Ajahn Sucitto
| Ajahn Sucitto | |
|---|---|
Ajahn Sucitto
|
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| School | Theravada |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | British |
| Born |
4 November 1949 London, England |
| Senior posting | |
| Title | Ajahn Sucitto Mahathera |
| Religious career | |
| Website | |
Ajahn Sucitto (Bhikkhu Sucitto, born 4 November 1949) is a British-born Theravada Buddhist monk ("ajahn" is the Thai rendition of ācariya [Pali] "teacher"). He was, between 1992 and 2014, the abbot of Cittaviveka, Chithurst Buddhist Monastery. He was born in London, and was ordained in Thailand in March 1976. He returned to Britain in 1978 and took up training under Ajahn Sumedho at the Hampstead Buddhist Vihara. In 1979 he was one of the small group of monks, led by Ajahn Sumedho, who established Cittaviveka, Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, in West Sussex. In 1981 he was sent up to Northumberland to set up a small monastery in Harnham, which subsequently became Aruna Ratanagiri. In 1984 he accompanied Ajahn Sumedho in establishing Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire. In 1992 he was appointed abbot of Cittaviveka. On October 26, 2014, he resigned the post, but intends to continue teaching as before.
Ajahn Sucitto's main work has been in teaching, editing and writing, although he was also largely responsible for the creation of the protocols and standards that flesh out the ten-precept training of the sīladharā (nuns) Order.
Before entering monastic life, Ajahn Sucitto graduated from the University of Warwick with a degree in English and American Literature in 1971. He spent a few years following the lifestyle of the alternative culture of the time, before heading overland to India in 1974 on a spiritual quest. This eventually landed him in Thailand in 1975, where he was inspired by a meditation class in English in Wat Meung Maung given by an English monk, Phra Alan Nyānavajīro. Phra Nyānavajīro's teaching was based on the "Mahasi Sayadaw" system (also known as "Burmese satipaṭṭhāna"). Sensing an important turn in his spiritual journey, Sucitto entered the monastery where Phra Nyānavajīro lived: Wat Kiriwong in Nakhon Sawan. On 25 September he took samanera precepts and on 22 March 1976 he was ordained as a bhikkhu (Buddhist monk), both in Wat Potharam in Nakhon Sawan.
A chance sojourn at Wat Umong in Chiang Mai in December 1976 brought Sucitto into contact with Ajahn Sumedho, who was passing through Chiang Mai at the time. This was an auspicious encounter, as it prepared the ground for Sucitto to visit Ajahn Sumedho in Hampstead when he visited England in 1978. Ajahn Sumedho had taken up residence in the Hampstead Buddhist Vihara in 1977, and readily accepted Sucitto as a disciple. Sucitto trained under Ajahn Sumedho for much of the ensuing fourteen years.
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