December 28, 2025

Supatra, President, and Glenn, Secretary of the Dhammadharini Support Foundation, pictured at Jill’s Real Food Roadhouse in Jenner, California, where the Russian River flows into the Pacific Ocean - on the way to Aranya Bodhi Hermitage

2025 has been an extraordinary year as Dhammadharini begins growing and maturing into its 3rd decade.

While we continue to teach the Buddha Dhamma and support the regeneration of the Bhikkhuni Sangha at home and around the world, this anniversary year has been buzzing with activities, as I will highlight below.

Our 20th Anniversary celebration was greatly blessed with the sacred relics of Arahant Bhikkhuni Sanghamitta Theri and Arahat Bhikkhuni Anula Tissa Theri, which came to us from Sri Lanka through the liaising and facilitation of Sangha ambassadors. The venerable relics arrived in the evening in time to conclude our 20th Anniversary Day celebration with a holy finale.

This year Dhammadharini hosted 14 monastics for the Vassa, the highest number we have ever supported for the annual Buddhist monastic “Rains” retreat. Our Kathina returned this year to the pristine forest of Aranya Bodhi, as wished by our 2025 lead Kathina donors Buddhinie & Shamal with Dinesha, who devoted months to their year of serving as lead supporters for the Vassa and to preparing for Kathina. The ceremony was absolutely inspiring. We would like to express our thankfulness and anumodana to all generous donors.

This year saw many significant events. This spring, we held a 2-day Board of Directors and Monastic Leadership retreat at Aranya Bodhi for a dialogue on long-term organization-level priorities. Opening up, before Vassa, Dhammadharini monastics and lay ambassadors and delegation joined the Sakyadhita International Conference in Malaysia--the first time we had joined in a decade. During Vassa, we organized a daylong meditation retreat on the San Francisco Peninsula waterfront, to reach out anew and to reconnect with the mid- and south-Bay. A beautiful 20th Anniversary Dhammadharini documentary was produced and offered to us by Khun Waan (Warangkana Chomchuen), a reporter and award-winning filmmaker previously with VOA and now at CNN - the ‘short’ version offered for our anniversary day - the full length offered now at the end of this milestone year. Led by Wangmo, Lal, Dinesha, and Nuchada, after Kathina, we organized a big Benefit “Footsteps of the Bhikkhuni Arahants” event in Berkeley hosted by Dharma College, further reconnecting us to old friends and Sangha in the Bay. The “Footsteps of the Bhikkhuni Arahants” benefit featured the arrival of and meditation with a second wave of far more ancient holy relics from Sri Lanka: of Arahant Theri Mahapajapati Gotami and other prominent ancient foremost bhikkhuni Arahants, including foremost leading arahant theris Khema and Uppalavanna. This was followed by the benefit screening of the Sri Lankan feature film Gautama Buddha Mata, about the life and parinibbana of Mahapajapati Gotami (offered free by the film director for this special cause), and was followed by a benefit dinner offered for the whole lay community.

This benefit was in support of the groundbreaking inaugural “Footsteps of Mahapajapati: Honoring Women in Dhamma” pilgrimage reviving the ancient “Great Renunciation Trail” carika path. Funds raised were used to support Dhammadharini-related bhikkhunis locally and internationally to be able to participate, joined by Dhammadharini-related lay-aspirants, thirteen of whom undertook temporary ordination for the duration. The Dhamma-yatra pilgrimage began in Kapilavastu in Nepal, and followed the trail of the first Bhikkhuni ordained by the Buddha, the first female arahant, the Buddha’s mother Mahapajapati Gotami, from the birthplace of the Buddha to her parinibbana site in Vesali (Vaishali), India. This never-before global bhikkhuni-centric pilgrimage has been a vision and dream of our founding teacher Ayya Tathaloka Mahatheri since her last trip to India seven years ago, when she learned of the ancient great renunciation trail shared by the Buddha with Mahapajapati with the Courageous 500. Ayya T was a leading force on the Dhammadharini side, in partnership with other bhikkhuni leaders of UTBSI (United Theravada Bhikkhuni Sangha International) and 4 other organizations, in re-blazing this ancient carika walking pilgrimage trail.

And perhaps not so obvious an accomplishment this year: we were able to revive this newsletter, which you are reading right now. Thanks to the effort of our new, energetic, and talented Director of Development, Nuchada. Also not obvious, but no less important: due to this and other development efforts, Dhammadharini Support Foundation was, by the third quarter of 2025, able to make a comeback to a positive financial footing, after two years of donations not faltering, but not keeping up with locally-increased costs, especially insurance. This is a great accomplishment, for which we are enormously relieved, and grateful, and feel blessed.

All this buzzing could not have been accomplished without the immense generosity of donors and benefactors such as you, as well as the energy and care of countless committed volunteers. This year, we saw an increase in our larger community near and far who were inspired to contribute their experience to join work teams, committees, and the support foundation Board of Directors. This development is encouraging in the utmost as it takes a “big village” to overcome the challenge of maintaining a monastery and hermitage of our size in the Bay Area and supporting our bhikkhunis, both old and the new generation now rising up, in the Buddhist Bhikkhuni revival movement—your contributions, whether monetary, material, talent, or time, are all Dana of high merit. We humbly anumodana.

This year, we would like to acknowledge two long-serving leaders of our community who moved on. We sorely miss the presence of our dearest iconic vice-abbess and Dhamma teacher, Ayya Sobhana, who has accepted the position of abbot and teacher in residence at Empty Cloud Monastery in New Jersey. Sadhu! We also miss our recently-retired DD SF vice-president Bob Flax, who has patiently contributed his experience and skill to serve on the Board for 5 years. We are grateful beyond words for their consistent contribution and guidance and wish them success in the path they choose to walk--while we call on the next-generation of supporting monastic and lay leadership in virtue to rise up!

As we turn a page to the New Year, the Board wants to express deep gratitude to Ayya Tathaloka, Ven Bhikkhuni Kaccayana and Ven Bhikkhuni Thavira for your guidance, and Anagarika Ariyamanda and Anagarika Ariyalocana, together with all the venerable monastics who have been with us and offered teachings for us, and studied, practiced, learned and grown with us at Dhammadharini in our 20th Anniversary year. We also want to express our deep gratitude to all lay upasakas and upasikas who have joined us for the teachings (both offering and benefiting from them)--and to all venerable Bhikkhus and Samaneras!-- who have contributed your resources, talent, and time and energy to sustain us in our important role in the greater Bhikkhuni-revival Fourfold Sangha, for the well-being and benefit of all of us in the Buddha Sasana.

May the Power and Benevolence of the Triple Gem be with you throughout the New Year.

Supatra  Chowchuvech