Ayya Khema
Ayya Khema put | |
---|---|
German & American | |
Other names | k |
Senior posting | |
Teacher | Ven. Narada Maha Thera (first ordination) Ven. Hsing Yun (second ordination) |
Ayya Khema (August 25, 1923[1] – November 2, 1997) was a Buddhist teacher noted for providing opportunities for women to practice Buddhism,[2] founding several centers around the world. In 1987, she helped coordinate the first-ever Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women. Over two dozen books of her transcribed Dhamma talks in English and German have been published. In the last year of her life, she also published her autobiography: I Give You My Life.
Biography
Born as Ilse Kussel in
At age twenty-two, Khema married a man seventeen years her senior named Johannes and they moved to an apartment in the
Soon, Khema began feeling incomplete and investigated various spiritual paths,
The three traveled for years, visiting South America, New Zealand, Australia, Pakistan, then settling in Sydney, Australia, where Khema began to study with Phra Khantipalo.[17]
To further her studies, Khema traveled to San Francisco to study
In 1978, Khema founded the Wat Buddha Dhamma forest monastery in New South Wales and installed Phra Khantipalo as abbot.[17]
Khema's desire to become a Buddhist nun led her to Thailand where she studied with Tan Ajahn Singtong for three months.[20] Sri Lanka was her next destination where she met Nyanaponika Thera who introduced her to Narada Maha Thera.[21] Narada Thera gave her the name "Ayya Khema".[22]
A 1983 return trip to Sri Lanka, led her to meet her teacher,
Khema was one of the organizers of the first International Conference on Buddhist Women in 1987[25] which led to the foundation of the Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women.[26]
In 1989, Khema returned to Germany and began teaching at Buddha Haus in Munich.[27]
According to Ayya Khema's own account, she had been suffering from breast cancer since 1983. In 1993, she underwent a mastectomy operation in Germany. During a five-week recovery period in the hospital she almost died, but her condition was expeditiously stabilized by the medics. In an interview she expressed a positive opinion of that experience.[28]
There were two days in the hospital, when I had that feeling, that the energy was leaving, through the feet actually. There was a collapse of the whole system... Losing one's life energy is actually a very pleasant state, because there's less self-assertion, I mean you haven't got the energy to assert yourself. So things are more acceptable, everything is acceptable, it's fine the way it is... One could say that action of dying, if there's no resistance, is extremely pleasant... That seemed to be less and less life energy within the body, and I just was relaxing into that. I was perfectly willing to let it happen, but then these doctors came round... My blood pressure just went way down, waaay down, I mean like almost not happening, and that's when you lose all your energy... It was a very interesting experience and now I can see it's extremely pleasant. It's just letting go and disappearing, and it's very nice.
Ayya Khema died on November 2, 1997, at Buddha Haus, Uttenbühl (part of the village Oy-Mittelberg) in Germany after fourteen years with breast cancer.[29] Her ashes are kept in a stupa at Buddha Haus.[27]
Publications
- Being Nobody, Going Nowhere: Meditations on the Buddhist Path, ISBN 978-0861711987
- When the Iron Eagle Flies: Buddhism for the West, Wisdom Publications, 1991 ISBN 978-0861711697
- Who is myself? A guide to Buddhist meditation (commentary on the ISBN 978-0861711277
- I Give You My Life (autobiography), ISBN 978-1570625718
- Come and See for Yourself: The Buddhist Path to Happiness, Windhorse Publications, 1998, ISBN 978-1899579457
- Be an Island: The Buddhist practice of Inner Peace, Wisdom Publications, 1999, ISBN 978-0861711475
- Visible Here and Now: The Buddhist Teachings on the Rewards of Spiritual Practice (commentary on the ISBN 978-1570624926
- Know Where You're Going: A Complete Buddhist Guide to Meditation, Faith, and Everyday Transcendence (retitled republication of When the Iron Eagle Flies), Wisdom Publications, 2014, ISBN 978-1614291930
- The Meditative Mind (retitled republication of To Be Seen Here And Now), ISBN 978-9552403859
- Within Our Own Hearts, Buddhist Publication Society, 2012, ISBN 978-9552402906
Bodhi Leaf Publications (BPS)
See also
- Vipassanā
- Nissarana Vanaya
- Matara Sri Nanarama Mahathera
- Narada Maha Thera
- Buddhist monasticism
- Thai Forest Tradition
- Ordination of women
References
- Citations
- ^ a b Khema 1998, p. 5.
- ^ a b Keller & Ruether 2006, p. 650.
- ^ Wheeler 1999.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 14.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 21-24.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 30-34.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 35.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 36.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 37.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 40-42.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 42-43.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 44.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 45.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 46.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 47.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 48.
- ^ a b c Keown & Prebish 2013, p. 444.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 130-131.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 131-132.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 145.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 150.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 152.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 176-177.
- ^ Khema 1998, p. 181-182.
- ^ Lopez 2002, p. 182.
- ^ "Brief History of Sakyadhita International". Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
- ^ a b Keown & Prebish 2013, p. 445.
- ^ Ayya Khema discussion about death with Ann Hershey part 1 YouTube
Ayya Khema discussion about death with Ann Hershey part 2 YouTube - ^ Friedman 2000, p. 317.
- Bibliography
- Dowling, Elizabeth M.; Scarlett, W. George (2005), Encyclopedia of Religious and Spiritual Development, SAGE Publications, ISBN 9781452265384
- Friedman, Lenore (2000), Meetings with Remarkable Women: Buddhist Teachers in America, ISBN 978-1570624742
- Keller, Rosemary Skinner; Ruether, Rosemary Radford (2006), The Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America, Volume 2, ISBN 978-0253346872
- ISBN 9781136985881
- Khema, Ayya (1998), I Give You My Life, ISBN 1570624151
- ISBN 9780807012437
- Wheeler, Kate Lila (1999), I Give You My Life, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review
External links
- Ayya Khema's writings
- Collection of about 400 of Ayya Khema's Dharma talks between 1988-1996
- Practical Guidelines for Vipassanâ
- To Be Seen Here and Now Archived 2019-11-20 at the Wayback Machine - Ten Dhamma Talks from a meditation retreat at Pelmadulla Bhikkhu Training Centre, Sri Lanka