Dhammananda Bhikkhuni was born in 1944 as Chatsumarn Kabilsingh. She taught for 27 years in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Thammasat University in Bangkok and took early retirement in 2000. Her mother, Voramai Kabilsingh, founded the nunnery that became Wat Songdhammakalyani in Nakhon Pathom, where Dhammananda is now abbess.
She was ordained as a sāmaṇerī (female novice) in Sri Lanka in 2001 and as a bhikkhunī (fully ordained nun) there on 28 February 2003, in the Theravada tradition. Wikipedia describes her as the first Thai woman ordained in a Theravada lineage. Her work on women in Buddhism includes Thai Women in Buddhism (1991). In 1991 she also organised the first international conference of Buddhist women, held in Bangkok.
Wikipedia reports that Thailand’s two main Theravada orders, the Mahanikaya and the Dhammayutika Nikaya, have not officially accepted fully ordained women.
At Songdhammakalyani she leads a community that the monastery describes as a Theravada centre of learning for female monastics and laywomen, with weekly Dhamma and meditation sessions and silent retreats listed on its site.
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Written from published sources by the volunteer editors. Not yet reviewed by an outside advisor.
- ReferenceWikipedia: Dhammananda Bhikkhuni (birth name, 1944, career, 2001 and 2003 ordinations, abbess, books)
- OrganisationSongdhammakalyani Monastery: About us (names Ven. Voramai Kabilsingh as founder and Ven. Dhammananda)
- ReferenceWikipedia: Bhikkhuni (Thailand section: 1928 edict, Sangha hierarchy's position)
Portrait by Gakuro (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
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