Thanissara (she/her) is Anglo-Irish from London. She started Buddhist practice in the Burmese school of U Ba Khin. She was then inspired to ordain after meeting Ajahn Chah. She spent 12 years as a Buddhist monastic, serving as a cofounding member of Chithurst Monastery and Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in the UK. She has facilitated meditation retreats internationally for the last 30+ years and has an MA in Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy Practice from Middlesex University & the Karuna Institute in the UK. With Kittisaro, she co-founded Dharmagiri Sacred Mountain Retreat in KwaZulu-Natal and helped initiate and support several community development projects in rural South Africa. They also cofounded Sacred Mountain Sangha, a California-based nonprofit. Thanissara is a poet and author. Her current book is Time to Stand Up, An Engaged Buddhist Manifesto for Our Earth.
Events with Thanissara
Liberation Spirituality: A Dharma Gathering for Our TimesOctober 11 - 17, 2026
Open to experienced and new practitioners Registration closes on September 27, 2026. If joining after this date, please contact us. This retreat and collective inquiry––a living Dharma laboratory in motion––is the culmination of a year-long Rhizome Fellowship Culture Hack training (toward post-capitalist futures), which is an evolving experiment in weaving Dharma, inquiry, and systemic visioning into a collective field of practice. Rooted in the Sacred Mountain Sangha approach, our days will flow with a rhythm of inner practices in the mornings, like Kuan Yin bowing, insight meditation, chanting, ritual, and Dharma sessions to ground us in silence, awareness, and compassion.…