Sati Saraniya Buddhist Nunnery

The vision for Sati Saraniya Hermitage was conceived in April, 2007 during Ayya Medhanandi’s second teaching visit to Ottawa while she was still based overseas. A group of supporters from Buddhist communities in Ottawa and Toronto invited her to return to Canada and offered to help plant the seed for a nun’s monastery in Ontario. By September, 2007, Sati Saraniya Hermitage was registered as a Canadian charity (#847237419RR0001) and became established in the city of Ottawa in April, 2008 before moving to a forested 47-acre property in Lanark County outside the town of Perth.

The Hermitage name emulates two vital principles for skilful living: ‘sati‘ and ‘saraniya’ – ‘wise insight’ or ‘mindfulness’; and ‘reconciliation’. When pronounced without the Pali diacritcals (long a’s and long i), ‘saraniya’ also lends beautiful meaning to ‘sati’ – remembering mindfulness!

Contemplative nuns on a life path of virtue, wisdom, and compassionate action are rare in our modern chaotic and often troubled society. They provide an opportunity for women interested in fulfilling their highest potential as human beings to undertake a life of simplicity, seclusion and moral commitment while developing a heart of peace through meditation practice. Their presence creates a unique resource for spiritual dialogue, inner resilience, and social responsibility in the wider community.

“Now is the time when our action is practice. . .
with a noble mind, pure and generous,
we will spread joy around us,
we will feel great peace,
and we will be able to communicate that peace
to others.”

– His Holiness The Dalai Lama

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