Aloha Sangha teachers

Anushka Fernandopulle formally trained in Buddhist meditation for over 25 years, primarily Vipassana or Insight Meditation (the root of secular Mindfulness meditation). After studying Buddhism at Harvard, she spent four years in full-time intensive meditation training in monasteries and retreat centers in the US, India and Sri Lanka. In the twenty years since then she continued to practice in daily life, studied the Pali Canon, and spent at least one month in intensive silent retreat most years.

Bhante Buddharakkita was born in Uganda, Africa. He first encountered Buddhism in 1990 while studying in India. He was ordained as a Theravada Buddhist monk by the late Sayadaw U Silananda in 2002 at the Tathagata Meditation Center in San Jose, California. He then spent eight years under the guidance of Bhante Henepola Gunaratana at the Bhavana Society, West Virginia. He is the founder and Abbot of the Uganda Buddhist Center in Uganda, Bhante is a Visiting Professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York, USA. He is also a Spiritual Advisor to the Global Buddhist Relief in New Jersey. Since 2005, Bhante has been teaching meditation in Africa, Australia, Europe, Asia, South America and the United States.

Bhante Kovida of Chinese descent, grew up on the tropical island of Jamaica, West Indies. He migrated to Canada where he studied science and then traveled overland from Europe to India and Nepal. There he began the study of Indian history and culture, Hatha Yoga, meditation and Buddhism. Bhante Kovida took ordination with Ven Balangoda Anandamaitreya, a noted scholar, teacher and meditation practitioner. Since then, he has been traveling and teaching the Dhamma in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Europe, UK, USA, and across Canada.

Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo is a professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego, where she teaches Buddhism, World Religions, and Comparative Religious Ethics. She studied Buddhism in Dharamsala, India, for fifteen years and received a doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Hawaii. She is a founder and past president of Sakyadhita: International Association of Buddhist Women, and director of Jamyang Foundation, an education project for women in developing countries.

Grahame White has been involved in Buddhist meditation practice for over 40 years. He began his study in England in 1969 before being ordained as a Buddhist monk for one year in BodhGaya, India in 1971. He took a primary role in the establishment of Vipassana meditation in the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw in Australia and co-founded the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Centre outside Sydney. Grahame returns to Myanmar (Burma) regulary in order to deepen his own practice and study of the Buddha’s teachings ,at times assisting in the teaching of Vipassana retreats for foreigners. Grahame teaches a classical tradition of insight meditation with a relaxed, accessible style.

Venerable Ayya Viranani is a Buddhist nun from the USA (Hawaii). She is deeply rooted in the Dhamma through the practice, study and transmission of the Dhamma. She has been meditating since 1979 in the Burmese tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw, and was ordained as a Buddhist nun in Myanmar in 2006, and is currently associated with the renowned meditation center Chanmyay Myaing in Myanmar. She has years of experience guiding retreats around the world. She makes the traditional texts accessible with many examples from daily life. Ayya ​​Virañani is skilled in both vipassana and metta meditation.