Ayya Jayati (2nd from right) will need to leave the U.S. for at least one year at the end of June as her current visa cannot be renewed or extended at this point. Ayya Jayati came to join us in 2012 while we were still at 48th Avenue in San Francisco (she was then ‘Anagarika Maria’). She has been an integral part of our community during these formative years, helping in many areas of the monastery and building networks of friendship and connection in the wider community too. Ayya Jayati will be greatly missed by our small nuns’ community and by many of our supporters and visitors.

For the coming year, Saranaloka will continue to support Ayya Jayati as a member of the community, while she explores the possibilities of returning. We wish her a gentle transition and hope to see her again at Aloka Vihara in a year.

Ayya Jayati after her Bhikkhuni Ordination at Aloka Vihara in 2014