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ABOUT AJAHN VIRADHAMMO
Ajahn Viradhammo was born at Esslingen in Germany in 1947 to Latvian refugee parents. They moved to Toronto when he was five years old. He studied engineering at the University of Toronto but became disillusioned with academic life, and left in 1969 to go and work in Germany. Later, while living in India, he encountered Buddhism, meeting the late Samanera Bodhesako, who introduced him to the writings of Venerable Nanavira Thera. He eventually travelled to Thailand to become a samanera at Wat Mahathat and ordained in 1974 at Wat Pah Pong. He was one of the first residents at Wat Pah Nanachat, an international forest monastery of Ajahn Chah.
Having spent four years in Thailand, he went back to visit his family in Canada and Germany in 1977. Instead of returning to Thailand, he was asked by Ajahn Chah to join Ajahn Sumedho at the Hampstead Vihara in London. In subsequent years, he was involved in the establishment of both Chithurst and Harnham monasteries.
In 1985, on invitation by the Wellington Theravada Buddhist Association, he moved to New Zealand, accompanied by Venerable Thanavaro. Ajahn Viradhammo was the abbot of Bodhinyanarama Forest Monastery near Wellington from 1985 to 1994. He then rejoined his teacher Ajahn Sumedho in England and became the abbot of Amaravati. He returned to New Zealand in the summer of 1999. Ajahn Viradhammo recently returned to Ottawa for a long-term visit to take care of his mother. He is currently involved in a number of teaching activities with the Ottawa Buddhist Society and other Buddhist groups in Canada.