Sunada was ordained in 2004 and given her name which means “beautiful, excellent sounding”. It’s a reflection not only of her love of music, but also of spreading the beautiful teachings of the dharma. In addition to offering events at Aryaloka, she also co-leads the Boston Sangha, which meets in Arlington MA. She is a Certified Instructor of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and teaches public classes in the Boston area, and also coaches individual clients in living more mindful, purposeful lives (see also www.mindfulpurpose.com).

Surakshita came to Aryaloka in 1988 and found his Buddhist home. In 1998 he was ordained by Subhuti. His name means “Well protected by the Buddha.” Surakshita is married to Susan and has two sons who are married to beautiful women and four grandchildren who are the best! Susan and he are retired and thoroughly enjoying it.

Vidhuma’s name is a Pali expression that translates into “No impurities” or “No obscurations.” Historically it was an epithet sometimes used to describe the Buddha’s dedicated followers. He was ordained in 1997, after first coming into contact with Aryaloka eight years earlier.

Viriyalila, whose name means “playful, spontaneous, creative energy in pursuit of the Good,” has been meditating and practicing Buddhism since 1994. Ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 2005, she has a passion for collaborative organizational teamwork and has served on a variety of councils at local, national and international levels including Aryaloka and Portsmouth Buddhist Centers. She has a passion for the arts, Buddhist rituals, and Dharma study along with her livelihood as an Acupuncturist and Chinese Herbalist.

I grew up in Hamilton, Scotland in the 1950s and 60s. In my teenage years I was looking for, well, ‘something,’ and visited everything from Anarchists to Zoroastrians. I visited the FWBO Glasgow centre in 1973, and it turned out that what I was looking for was the Dharma. I moved into the Glasgow community almost immediately. I was Ordained by Bhante in the summer of 1976 In 1980, I moved to the recently opened London Buddhist Centre, to work in Windhorse Associates, the Movement’s design right livelihood.

Dh. Singhaśūrī (Lona Kovacs) has been involved in the Triratna Buddhist Order, Aryaloka and Portsmouth Buddhist Center Sangha’s since 2001. She was ordained in 2022 at Akashavana Retreat Center, on a 3-month ordination retreat in the mountains of Spain. She has been a yoga and meditation practitioner for over 30 years and on the teaching team for yoga and meditation retreats at Aryaloka since 2001. She owned and operated a School of Ashtanga Yoga for 6 years in NH.

Shantimukta,  whose name means “she who finds freedom through peace”, has been practicing with Triratna since March 2005 and  was ordained in 2021 at Aryaloka.  She teaches online mitra classes and is on the coordination team to support women who have asked for ordination.  She has an affinity for silent retreats and being outdoors.  She lives in northern VT and is actively involved in martial arts as a path of practice, including karate and taiji.

Dh Shraddhavani is part of the team running the Portsmouth Buddhist Center. She has been practicing yoga and meditation for 25 years and has been practicing and leading meditation for over a decade at Portsmouth Buddhist Center and Aryaloka. She was ordained in 2018.  

Cittavān first arrived at Aryaloka in 1995 on a search for a meditation teacher. In the following years, his depth of engagement with Buddhism and the Triratna community deepened, which culminated in his ordination in 2017. The name Cittavān (pronounced Chit-ah-von) means" kind hearted, intelligent." 

Cittavān's livelihood is in the biotechnology realm and his interests include supporting retreats at Aryaloka, yin yoga, meditation, music, history, submerging in nature and hiking in the New England 4000 footers.