Ayya Khema

Category: Patriarchs of Buddhism

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

Ayya Khema (1923 - November 2, 1997), was active in providing opportunities for women to practice Buddhism, founding several centers around the world. In 1987 she co-ordinated the first ever International Conference of Buddhist Nuns.

Ayya Khema was born in Berlin, Germany, to Jewish parents. Khema dodged the Nazis during World War II. In 1938, she escaped from Germany with two hundred other children and was taken to Glasgow, Scotland. Her parents went to China and, two years later Ayya Khema joined them in Shanghai. With the outbreak of the war, however, the family was put into a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp where her father died. She later married, had a son and a daughter, and now has four grand-children.

Four years after the American liberation of the camp, Ayya Khema was able to emigrate to the United States. Between 1960 and 1964 she travelled with her husband and son throughout Asia, including the Himalayan countries, during which she learned meditation. Ten years later, she began to teach meditation throughout Europe and Australia. Her experiences led her to become a Buddhist nun in Sri Lanka in 1979, when she was given the name of Khema meaning safety and security. Ayya means Venerable.

She helped to establish Wat Buddha-Dhamma, a forest monastery in the Theravada tradition, near Sydney, Australia, in 1978. In Colombo she set up the International Buddhist Women's Centre as a training centre for Sri Lankan nuns, and the Parappuduwa Nun's Island at Dodanduwa. (now unfortunately closed). She was the spiritual director of Buddha-Haus in Germany, established in 1989 under her auspices. In June 1997 "Metta Vihara," the first Buddhist forest monastery in Germany, was inaugurated by her, and the first ordinations in the German language took place there.

In 1987 she co-ordinated the first International Conference of Buddhist Nuns in the history of Buddhism, which resulted in the setting-up of Sakyadhita, a world-wide Buddhist women's organisation. H.H. the Dalai Lama was the keynote speaker at the conference. In May 1987, as an invited lecturer, she was the first ever Buddhist nun to address the United Nations in New York on the topic of Buddhism and World Peace.

Ayya Khema has written twenty-five book on meditation and the Buddha's teachings in English and German; her books have been translated into seven languages. In 1988, her book "Being Nobody, Going Nowhere" received the Christmas Humphreys Memorial Award.

Ayya Khema ordained Ven. Sister Sangamitta from Switzerland (now practising in Thailand) Ven. Sister Dhammadina a graduate of Peradeniya University, Ven. Sister Vayama from Australia and Ven. Sister Uttpalvanna of Galle and her pupils in Sri Lanka.

Ayya Khema drew her last breath at Buddha Haus, Mittleberg Uttenbull in Germany after a brief illness. Ayya Khema has written twenty-five books.

See also

• Ordination of women
• Buddhist monasticism
• Thai Forest Tradition
• Vihara

Reference

• Harmonious Living
• Liberation Here and Now
• The Meditative Mind
• All of Us: Beset by Birth, Decay and Death
• Here and Now

External links

• Ayya Khema's writings
• More on Ayya Khema including online articles and guided meditations