COMMUNITY
Ajahn Kongrit Ratanavaṇṇo – Abbot
Ajahn Kongrit Ratanavaṇṇo was born in Korat, northeast Thailand, in 1971. After completing his military conscription, he made the decision to become a monk for three months in accordance with Thai tradition in 1992. However, those initial three months turned into an extended period, and he has remained a monk up until the present time.
Following five years of training at Wat Bueng Saensook in Korat, Ajahn Ratanavaṇṇo moved to Wat Pah Nanachat, Ubon in 1997. There, he not only learned to speak English but also served as one of the abbot's assistant and as the monastery secretary who helped the sangha with their visa. In 1999, he had the opportunity to spend a year at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California before eventually settling down at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in 2001.
At the beginning of 2023, he was invited to take on the role of abbot at Lokuttara Vihara in Norway.
Ajahn Ñāṇadassano
Ajahn Nyanadassano was born in Czechoslovakia and grew up with his Russian father in Latvia.
Ajahn Nyanadassano ordained as a monk in 2002 at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery and was also trained as a junior monk at Chithurst Monastery in Hampshire and at Wat Pah Nanachat in Thailand. After completing his Navaka training Ajahn Nyanadassano lived and practiced in different monasteries of Ajahn Chah tradition in the West and in Asia. Early in 2023 he was invited to support Ajahn Kongrit as the new abbot of Lokuttara Vihara and is now planning to spend time between Amaravati and Lokuttara Vihara for the foreseeable future.
Samanera Jotipañño
Samanera Jotipanno was born in Portugal in 1992. He served in the Portuguese Army from 2012 to 2015. After meeting the monks for the first time in 2015, he decided to leave the military and flew to England to become an Anagarika. He took the Anagarika precepts in 2016 under the guidance of Ajahn Amaro. This was at Amaravati Monastery. He became a Samanera in 2017 and returned to lay life after his one-year commitment. He returned to monastic life in November 2022 and has been living at Lokuttara Vihara since April 2023.
Anagārika Albrecht
Anagarika Albrecht was born in Germany in 2000. He grew up and finished high school in Leipzig.
After that, his interest in Buddhism arose, and in 2019, he went to a Vietnamese monastery in the east of Germany for two weeks. Until the end of 2022, he had spent a total of more than one year in that monastery.
In the summer of 2022, he came to Lokuttara Vihara for the first time. It was in December of that year when he decided to move to Lokuttara Vihara to ordain as an Anagarika later in 2023.
He now stays at Lokuttara Vihara with the intention of continuing and becoming a Samanera in the Thai forest tradition one day.