sutta is consider one of the most useful and helpful discourses of the Buddha. The question “What is the benefit of living the contemplative life?” is as relevant to all of us today as it was in the time of King Ajatasattu. Ajatasattu was a layman who become a devoted follower of the Buddha after this encounter and sponsored the First Buddhist Council.
The evening will explore the specifics of this sutta and how they have direct application to our practice and daily life today in an urban setting. This will be the first in a series of two or three talks Dennis will give based on this sutta.
Dennis believes that the key question in this sutta, and the Buddha’s answers, are particularly timely because of our move to a new and permanent home in the coming months in the Sacramento Dharma Center. Dennis will discuss this and the one day retreat he will lead this coming Saturday, May 28, exploring the present and future SIM and the move to our new home.
This event will begin at 700 pm at Sacramento Friends Meetinghouse, 890 57th Street.
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Visiting Teacher, Heather Sundberg
News, Weekly MeditationOpening the Heart: Heather’s Recent Journey To Sri Lanka, woven together with two more favorite suttas.
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Mentor, Diane Wilde
News, Weekly MeditationThe topic of Diane’s talk is to be announced.
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Community Mentor, Rich Howard
News, Weekly MeditationThe topic of Rich’s talk is to be announced.
“United We Stand” event sponsored by the Interfaith Council of Greater Sacramento
NewsEvent sponsored by the Interfaith Council of Greater Sacramento. All are invited. Admission is free. Refreshments 6:30 pm. Program 7 pm to 8 pm.
Sit & Dharma Talk with SIM Founding Teacher, Dennis Warren
News, Weekly MeditationThe talk is part of a series of talks on “Suttas that Speak to Us.” The specific topic of Dennis’s talk is to be announced.
Sit & Dharma Talk, The Unchosen Path of Illness, with Amma Thanasanti
News, Weekly MeditationNo one wants sickness. Nor does anyone want the pain,disability, anger, fear, vulnerability, uncertainty, or the way in which identity is stripped away that often accompanies illness. Yet, in every part of the process we are invited to understand more about who we really are and how we can grow from these experiences. With perspective and tools this unchosen path can show us a wholeness and profound well being that we didn’t know before.
Ajahn or Amma Thanasanti Bhikkhuni was born into a loving family of Jewish ancestry in Burbank, California. She was first introduced to Buddhist teaching and insight meditation in 1979 in a class taught by Jack Engler at University of California Santa Cruz. From that time she consciously committed to awakening and envisioned living her life as a nun. From the onset, Ajahn Chah, Dipa Ma and His Holiness the Dalai Lama were primary inspirations to her. Her teachers also included Christopher Titmuss, Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfeild, Peace Pilgrim and the work and teachings of Gandhi.
After completing a BA in Biology from UC Santa Cruz, she worked for a few years as an analytical chemist. In 1987 she went on a pilgrimage to India, Nepal and Thailand to meet and practice with Dipa Ma, his Holiness Dalia Lama, Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Buddhadasa; meditation masters she had heard about in 1979.
In 1989, she formally joined the Ajahn Chah lineage and the community of nuns at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery to begin training as a novice. That began the process of intensive training, study and meditation practice. After 2 years as an Anagarika, she received ordination in 1991 with Ajahn Sumedho as her preceptor. She lived at both Amaravati and Chithurst Buddhist Monasteries in England.
For several years Amma Thanasanti was involved in the leadership team and guidance of the nuns’ community at Chithurst and Amaravati. Since 1996 her community and monastic responsibilities were interspersed with teaching intensive meditation retreats in the US, UK, Switzerland and Australia.
In 2000 she took Bodhisattva vows with His Holiness Dalai Lama en-route to spend extensive time in retreat in the remote bush of Australia. From that point on, her practice shifted and the place of compassion and relationship with nature became central.
In order to pursue her vision of how monastic and lay practitioners can work together in the modern world to create viable communities for practice in the United States, she took the significant step of leaving the formal affiliations of Amaravati and associated monastic communities and returned to the USA. In 2009 she founded Awakening Truth a non-profit 501 (c)3 organization whose mission is to create a Bhikkhuni training monastery and facilitate ways monastics and lay practitioners can work together to support whole life practice.
In August 2010, after being a nun for 19 years, she was ordained as a Bhikkhuni at Aranya Bodhi Forest Hermitage, in the historic first dual Theravada Bhikkhuni ordination to be conducted in North America. Ayya Tathaaloka is her preceptor.
Amma’s work spans rigorous understanding of Buddhist teachings, non-dual meditation, depth psychology, subtle body energies, and the Divine Feminine. She teaches meditation as an art and skill, integrating body, heart and mind with finesse and compassion.
Currently she is based at the Shakti Vihara hermitage in Colorado Springs, Colorado as a solitary alms mendicant nun where her time is interspersed between writing, teaching and time meditating in the nearby Garden of the Gods.