Thanissara, MA

Thanissara is a Dharma teacher, author, poet, activist, and former Buddhist monastic. Her life and work sit at the meeting place of contemplative practice, ecological awareness, collective healing, and cultural transformation. Her activism has been shaped by efforts to undo patriarchy within Buddhist systems, deep engagement in rural post-Apartheid South Africa, and an ongoing exploration of collective liberation in times marked by ecocide, genocide, and the rise of fascism.

She trained for twelve years as a monastic in the the Thai Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah, and has practiced Kuan Yin Dharmas through the transmission of Master Hua for many decades. She is also informed by over a decade of ceremonial work within Indigenous lineages in South America, including sustained traditional dieta practice, working with plant teachers, shifts in consciousness, somatic healing, and pathways toward collective and systemic transformation.

Together with her partner, Kittisaro, she co-founded Dharmagiri Sacred Mountain Retreat Center in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, while also cofounding and supporting a number of rural development projects in the Southern Drakensberg. In 2017, they went on to co-found the California-based non-profit Sacred Mountain Sangha.