To arial view

The Nuns arrive at Amaravati
Sister Rocana, Sister Sundara and Sister Candasiri
are leading the nuns' pilgrimage to Amaravati
through the old front gate.
 

 

The English Sangha Trust was a charity established in the 1950s to support Buddhist monasticism in the West. It contacted Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho ('Ajahn' means 'teacher' in Thai Ð customarily added to the name of an experienced monk or nun) and eventually provided a rural dwelling in Chithurst, West Sussex for a monastery, with Ajahn Sumedho as abbot and teacher. In 1979 it was adequate for the immediate needs of the Sangha (monastic community) but by 1984 limitations were apparent.
So many people were interested in the teachings and meditation that the house at Chithurst couldn't accommodate them all. The large number of people wishing to take up the training as monks (bhikkhus) and nuns (siladharas) was another factor. The monastic vow of celibacy demands separate dwellings for men and women and a cottage near the main house at Chithurst was purchased for nuns, but in just a few years this was also bursting at the seams.