Thai forest tradition · Ajahn Chah's lineage
Ajahn Sumedho
Luang Por Sumedho
หลวงพ่อสุเมโธ
born 1934 Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, England
Ajahn Chah's first Western disciple to teach, and the monk who brought the forest tradition to Europe: founding abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat, Chithurst, and Amaravati.
Ajahn Sumedho was born in Seattle in 1934. After serving in the US Navy and in the Peace Corps, he ordained in Thailand and went to train with Ajahn Chah in the northeast.
In 1975 he became the first abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat, the monastery Ajahn Chah founded for Westerners. Two years later he went to England, and in 1979 established Cittaviveka, Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, in West Sussex, followed in 1984 by Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire — the beginnings of the forest tradition in the West.
His teaching is known for its warmth and simplicity: an invitation to rest in awareness, just as it is, here and now. He retired as abbot of Amaravati in late 2010.