ABSTRACT
This interview explores the contemporary landscape of the Theravada Buddhist sangha from the transnational perspective of an American female monastic leader and bhikkhunī preceptor. Through discussion we gain vantage points both macro and micro, which open a remarkable view into 21st-century goals and challenges facing the contemporary sangha. With Venerable Ayyā Tathālokā, founding Abbess of Dhammadharini Monastery and Aranya Bodhi Awakening Forest Hermitage in California (USA), we engage in discourse that is both spiritually insightful and academic. The interview addresses topics including the bhikkhunī sangha, female international leaders, South/Southeast Asian nuns, Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, and supportive bhikkhu allies. Ayyā Tathālokā engages some of the core concepts and theory addressed in this edited volume, especially transculturality, agency, authority, and gender. She further speaks on capability and parity with monks, cultural conditioning and religion, voices from the younger generation, gender inclusivity, and the benefit of establishing excellent and well-integrated ‘manifold’ sanghas.
