Jump to content

Ayya Khema

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused withAyu Khandro.
Ayya Khema
Titlebhikkhunī
Personal
Born
Ilse Kussel

(1923-08-25)August 25, 1923
Berlin, Germany
DiedNovember 2, 1997(1997-11-02)(aged 74)
ReligionTheravada
Nationality
  • German
  • American
Senior posting
TeacherVen.Narada Maha Thera
(first ordination)
Ven.Hsing Yun
(second ordination)

Ayya Khema(bornIlse Kussel;August25, 1923[1]– November 2, 1997) was aBuddhistteachernoted for providing opportunities forwomento practice Buddhism,[2]founding several centers around the world. In 1987, she helped coordinate the first-everSakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women.Over two dozen books of her transcribed Dhamma talks inEnglishandGermanhave been published. In the last year of her life, she also published herautobiography:I Give You My Life.

Biography

[edit]

Born asIlse KusselinBerlin,Germany in 1923 toJewishparents.[3][1]In 1938, her parents escaped from Germany and traveled to China while plans were made for Khema to join two hundred other children emigrating toGlasgow,Scotland.[4]After two years in Scotland, Khema joined her parents inShanghai.[5]With the outbreak of the war, Japan conquered Shanghai and the family was moved into theShanghai GhettoinHongkewwhere her father died five days before the war ended.[6]

At age twenty-two, Khema married a man seventeen years her senior named Johannes and they moved to an apartment in theHongkou District.[7]In 1947, her first child, a daughter named Irene, was born.[8]As thePeople's Liberation Armywere on the cusp of taking Shanghai, Khema and her family fled forSan Francisco,California,United States.[9]From San Francisco, Khema moved toLos Angelesand thenSan Diegowhere she gave birth to her second child, a son named Jeffrey.[10]

Soon, Khema began feeling incomplete and investigated various spiritual paths,[11]an interest her husband didn't share.[12]This led to their divorce.[13]Khema moved with her infant son to Rancho La Puerta inTecate,Mexico, to study the philosophy of theEsseneswith Professor Edmund Skekely.[14]There she married her second husband, Gerd.[15]The whole family soon becamevegetarian,a practice Khema continued until her death.[16]

The three traveled for years, visitingSouth America,New Zealand,Australia,Pakistan,then settling inSydney,Australia, where Khema began to study with Phra Khantipalo.[17]

To further her studies, Khema traveled to San Francisco to studyZenat theSan Francisco Zen Center[17]and worked atTassajara Zen Mountain Centerfor three months.[18]She then spent three weeks inBurmawhere she studied meditation with students ofU Ba Khin.[19]

In 1978, Khema founded the Wat Buddha Dhamma forest monastery inNew South Walesand installed Phra Khantipalo as abbot.[17]

Khema's desire to become aBuddhist nunled her toThailandwhere she studied with Tan Ajahn Singtong for three months.[20]Sri Lanka was her next destination where she metNyanaponika Therawho introduced her toNarada Maha Thera.[21]Narada Thera gave her the name "Ayya Khema".[22]

A 1983 return trip to Sri Lanka, led her to meet her teacher,Ven. Matara Sri ÑānarāmaofNissarana Vanaya,who inspired her to teachjhanameditation.[23]As it was not possible at the time to organize an ordination ceremony for bhikkhunis in the Theravada tradition, Ayya Khema then received complete monastic ordination at the newly builtHsi Lai Temple,a Chinese Mahayana temple under theFo Guang Shan Buddhist Order,in 1988.[24][2]

Khema was one of the organizers of the first International Conference on Buddhist Women in 1987[25]which led to the foundation of theSakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women.[26]

In 1989, Khema returned to Germany and began teaching at Buddha Haus inMunich.[27]

According to Ayya Khema's own account, she had been suffering frombreast cancersince 1983. In 1993, she underwent amastectomyoperation in Germany. During a five-week recovery period in the hospital she almost died, but her condition was expeditiously stabilized by the medics. In an interview she expressed a positive opinion of that experience.[28]

There were two days in the hospital, when I had that feeling, that the energy was leaving, through the feet actually. There was a collapse of the whole system... Losing one's life energy is actually a very pleasant state, because there's less self-assertion, I mean you haven't got the energy to assert yourself. So things are more acceptable, everything is acceptable, it's fine the way it is... One could say that action of dying, if there's no resistance, is extremely pleasant... That seemed to be less and less life energy within the body, and I just was relaxing into that. I was perfectly willing to let it happen, but then these doctors came round... My blood pressure just went way down, waaay down, I mean like almost not happening, and that's when you lose all your energy... It was a very interesting experience and now I can see it's extremely pleasant. It's just letting go and disappearing, and it's very nice.

Ayya Khema died on November 2, 1997, at Buddha Haus, Uttenbühl (part of the villageOy-Mittelberg) in Germany after fourteen years with breast cancer.[29]Her ashes are kept in astupaat Buddha Haus.[27]

Publications

[edit]
  • Being Nobody, Going Nowhere: Meditations on the Buddhist Path,Wisdom Publications,1987,ISBN978-0861711987
  • When the Iron Eagle Flies: Buddhism for the West,Wisdom Publications, 1991ISBN978-0861711697
  • Who is myself? A guide to Buddhist meditation(commentary on thePoṭṭhapāda Sutta), Wisdom Publications, 1997,ISBN978-0861711277
  • I Give You My Life(autobiography),Shambhala Publications,1997,ISBN978-1570625718
  • Come and See for Yourself: The Buddhist Path to Happiness,Windhorse Publications, 1998,ISBN978-1899579457
  • Be an Island: The Buddhist practice of Inner Peace,Wisdom Publications, 1999,ISBN978-0861711475
  • Visible Here and Now: The Buddhist Teachings on the Rewards of Spiritual Practice(commentary on theSamaññaphala Sutta), Shambhala Publications, 2001,ISBN978-1570624926
  • Know Where You're Going: A Complete Buddhist Guide to Meditation, Faith, and Everyday Transcendence(retitled republication ofWhen the Iron Eagle Flies), Wisdom Publications, 2014,ISBN978-1614291930
  • The Meditative Mind(retitled republication ofTo Be Seen Here And Now),Buddhist Publication Society,2012,ISBN978-9552403859
  • Within Our Own Hearts,Buddhist Publication Society, 2012,ISBN978-9552402906

Bodhi Leaf Publications (BPS)

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
Citations
  1. ^abKhema 1998,p. 5.
  2. ^abKeller & Ruether 2006,p. 650.
  3. ^Wheeler 1999.
  4. ^Khema 1998,p. 14.
  5. ^Khema 1998,p. 21-24.
  6. ^Khema 1998,p. 30-34.
  7. ^Khema 1998,p. 35.
  8. ^Khema 1998,p. 36.
  9. ^Khema 1998,p. 37.
  10. ^Khema 1998,p. 40-42.
  11. ^Khema 1998,p. 42-43.
  12. ^Khema 1998,p. 44.
  13. ^Khema 1998,p. 45.
  14. ^Khema 1998,p. 46.
  15. ^Khema 1998,p. 47.
  16. ^Khema 1998,p. 48.
  17. ^abcKeown & Prebish 2013,p. 444.
  18. ^Khema 1998,p. 130-131.
  19. ^Khema 1998,p. 131-132.
  20. ^Khema 1998,p. 145.
  21. ^Khema 1998,p. 150.
  22. ^Khema 1998,p. 152.
  23. ^Khema 1998,p. 176-177.
  24. ^Khema 1998,p. 181-182.
  25. ^Lopez 2002,p. 182.
  26. ^"Brief History of Sakyadhita International".Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women.RetrievedApril 21,2016.
  27. ^abKeown & Prebish 2013,p. 445.
  28. ^Ayya Khema discussion about death with Ann Hershey part 1YouTube
    Ayya Khema discussion about death with Ann Hershey part 2YouTube
  29. ^Friedman 2000,p. 317.
Bibliography
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related toAyya Khema.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ayya_Khema&oldid=1219997562"