Ajahn Vajiro (Phil Gunton) was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1953. Upon graduating in 1974, he began a study accountancy. During this period, a friend encouraged him to go on a ten-day meditation retreat with John Coleman at the Oakenholt Buddhist Centre near Oxford. He attended further retreats there in 1976 and 1977. Hearing about the visit Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho made to Oakenholt in 1977, he went to meet them at the Hampstead Vihara. He eventually moved next door to the vihara. In 1978, however, he asked to join the community as an anagārika; he left for Thailand just after the community moved out of London to Chithurst in June 1979. In October that year he became a samanera, and he received upasampada (became a bhikkhu) from Ajahn Chah in June the following year. Venerable Vajiro returned to England in 1984, and assisted with the establishment of Amaravati Buddhist Centre. From 1985 to 1986 he resided at Harnham Buddhist Monastery and from 1986 to 1993 he lived at Cittaviveka. Then between 1993 and 1998 he led the community in Bodhinyanarama Wellington, New Zealand. He spent the following three years living quietly in the hermitage Sanghaloka near Melbourne, Australia. Before moving to Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, where he presently resides.

Ajahn Ratanavanno was born in Korat, N.E. Thailand on 10 February 1971. After finishing high school he worked in an industrial concern for a year. After being overlooked in the draft he decided to become a monk for three months. That three months became extended without limit. In his fifth year as a monk Ajahn Ratanavanno moved to Wat Pa Nanachat where he acted as the monastery secretary. In 1999 he spent a year at Abhayagiri Monastery before moving to Amaravati in 2001.

Ajahn Vimalo (Paul Hendrick) was born in 1946 in Luton Bedfordshire. Left school at 15 and worked in a magazine company. Married at 21 he has two sons and a daughter. In his mid 20s he became very keen on Hatha Yoga . Then at the beginning of the 1970s he met Kapilavaddho, a Buddhist teacher who had formerly been a Bhikkhu. On hearing the teachings of the Buddha Paul started to meditate daily. In 1976 he met Ajahn Sumedho who was on a visit to England with his teacher Luang por Chah. Paul remained a supporter of the Bhikkhus until he was in a position to ordain himself. He finally took upasampada (bhikkhu ordination) as Vimalo Bhikkhu in Thailand in 1991, spending 3 years in the forest monasteries there before leaving to spend firstly 2 years in Australia followed by 5 years in Sri Lanka . Vimalo Bhikkhu returned to England in 2001 and is now resident at Amaravati . For more on him and his art work, go to Perfect Wisdom.

Ajahn Candasiri was born in Scotland in 1947 and was brought up as a Christian. After university, she trained and worked as an occupational therapist, mainly in the field of mental illness. In 1977, an interest in meditation led her to meet Ajahn Sumedho, shortly after his arrival from Thailand. Inspired by his teachings and example, she began her monastic training at Chithurst as one of the first four Anagärikä [women novices]. In 1983 she was given the Going Forth as a Siladhara (10 precept nun) by Ajahn Sumedho. Within the monastic community she has been actively involved in the evolution of the nuns vinaya training. She has guided many meditation retreats for lay people, and particularly enjoys teaching young people and participating in Christian/Buddhist dialogue.

Ajahn Anandabodhi has been an ordained nun in the Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho since 1995. She has lived in Cittavivak (Chithurst) and Hartridge monasteries and now resides at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire, England, where she takes part in the daily running of the monastery and teaching retreats. She particularly enjoys "tudong" - walking on faith and taking the sign of the samana (mendicant) out into the world. Link to more information

Ajahn Cittapala born in Germany in 1949 and he worked for nearly 20 years as a teacher and artist in Hamburg. In 1990/91 she went to Indonesia to study awareness movement (Amerta Movement - The River of Life) with Suprapto Suryodharmo - a practice which connected her more and more with Buddhism. After meeting Luang Por Sumedho in 1994, she felt so supported by his teachings that she came to Amaravati, where she has been living since 1996. In 1999, she asked for Sīladhāra ordination.

Here she is supporting the community and is involved in family activties, especially exploring ways of practice and teaching which use formal meditation as well as painting and movement - for liberation. Ajahn Cittapala leads the Sunyata Family Camp in the summers.

Cait Ni Loinsigh was a member of a religious congregation for 29 years. In 1995 she felt a call to return to Ireland to delve into Celtic Spirituality and in 1997 felt a call to India, where she spent a year and a half sitting at the feet of many holy men and women of different religious persuasions. Cait now lives in West Clare where she works with senior citizens while endeavoring to live a contemplative lifestyle and put what she has learnt into practice.

Catherine Sutton teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy to groups and individuals. She is completing an MA in Mindfulness Based Approaches to Healthcare and has practiced meditation for over 20 years.

Marjö Oosterhoff has been practicing and teaching insight and loving-kindness meditation for many years. She trained and continues to train in monasteries in Burma, where she ordains for the duration of her stays. She works and teaches at a small meditation centre - Passaddhi - in the southwest of Ireland.

Noirin Sheehan has practiced mindfulness within the Buddhist tradition for over 20 years and deeply appreciates this source of wisdom in life. About five years ago she started teaching mindfulness with Bhante Bodhidhamma (a Theravada Buddhist monk) and to study MBSR teaching at University of Bangor (Wales). She now teaches MBSR to staff and patients at St. James's Hospital, Dublin as well as at Satipanya Buddhist Retreat in Wales.

Sharon Salzberg has been a student of Buddhism since 1971, and leading meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. She teaches both intensive awareness practice (vipassana or insight meditation) and the profound cultivation of lovingkindness and compassion (the Brahma Viharas).

Sharon's latest book is The Kindness Handbook, published by Sounds True. She is also the author of The Force of Kindness, published by Sounds True; Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, published by Riverhead Books; Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness and A Heart as Wide as the World, both published by Shambhala Publications; and co-author with Joseph Goldstein of Insight Meditation, a Step-by-Step Course on How to Meditate (audio), from Sounds True. She has edited Voices of Insight, an anthology of writings by vipassana teachers in the West, also published by Shambhala.

Sharon Salzberg is cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts. She has played a crucial role in bringing Asian meditation practices to the West. The ancient Buddhist practices of vipassana (mindfulness) and metta (lovingkindness) are the foundations of her work. "Each of us has a genuine capacity for love, forgiveness, wisdom and compassion. Meditation awakens these qualities so that we can discover for ourselves the unique happiness that is our birthright." For more information about Sharon, please visit: www.SharonSalzberg.com, or for a sample of her teachings, you can download the following podcasts:

On Now and Then

From the Point of View of Insight Meditation

Bodh Gaya is the City