Ayya Santacitta of Aloka Vihara relates nature and the current state of the environment to Buddhist practice and the support of sangha.
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September 14th at 10:15am, Guest Speaker Ayya Santacitta
Hartford Street is pleased to announce and invite you to a morning with a compassionate trailblazer in the rebuilding of a lineage of ordained bhikkhunis, Ayya Santacitta. Stemming originally from the Thai Forest Theravada tradition of Buddhism; the Nuns of Aloka Vihara are very well respected and frequently booked speakers/Dharma (Dhamma) teachers. They reside currently in a Vihara near Ocean Beach in San Francisco practicing with a vibrant and dedicated Sangha and are working on the intention to found a training monastery for bhikkhunis in a rural setting on the West Coast.
Ayya Santacitta was born in Austria and has practiced meditation since 1988. Her first teacher was Ajahn Buddhadasa, who sparked her interest in Buddhist monastic life. She has trained as a nun in both the East and West since 1993, primarily in the lineage of Ajahn Chah. Since 2002, however she also integrates Dzogchen teachings into her practice.
Ayya Santacitta is co-founder of Aloka Vihara, a training monastery for women in San Francisco, where she has lived since 2009. In 2011, she received bhikkhuni ordination with Ayya Tathaaloka Theri as preceptor. She offers teachings at the vihara, as well as in the wider Bay Area and occasionally other parts of the US, sharing her experience in community as a means for cultivating the heart and opening the mind.
Please join us for this wonderful event and feel free to read more about the Sisters on their website and watch this very touching video about their work & lives! Because the Nuns as part of their precepts must eat their final main meal of the day by noon Some of our Sangha will formally be offering a meal dana during our simultaneous offerings of tea and cookies.
Every Saturday we offer early morning zazen (seated meditation), a brief drop-in meditation instruction at 8:30 am. And again zazen at 9:25 am. We wrap up with a dharma talk at 10:15 am followed by tea and cookies.
Please join us any Saturday and we hope to see you often and for this special Saturday event!