Page 23 - EH65

FACE TO FACE | EASTERN HORIZON 21

Benny: How did you become interested in Buddhism
and then decide to ordain?

Ayya Adhimutti: When I was in my twenties, I lived in
India for a while. I had gone there to improve my Sanskrit
before continuing with my studies. Every six months I
needed to renew my visa for India in Sri Lanka. I stayed
at a meditation center there and also went on my first
meditation retreat. When I learned about meditation, I felt
that I had found what I had been looking for all of my life.
Mt Ruapehu, Tongariro National Park. Near to where Ayya Tathaaloka
and I stayed for about 3 weeks early 2012 to research on the Bhikkhuni
Up until that time I had felt so restless, even though I Patimokkha
had lived a privileged life, with a loving and supportive
family and good friends, and had been successful with
my studies. During my first retreat I decided I needed to
take a few years away from my studies and to develop my
meditation. Then, after a while, I realized that to really
develop the practice and to free my mind would require a
life-long commitment. So it seemed that if I really wanted
to dedicate my life to the Dhamma, I should ordain.

Can you tell us more about where you had your
ordination? Lovely photo of Raglan, North Island, in summer during Ayya
Tathaaloka's visit, 2012.

In 2006 I had the opportunity to attend the Sakyadhita
Conference in Malaysia. There I saw Theravāda female that she was organizing, the first all-Therāvada Dual
monastics (bhikkhunīs) for the first time. I felt inspired Sangha Bhikkhuni Ordination in North America.
when I heard about Bhante Sujato in Australia who ((https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ordination-of-
supported bhikkhunī ordination. I then went to Santi bhikkhunis-_b_702921 https://www.lionsroar.com/
Forest Monastery, where Bhante Sujato was the abbot another-step-forward/). So, I was lucky in that the path
in 2007. At that time Ajahn Brahm was our spiritual to bhikkhunī upasampadā was fairly straightforward
director and the community was involved in re- for me, despite the rarity of bhikkhunī upasampadā
establishing bhikkhunī ordination in the West. at the time. A few years later I invited Ayyā Tathālokā
to New Zealand, which led to the foundation of the NZ
We organized a seminar on bhikkhunī ordination Bhikkhuni Sangha Trust.
in 2008 and bhikkhunīs from round the
world attended (https://www.youtube.com/ Were there challenges to ordain as a female
monastic?
playlist?list=PLZYauDhkMUC_rMZfXssayH0c206fvCf02).

At that time, I ordained as a samaṇērī with my senior I was lucky growing up in New Zealand, in that my
bhikkhunī mentor Ayyā Tathālokā as a preceptor. gender was never an obstacle in my way, and so it was
Two years later I went to stay with my preceptor a tremendous shock when I ordained as a mae chee to
Ayya Tathālokā at Aranya Bodhi, a new hermitage encounter the systemic oppression of monastic women.
for bhikkhunīs that she was founding with the And then I was told that being born as a woman was a
Dhammadharini community in Northern California. She result of my bad karma! I don’t accept this, and don’t
invited me to participate in the bhikkhunī ordination believe that the Buddha taught this.