Ajahn Viradhammo

Ajahn Viradhammo
Pictured (left) with a Luang Por Sumedho at Tisarana Monastery in May 2010
Other names	Luang Por Viradhammo
Personal
Born	Vitauts Akers (1947-04-27) April 27, 1947 (age 74) Germany
Religion	Buddhist
Nationality	Canadian
School	Theravada
Other names	Luang Por Viradhammo
Senior posting
Teacher	Ajahn Chah
Based in
Website	tisarana.ca

Part of a series on
Western Buddhism
show Main articles Western Buddhism Buddhist modernism Buddhism in the United States Historical Greco-Buddhism Buddhism and the Roman world Greco-Buddhist monasticism
show Tibetan dissemination 14th Dalai Lama In the United States Chögyam Trungpa In England Geshe Kelsang Gyatso In Germany Lama Anagarika Govinda
show Theravada dissemination Thai Forest Tradition Vipassana movement In England Anagarika Dharmapala Sangharakshita Ajahn Chah In Germany Nyanatiloka Nyanaponika Thera In the United States Thanissaro Bhikkhu Joseph Goldstein Jack Kornfield
show Zen dissemination Zen in the United States Modern Chinese Chán Hsuan Hua Sheng-yen Hsing Yun Rinzai Zen D. T. Suzuki Soto Zen Shunryu Suzuki Sanbo Kyodan Haku'un Yasutani White Plum Asanga Taizan Maezumi Korean Seon Seung Sahn Vietnamese Thiền Thích Nhất Hạnh Listing of Zen Buddhists
show Amidist dissemination In England David Brazier In the USA Buddhist Churches of America In Canada Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Temples of Canada
show Exchange Buddhism and Christianity Buddhism and Gnosticism Buddhism and psychology Buddhism and Western Philosophy Buddhism and Pyrrhonism
show General Buddhism Buddhism Outline of Buddhism Traditions Hinayana Theravada Mahayana Vajrayana Navayana Asian countries Indian Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism Chinese Buddhism Japanese Buddhism Korean Buddhism Listing of Buddhist topics
v t

Ajahn Viradhammo or Luang Por Viradhammo (born Vitauts Akers, April 27, 1947 Esslingen, Germany) is a Canadian monk in the Thai forest tradition of Theravada Buddhism. He was ordained as a monk in 1974 by Ajahn Chah at Wat Nong Pah Pong monastery and became one of the first residents at Wat Pah Nanachat, the international monastery in north-east Thailand.^[1] Luang Por Viradhammo is the most senior Thai Forest monk in Canada and currently the Abbot of in Perth, Ontario. Luang Por means Venerable Father (หลวงพ่อ), an honorific and term of affection in keeping with Thai custom; ajahn means teacher.

Thai Forest Tradition
Bhikkhus
Dhammayuttika Nikāya Ajahn Sao Kantasīlo (1861–1941) Ajahn Mun Bhūridatta (1870–1949) Ajahn Waen Suciṇṇo (1887–1985) Ajahn Thate Desaransi (1902–1994) Ajahn Lee Dhammadaro (1907–1961) Ajahn Maha Bua (1913–2011) Ajahn Fuang Jotiko (1915–1986) Ajahn Suwat Suvaco (1919–2002) Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu (1949–) Mahā Nikāya Ajahn Buddhadasa (1906–1993) Ajahn Chah (1918–1992) Ajahn Sumedho (1934–) Ajahn Khemadhammo (1944–) Ajahn Viradhammo (1947–) Ajahn Pasanno (1949–) Ajahn Sucitto (1949–) Ajahn Brahm (1951–) Ajahn Amaro (1956–) Ajahn Jayasāro (1958–) Ajahn Sujato (1966–)
Sīladharās
Ajahn Sundara (1946–) Ajahn Candasiri (1947–) Complete List
Related Articles
History of the Thai Forest Tradition Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah Buddhism in Thailand Buddhism in the West Kammaṭṭhāna Dhutanga History of Isan
v

Biography[]

Ajahn Viradhammo (Vitauts Akers) was born in Esslingen, Germany where his parents had become refugees after fleeing from the Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944. He, his parents and two year older brother immigrated to Toronto, Canada in 1951.^[1][2]

Ajahn Viradhammo's parents were both Lutheran and he himself was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. His early experiences of silence and pure awareness came at around the age of five but it was not until much later that he was able to explain them.^[3]

He started in an Engineering program at the University of Toronto at the age of sixteen but quickly discovered that this was not his vocation and, in 1969, decided to travel to satisfy his continued search for meaning, first in North Africa and then in Europe and finally in Almora, India, near the Nepalese border. It was while reading a book by J. Krishnamurti that Ajahn Viradhammo re-lived his experiences of pure, non-dual awareness that he had had as a child. While living in India in 1969 he met the late Sāmanera Bodhesako, who introduced him to the teachings of the Buddha, which led him to travel to Thailand and become a novice at Wat Mahathat in 1973.^[3]

Monasteries in the UK, New Zealand and Canada[]

In 1977 Ajahn Chah asked him to join Ajahn Sumedho at the Hampstead Vihāra in London and later helped establish both the Chithurst Buddhist Monastery and Aruna Ratanagiri monastery in the UK, where he was abbot. In 1985 he was invited by the Wellington Theravāda Buddhist Association to move to New Zealand where he lived for 10 years, helping build . In 1995 he came to the UK to assist Ajahn Sumedho the then Abbot of Amarāvati.^[4] He stayed in the UK for four years before returning to New Zealand, where he lived until 2002.

Starting in 2002, Ajahn Viradhammo lived in Ottawa, caring for his mother until her death in 2011. In 2006, with the support of the Ottawa Buddhist Society, affiliated Buddhist groups in Ontario, Canada and abroad, Ajahn Viradhammo founded the Tisarana Buddhist Monastery, of which he is the abbot.^[5] The monastery is located in Perth, Ontario about sixty kilometers southwest of Ottawa.

Publications[]

• Viradhammo, Ajahn (2005), Stillness of Being
• Viradhammo, Ajahn (2017), The Contemplative's Craft : internalizing the teachings of the Buddha, ISBN 9780995170018

Audio Recordings[]

• Dhamma talks on iTunes
• Dhamma talks on Amaravati Web Site

References[]

External links[]

• Bodhinyānārāma monastery
• Amaravati monastery
• Tisarana monastery