Ayya Sobhana

Ayya Sobhana is a Harvard graduate and trained with master Dhamma and meditation teacher Bhante Henepola Gunaratana for 25 years. Her primary practice is the Eightfold Noble Path, that is, integration of meditation with ethical living and compassionate relationships for the sake of liberation. She “went forth” into monastic life as a Samaneri in 2003 and obtained full Bhikkhuni ordination at Dambulla, Sri Lanka in 2006. In 2010 Ayya Sobhana moved from the Bhavana Society of West Virginia to Aranya Bodhi Awakening Forest Hermitage. Aranya Bodhi is a private redwood forest preserve and retreat for Buddhist monastic women on the Sonoma Coast of Northern California. In 2016 she was appointed Vice Abbess of Dhammadharini, offering teaching and training at both Aranya Bodhi and the bhikkhuni community’s new Dhammadharini Monastery in the Sonoma Mountain area of Penngrove, California, north of San Francisco. She teaches around the Bay Area, and on both coasts of the US, offering retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Southern Dharma Retreat Center, and in the next months at Buddhist Insights of New York and Cloud Mountain Retreat Center. Her primary practice is the Eightfold Noble Path—integration of meditation with ethical living and compassionate relationships for the sake of liberation.

For past dharma talks, visit here.