Thāvirā Bhikkhunī

August 6, 2025

Scenes from the offering of this sacred earth at Dhammadharini Monastery on Poson Poya, June 11th 2025

Late last year, looking forward to the 20th anniversary celebration, Ayya Tathaloka had an inspiration: 

She herself had felt such benefit from visiting and touching the sites of stupas dedicated to the ancient arahant Bhikkhunis – from spending time in their presence and feeling a tangible connection through the Earth element together with the awakened minds of these great enlightened women. 

Through the news of an American bhikkhu friend on pilgrimage, she heard of a Buddhist monk in India who had collected ‘sacred earth’--a kind of ‘contact relics’--from the stupas at the four great pilgrimage sites associated with the Buddha, and made and blessed small stupas incorporating the ‘sacred earth’, which he then gave away as a sacred gift to monks on pilgrimage, including our bhikkhu friend.

Connecting these things, Ayya Tathaloka had the idea to do something similar, enlisting the participation of friends and venerables in South Asia to receive collections of sacred earth from the four ancient Arahant Theri stupa sites of India and Sri Lanka, bringing them together here at Dhammadharini as a special gift for our bhikkhunis. With added inspiration from one of the participants, ‘sacred earth’ ended up being collected from five stupas of Etadagga Mahā Sāvikās–Foremost Leading Women Disciples of the Buddha. 

'Sacred earth' from ancient Arahant Leading Theris Stupas in India & Sri Lanka:

In India

1. Maha Arahats Mahapajapati Gotami & Bhikkhuni Founders Parinibbana Stupa, Vaishali

2. Maha Arahat Uppalavanna Theri Great Miracle Stupa, Sankissa

3. Maha Upasika Visakha Stupa, Sarnath

In Sri Lanka

4. Maha Arahat Sanghamitta Theri Cremation Stupa, Anuradhapura

5. Anula Tissa Theri Bone Relics Stupa, Mihintale

Above are scenes from the offering of this sacred earth at Dhammadharini Monastery on Poson Poya, June 11th 2025.