Dhammananda

From Insight LA

Dhammananda....

In 2019, the BBC named her one of the 100 most influential women in the world because of her tireless work to re-establish the Theravada female monastic lineage in Asia and initiate positive changes for women in Thai society. She faced intense opposition and discrimination, “How did I surmount these problems? Through understanding and compassion. Those who suppress women (or anyone) do so out of ignorance. I am fighting ignorance, not people…Spiritual maturity is very helpful to strengthen you and see you through difficult times. When you have blossomed from pain to peacefulness on your spiritual path, you can really help nourish others you meet. To ease the pain of the world, you need to be nurturing and mothering.” 

From:Lion's Roar

Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, the first fully ordained Theravada nun in Thailand, received novice ordination on February 6, 2001. She couldn’t be ordained in her native country, where there were approximately 300,000 male monks and no ordained women. Instead, she had to travel to Sri Lanka, where the bhikkhuni lineage had been reinstated just three years before, after having died out for almost a thousand years.