Ajahn Amaro

Infobox Buddhist biography
name = Ajahn Amaro

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birth_name = Jeremy Horner
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birth_date = 1956
birth_place = Kent, England
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denomination = Theravada
school = Thai Forest Tradition
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title = Ajahn
workplace = Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery
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website = [http://www.abhayagiri.org/ www.abhayagiri.org/]

Ajahn Amaro (born 1956), born Jeremy Horner in Kent, England, is co-abbot of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in Redwood Valley, California, a center for ordinary lay people to practice in the Thai Forest Tradition. His co-abbot at the monastery is Ajahn Pasanno.

Biography

Jeremy Horner, as he then was, went to school at Lancing College. In 1978, having completed studies in psychology and physiology at Bedford College, University of London, he then traveled to northeast Thailand where he entered Wat Pah Nanachat as an anagarika (lay renunciate). Four months later Horner became a samanera (novice monk), and in 1979 he took profession as a Theravadin bhikkhu, receiving upasampada from Ajahn Chah. He remained in Thailand for two years, and then returned to England to help Ajahn Sumedho establish Chithurst Monastery in West Sussex. At the request of the latter, in 1983 he moved to Harnham Vihara in Northumberland, making the entire 830-mile journey on foot. He chronicled the trek in his 1984 volume "Tudong: The Long Road North".cite book| last = Kiely, Robert| first = His Holiness the Dalai Lama| authorlink = | title = The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus| publisher = Wisdom Publications| year = 1996| pages = p. 205| doi = | isbn = 0861711149]

In the early 1990s Amaro made several trips to northern California on teaching engagements. Many who attended his meditation retreats became enthusiastic about the possibility of establishing a permanent monastic community in the area. Meanwhile, Amaravati Monastery, his mother house back in England, received a generous donation of land in Mendocino County from Chan Master Hsuan Hua, founder of the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talmage. The land was allocated to establish a forest retreat and, since for some years Ajahn Sumedho had venerated the Chinese master, both abbots hoped that, amongst its other virtues, it would serve as a bond between the otherwise distinct Theravada and Mahayana lineages. Care for the centre was placed in the hands of a group of lay practitioners known as the Sanghapala Foundation. It duly became the Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.cite book| last = Seager| first = Richard Hughes| authorlink = | title = Buddhism In America| publisher = Columbia University Press| year = 2000| pages = p. 155| doi = | isbn = 0231108680]

Bibliography

*"Tudong: The Long Road North" (1984, English Sangha Trust)
*"The Pilgrim Kamanita: A Legendary Romance" (1988, Marga Publications)
*"Silent Rain" (1996)
*"The Dhamma and the Real World" (2000, Abhayagiri Monastery)
*"Broad View, Boundless Heart" (2001, Abhayagiri Monastery)
*"Freeing the Heart Dhamma Teachings from the Nuns' Community at Amaravati & Cittaviveka Buddhist Monasteries" (2001, Amaravati Publications)
*"Small Boat, Great Mountain: Theravadin Reflections on the Natural Great Perfection" (2003, Abhayagiri Monastery)

References