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Ajahn Pasanno took ordination in Thailand in 1974 with Venerable Phra Khru Nanasirivatana as preceptor. During his first year as a monk he was taken by his teacher to meet Ajahn Chah, with whom he asked to be allowed to stay and train. One of the early residents of Wat Pah Nanachat, Ajahn Pasanno became its abbot in his ninth year. During his incumbency Wat Pah Nanachat developed considerably, both in physical size and in reputation. Ajahn Pasanno became a well-known and highly respected monk and Dhamma teacher in Thailand.
Ajahn Pasanno moved to California on New Year's Eve of 1997 to share the abbotship of Abhayagiri with Ajahn Amaro. In 2010, Ajahn Amaro accepted an invitation to serve as abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England. Ajahn Pasanno is now sole abbot of Abhayagiri.
Ajahn Punnadhammo has been studying and practicing Buddhism since 1979 and was ordained in Thailand in the forest tradition of Ajahn Chah (novice ordination Feb. 1991, higher ordination Feb. 1992). Between 1990 and 1995 he was based at Wat Pah Nanachat, Thailand. Punnadhammo is a Canadian, born Michael Dominskyj in Toronto in 1955. He began studying the Dhamma under Kema Ananda, the founder and first teacher at the Arrow River Center.
Tan Ajahn Vajiro was born in Malaysia in 1953. He met Ven. Ajahn Chah and Ven. Ajahn Sumedho at the Hampstead Vihara in 1977. He joined the community in London in 1978. In 1979 he went to Wat Pah Nanchat and received upasampadā from Ven. Ajahn Chah at Wat Pah Pong in 1980. Tan Ajahn Vajiro returned to England in 1984, and assisted with the establishment of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery. He lived in the monasteries in the UK for many years and then went to New Zealand followed by Australia. He returned to Amaravati in 2001. In 2010, he was formally invited to Portugal to help establish a monastery of the Forest Tradition there named Sumedhārāma. From the beginning of Vassa, 2012 (July), he has been living in Portugal.
Tan Kondañño was raised in Pittsburgh, PA. His first exposure to the Dhamma occurred while on an Aikido retreat at Mt. Baldy Zen center in the late 90’s. After a short stint with Zen, he began to regularly attend and serve Goenka Vipassana courses. In 2009, he moved to Cobb, CA in order to assist in the development of the Northern California Vipassana Center. He began visiting Abhayagiri in 2011 with the desire to diversify and deepen his practice. Tan Kondañño went forth as an Anagārika on May 17, 2014, took Sāmaṇera precepts on June 9, 2015 and took full Bhikkhu precepts on June 5, 2016.
Venerable Khemako was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1959 into a large Catholic family and received his education from priests and nuns at the local Church-run schools. His long-standing interest in the core questions of philosophy and religion led him to begin lay Buddhist practice in 1997. Eventually he abandoned a career in Silicon Valley and found his way into the order of monks, ordaining as a Bhikkhu on June 2, 2012 with Ajahn Pasanno as preceptor, at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California. In June of 2014 Ven. Khemako moved to Tisarana.
