Ayyā Medhānandī Bhikkhunī, is the founder and guiding teacher of Sati Sārāņīya Hermitage, a Canadian forest monastery for women in the Theravāda tradition. The daughter of Eastern European refugees who emigrated to Montreal after World War II, she began a spiritual quest in childhood that led her to India, Burma, England, New Zealand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and finally, back to Canada.
In 1988, at the Yangon Mahasi retreat centre in Burma, Ayyā requested ordination as a bhikkhunī from her teacher, the Venerable Sayādaw U Pandita Mahāthera. This was not yet possible for Theravāda Buddhist women. Instead, Sayādaw granted her ordination as a 10 precept nun on condition that she take her vows for life. Thus began her monastic training in the Burmese tradition. When the borders were closed to foreigners by a military coup, in 1990 Sayādaw blessed her to join the Ajahn Chah Thai Forest Saņgha at Amaravati, UK.
After ten years in their siladhāra community, Ayyā felt called to more seclusion and solitude in New Zealand and SE Asia. In 2007, having waited nearly 20 years, she received bhikkhunī ordination at Ling Quan Chan Monastery in Keelung, Taiwan and returned to her native Canada in 2008, on invitation from the Ottawa Buddhist Society and Toronto Theravāda Buddhist Community, to establish Sati Sārāņīya Hermitage.
When the mind is cleared of obstacles, we gain a special skill in developing samadhi. Mindfulness is the gatekeeper enabling the burning away of the defilements. There in the clear, stilled, stabilized mind of unfabricated, primordial purity, the factors of awakening arise. No where else in the world but within this seclusion of mind can we find our true home and realize our Buddha nature.
Think of yourself as a spiritual warrior. What is the danger at hand? What is our true protection? Where is safety? Be ever aware. Staying close to the Dhamma, we will inevitably grow close to the Buddha. We shall uphold virtue foremost through wholesome friendships, purify intention, action, and speech, at rest or work or during mental cultivation, and embody the noble wisdom and compassion of the Buddha by setting our feet in his very footprints.
As we grow in wisdom, our fear of death dissolves. The more we purify from within, the more we abide with a clarity of mind that bestows the ultimate seeing, our cosmic ordination, our unburdening from the sufferings of this realm. The veil of delusion collapses in the sacred footprint of the Dhamma. This will be our noble warming.
Can we fearlessly accept all that life gives with a wise and compassionate heart? We see how the sun shines unilaterally on all beings giving life and nourishment. But we must use sharp wisdom to discern what is harmful and abandon that; and to know what is wholesome and cultivate that. Even as a mother, may we emulate the Buddha's compassion that flows without bias in all directions across millenia.
Bodhinyanarama Monastery, Stokes Valley, New Zealand
Standing up in pure presence is one of the four great postures. In this simple act of being present, know one mind-moment at a time, repeatedly. Grateful for one breath, one posture, one point, we gain balance and poise. We allow our suffering to dissolve in the suffering of all the world. This is how we stand for the Dhamma in a practical way – with the body; and in a practice way – with compassion and understanding of the Dhamma.
To bring the mind to peace, we must learn about all that makes it unpeaceful, unquiet. We learn how to prevent those things from arising, and how to deal with them if they do. Follow virtue. Stay close to spiritual friends, to the Buddha. Practise gratitude, generosity, and kindness. Wake up. Love wisdom more than life.
Dhamma is like mother, father, guardian, the Truth that we can rest in. So rest in the purity of one moment. Offering to listen, what is the message we receive? In the silence of the mind, what do we hear? If there is no silence we listen more intently and dive more deeply. Where there is no past, no future, nothing to run away from, nothing to run towards, we stop to truly listen. And we see. This is pure presence - the gift of our attention. With the compass of the mind, open to the Dhamma. No where do we find any solid essence to call a self, a me, a mine. This is the most sacred knowing.
A humble novice with his bowl empty exemplifies where true riches lie in this world. Meditating deep in the unchartered borders within, gain those riches by giving up worldly pursuits. See the value of what is true and what reveals the truth to us. Beyond confusion, beyond wanting, beyond harmful ways of being, purify the mind and seek that jewel of the heart's true peace, clear and free.
To celebrate the Buddha’s life is to be his disciple in enlightenment. Every day becomes a day of Vesak when we emulate the Buddha’s virtues and follow his gradual training in Dhamma-Vinaya and spiritual warriorship. We vow to purify the mind, realize the vision of Dhamma, and practice perfect compassion for all living beings. At last we find the teacher present within us.
An autobiographical portrait of Ayya Medhanandi’s life, from her meeting with her first teacher in India in her early twenties to her career as a nutritionist and going forth to become a Theravada Buddhist nun. She notes the striking similarities between the tenets of her ancient Judaic faith and the principles of Theravada Buddhism. The inward journey goes beyond religious belief - crossing fixed boundaries for the sake of realizing our true spiritual heritage. A talk given at H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, Vancouver, Canada in 2008.
