Ayya Cittananda

Ayya Cittananda has spent over 18 years on the Buddhist path, after being inspired in 2005 by a college philosophy class to spend time practicing at monasteries. After completing a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing and working at a hospital as a registered nurse in Texas, she lived as a monastic at a small Pure Land/Chan monastery in Florida for a year before moving to California. She then spent two years living and working in Redwood Valley, made daily visits to Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, and sat several long retreats at various monasteries and meditation centers. Afterwards, she went “monastery shopping,” searching for a place to ordain as a Theravadan nun. She spent six months at the Ajahn Chah lineage monasteries in England and Scotland, and seven months at Aloka Vihara in Placerville. Ayya Cittananda took Anagarika precepts in 2015, Samaneri ordination in 2016, and full Bhikkhuni ordination in May of 2018. She lives with her teacher Ayya Santussika at Karuna Buddhist Vihara, a forest hermitage in Boulder Creek in the Santa Cruz Mountains.