Ayya Niyyānika is a fully ordained Buddhist monastic in the Theravada tradition. Ayya uses they/them pronouns.
Before becoming a monastic, Ayya Niyyānika balanced life in Minnesota between work as an ontology consultant for building management and emergency response systems, and practicing at Common Ground Meditation Center and its retreat property in Wisconsin.
Common Ground was Ayya Niyyānika’s first Buddhist community of practice. Common Ground’s depth of Dhamma practice and support of the Saṅgha inspired them to enter monastic life.
They received their initial monastic training within the Dhammadharini community from 2014 through 2019 in Sonoma County, CA, USA and then joined the Aloka Vihara community, near Placerville, CA, USA for three years. Practicing within these monastic communities gave them a deeper understanding of renunciation, importance of Saṇgha, and enhanced their wish to fully realize the goal of monastic life.
Ayya Niyyānika now has over six years of training as a Bhikkhunī. They are in the stage of monastic life called the Majjhima (middle) Years.
The past year and a bit have been a time of travel, integration, and deepening by practicing in Buddhist countries and visiting a variety of monastic and lay communities in the West, taking time for retreat and study as well as community involvement.
The next year may be the time for exploring starting a new monastery in Western Washington State, USA. Beginning in April, 2024, Ayyā Suvijjānā and Ayya Niyyānika will connect with each other and the lay community in Western Washington to see if the conditions are right.
For Ayya Niyyānika, living a life of wise and kind interdependence is critical to embodying an effective monastic life in today’s world. Embodiment based in compassion, wisdom, and equanimity is central to path development and is the focus of Ayya Niyyānika’s practice.