Bodhivana Stephanie Longmire

June 26, 2026

My name is Stephanie Longmire and I am a 35 year old Black woman from Detroit, MI on a journey of inner purification and self-discovery. Throughout my life, I have learned about and joined a number of spiritualities and ultimately landed on Buddhism as my personal foundation for spiritual sustenance and stability. My instantaneous connection to it was undeniable. I resonated with it from every angle, completely captivated by it and wondering where it had been all my life. All I wanted to do was learn more. So I did. I flew to California monasteries while living in Detroit. While there, I asked everything and soaked in all that I could. Going to a Monastery is a very interesting thing to do. You arrive in a world that is completely normal to everyone in it yet so strange to everyone you know. Regardless, it has become a home. It is a world within a world, a space of centering and realignment.

I grew up extremely Christian. My life in the church was a good one. I sang in the Youth Choir, served on the Usher, attended Jesus Camp and Vacation Bible School in the Summer time, attended church conferences, performed in the liturgical dance group, memorized speech, acted in plays, volunteered in the community, attended Sunday School, and so much more. I was completely devoted. In my devotion, I decided to read the Bible, individually, cover-to-cover. In doing so, I came up with a slew of new questions and curiosities. The Bible’s alignment with me began to decrease as I allowed my mind to open to who I really was and what I really felt, regardless of how I was raised. This spawned a beautiful bountiful journey of healing,

self-discovery, and soul searching. That searching led me to open my mind and soul to nature, the elements, the animals, and how everything is in its own alignment with or without my human input. I begin to feel noble, regal, and small in the best ways

I continued to visit monasteries, both with male monks and female monks. At Dhammadharini, I stayed for longer periods of time and locked with a more supreme, dialed-in structure. Starting off under the Nekkhama precepts for a couple of visits, I eventually found myself ready to understand the next step of the Anagarika form. I rid myself of my street clothes and traded them for white ones. After a few visits as a regular visitor, and then a few as a Nekkhama, I was finally really to step into my space as an Anagarika.

It was an absolute honor to have my hair shaved, don the white robes, eat from an Alms bowl, and be given a Pali name: Bodhivana, “Grove of Wisdom”. The process was full of emotions. I am a city gal turned momentary mini- monk, and I hope most of all that I served the monks and the monastery well. My intent was to shed what I could and then observe myself polished and prim. I came out a version of myself who is far more accepting of whoever and however I am, especially when I am nowhere near polished and prim. I have clarity, love, and compassion for self, and that is what keeps me aligned and afloat as I return to the rigor of city life after experiencing such a haven. I am forever grateful.

Stephanie Longmire

Anagarika Bodhivana