Further Centres
The International Meditation Centre at Chomtong in the Chiang Mai district of Thailand, which is affiliated to Wat Phradhatu Sri Chomtong Voravihara, is run by Khun Kathryn Chindaporn. Khun Kathryn has been a disciple of the Venerable Ajahn Tong since 1986.
She completed her studies of the Palikanon and Abhidhamma in 1987 and began teaching at the Buddhist University in Chiang Mai in 1999. She teaches Western meditators at the International Centre and has served as the translator of the Venerable Ajahn Tong on numerous trips.
She has also translated various texts and books.
Khun Kathryn is a highly experienced meditation teacher and has been teaching in Thailand and around the world for over 20 years. She was awarded by Her Highness the Thai Princess for her contribution to the teaching and spread of Vipassana meditation.
Khun Thanat Chindaporn was in charge of the International Department until his death on 31 March 2022. Khun Thanat began practising in 1985 under the guidance of the Venerable Ajahn Tong Sirimangalo. In 1986 he began his training as a meditation teacher and from 1988 he taught Vipassana meditation. He established the International Department, taught meditation and trained a large number of Western meditation teachers. He has contributed to the spread of Buddhist teachings and Vipassana meditation in many parts of the world during numerous trips abroad together with his wife Kathryn.
The Dhammacari Vipassana Meditation Centre is located in Sonnenthal near Allgramsdorf/Rottenburg a.d. Laaber. It is embedded in the hilly landscape of Lower Bavaria and offers ideal conditions for meditation due to its quiet location.
In September 2004, at the suggestion of Venerable Ajahn Tong, the Dhammacari Vipassana Meditation Centre was founded with the aim of establishing a meditation centre in Germany. This was opened in February 2006 in Sonnenthal (near Munich). Since then Hildegard Huber has been living and teaching there. In addition, other teachers authorised by the Venerable Ajahn Tong to teach lead courses in this centre at regular intervals.
Hildegard Huber has been a disciple of Venerable Ajahn Tong Sirimangalo since 1992. In 1998 he authorised her as a Vipassana teacher and gave her the name Dhammacari. In 2004 she gave up her worldly professional life altogether. Through her own meditation practice of many years, she is able to convey the acquired knowledge and realisation of the teachings in a form that is understandable to all. But not only does she pass on her knowledge, with her gentle nature she accompanies her students in a sensitive way in their meditations.
In a deeper sense, this is expressed in the name Dhammacari: a Dhammacari is a person who practices the Dhamma - or is in the Dhamma - a person who grows in the Dhamma. A Dhammacari in not necessarily a person who studies a lot, who gains great knowledge of all kinds of scholarly work, who has a perfect memory, who can recite whole scriptures and chants, who has great ideas or writes beautiful stories, poems or books about the teaching. A dhammacari is someone who has attained knowledge through the practice of vipassana meditation, who receives it from within, and someone who recognises all things as they really are.
The Dhammanikhom Vipassana Meditation Centre is located in Brandenburg near Cottbus. With the blessing and order of the Most Venerable Phra Prom Mongkol Vi (Venerable Phra Ajarn Tong Sirimangalo), the Buddhist teachings and Vipassanā meditation (insight or mindfulness meditation) are taught and promoted. It is also a place where nuns or aspirants can practise Vipassanā meditation and follow the monastic path.
The spiritual director is Venerable Bhikkhuni Silavaddhani. She has been involved in Buddhism since 1997 and has been practising Vipassana since 2006, ordaining in Thailand in early 2010 as an aspirant (Maechee) with Venerable Phra Ajarn Tong Sirimangalo as mentor.
This was followed by ordination as a novice (samaneri) in Sri Lanka in June 2012 with Venerable Rahatungoda Saddha Sumana Bhikkhuni as mentor.
With the approval and support of her teachers and mentors, she received Higher Ordination as a Bhikkhuni in January 2019 with Venerable Rahatungoda Saddha Sumana Bhikkhuni as her instructor (Pavattini) and Most Venerable Waskaduwe Mahindawansa Maha Nayaka Thero as her instructor.
From April 2010 to December 2016 she lived in a Thai temple near Frankfurt am Main. In the summer of 2015, she was entrusted by the Venerable Phra Ajarn Tong Sirimangalo to establish and lead another Vipassana meditation centre in Germany. Since 2018 she has been living and teaching at the Dhammanikhom Vipassana Meditation Centre in Heinersbrück near Cottbus.
The name of the meditation centre Dhammanikhom Vipassanā-Meditation Centre was bestowed by Venerable Phra Prom Mongkol Vi and refers to a community of people who come together to live and practise the Dhamma. It can be translated as Dhamma community.
For more centres & groups in the tradition of Venerable Ajarn Tong Sirimangalo, visit the Dhammanikhom Vipassana Meditation Centre page.