Ajahn was ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1990 in the lineage of Venerable Ajahn Chah of the Thai Forest Tradition. Born in 1962 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., his interest in the teachings of the Buddha grew as he studied towards a BA degree in Religious Studies from Carleton College (1984). Following graduation, he began applying himself to training in meditation and subsequently went to Asia to find a monastery suitable for fully devoting himself to the Dhamma.
After practicing intensive meditation in various monasteries in Thailand and traveling extensively in Tibet, Nepal and India, he eventually settled at Wat Pah Nanachat, The International Forest Monastery, in the North-east of Thailand. Ajahn Chah established this branch monastery specifically for his English-speaking disciples. For the first five years after his full ordination as a bhikkhu, Ajahn Chandako was based at Wat Pah Nanachat.
Ajahn Jotipālo was born in 1965 in Indiana. He received a B.A. from Wabash College and worked for six years in technical sales. He became interested in Theravada Buddhism after sitting several Goenka retreats. While on staff at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, he met Ajahn Amaro and Ajahn Punnadhammo. After leaving IMS, he spent three months with Ajahn Punnadhammo at the Arrow River Forest Hermitage in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Ajahn Jotipālo came to live at Abhayagiri in 1998 and subsequently spent two years training as an Anāgārika and Sāmaṇera. He ordained as a Bhikkhu with Ajahn Pasanno as preceptor on Ajahn Chah's birthday, June 17, 2000. Since that time, Ajahn Jotipālo has also stayed at Ajahn Chah-branch monasteries in Thailand, Canada, and New Zealand. He has returned to Abhayagiri for the vassa of 2012.
Ayya Niyyānikā is appreciative of monastic life as her container for practice. She received her initial training with the Dhammadharini community from 2014 through 2019 and is currently practicing with the Aloka Vihara Forest Monastery community in Placerville, CA.
Bhikkhu Sambodhi was born in the mid-sixties in what was then known as Czechoslovakia and what is now the Czech Republic, one the most irreligious countries in the world. Raised as an atheist with an initial strong bend toward “hard” science, he eventually ended up graduating in math and physics.
The subsequent postgraduate study of psychology, a “soft” science, led him to encounter Buddhist meditation for the first time in 1992. He then abandoned psychology and worked as a journalist, a translator and a publishing-house editor for six years, while pursuing the Buddha’s path of the Dhamma as a lay practitioner. In 1995 though, he went to Burma for the first time and for 10 months practised vipassana meditation in Mahasi Meditation Centre in Yangon, while being temporarily ordained as a monk.
His subsequent ordination as a bhikkhu took place in 2000 in Pa Auk forest monastery in Lower Burma where he underwent intense training in samatha meditation for 2 years. He then moved to Sri Lanka where he spent—on and off—12 years and was mostly associated with the forest tradition of Galduwa. A few of those years were also spent in solitude, in simple solitary huts in the area called Laggala.
Besides association with both Burmese and Sri Lankan traditions, he also spent considerable time in Western monasteries of Luang Por Chah lineage, where he benefited tremendously from their teachings.
Alex Haley is the Director of Mindfulness Programs at the University of Minnesota's Center for Spirituality & Healing where he teaches, assists with research and sets the strategy for the mindfulness program area. He has been trained by the Center for Mindfulness, the Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, the Insight Meditation Society and the Coaches Training Institute. He has practiced meditation for over 15 years, including many months of intensive retreat practice, and worked for start-ups, mid-sized companies and large multinationals both domestically and internationally in legal and business roles. Alex is a founding member of the Mindfulness for Students network and leads residential retreats around the country. For more info visit www.alexanderhaley.org.
