Changing My Life’s Direction: Ven. Silananda Tells Her Story
By Venerable Silananda
Venerable Silananda at her bhikkhuni ordination. (Photo by Lee Cobert.)
On November 21, 2025, in Port Townsend, Washington, USA, dalhikamma (re-ordination ceremony in the Theravada tradition) was conferred upon Venerable Silananda Bhikkhuni (formerly Ven. Thubten Kunga Bhikshuni). A total of eight bhikkhunis and six bhikkhus were present to welcome Ven. Silananda into the Theravada tradition. She is now a member of the Parayana Vihara bhikkhuni community in Port Townsend, under the leadership of Ayya Anandabodhi. Her name, Silananda, means “Blissful in Virtue.” Below she recounts the path that led her to his occasion.
Each person’s spiritual path in life is unique, and it is up to each of us to chart it. Though we may need to ask for lots of help along the way, no one else can do this work for us. While forging the path, we become more aware of the conditioning we’ve received and also become more deliberate about the conditioning we’re creating for the future.
Like many other people, the first part of my life was focused on figuring out how to get what I needed to survive and making sense and meaning of the world. I was born Christina Clare Manriquez and grew up as the only child of a Caucasian-American mother and a father who immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines when he was 16. We lived in a condominium in the city of Alexandria, located about 10 miles south of Washington, DC, in Virginia.
All of my cousins lived far away, so I spent a lot of time alone when I wasn’t at school or with my mother, who had stopped working to raise me. My dad had a well-paying, stable job, so we were solidly middle class and I never worried about food or money. My parents’ marriage ended when I was around 10 years old, but they continued living under the same roof to co-parent me until I left for college.
I attended a small private grade and middle school with strict discipline and required uniforms. I excelled in academics but was not very good at athletics. Both of my parents were raised Catholic, and they forced me to go to Sunday school and complete all the sacraments up through Holy Communion. I also attended a Catholic college-prep high school near my home and again wore a uniform.
I grew up with a lot of resentment toward Catholicism because of its misogyny and homophobia, and I wanted nothing to do with religion until I studied Buddhism during my last college semester at the University of Virginia. I started out as a psychology major but switched to sociology, with a minor in anthropology, because I wanted to understand why there was so much suffering in the world. The most valuable sociological theory I learned was deconstructionism, which mirrors a tenet of Buddhist philosophy that all “truths” are merely conventional and collectively designated.
Mental suffering pervaded my life starting in my pre-teen years, and I tried to escape it as a young person by indulging in many unhealthy kinds of sense pleasures. However, I reached a point in my mid-20’s where I realized that sex, drugs, and rock and roll were not the route to fulfillment.
Teaching English to young monks in Nepal, 2016. (Photo courtesy of Ven. Silananda.)
I returned to graduate school and earned a master’s degree in public administration so I could have a stable career that benefited society. I did an internship at the U.S. Department of State and worked there after I graduated in the Population, Refugee, and Migration Bureau for seven years. I enjoyed working in the humanitarian assistance field and visiting exotic parts of the world. However, I did not always agree with the ethics behind U.S. government policies and couldn’t find many role models I wanted to emulate.
I ran into many obstacles trying to make a career switch, and meanwhile my long-term relationship fell apart when my partner and I started developing different interests. A friend started to take me to a weekly insight meditation group, and I realized while meditating there that I had to change my life’s direction if I were to be truly happy.
I quit my job, moved out of my apartment, and gave away my car and most of my possessions. First, I traveled to Nepal to teach English to child monks and visited many Buddhist temples and monasteries. I stayed for three weeks at the Japanese Zen monastery Upaya in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and participated in the Exploring Monastic Life program at the Tibetan Buddhist monastery Sravasti Abbey near Spokane, Washington. I immediately felt at home at the Abbey and felt I had finally found role models that I wanted to become.
Head-shaving Ceremony preparing to take anagarika precepts at Sravasti Abbey, Washington State, USA, in 2017. (Photo courtesy of Ven. Silananda.)
Established by Venerable Thubten Chodron Bhikshuni in 2003, Sravasti Abbey is one of a handful of monastic training centers in North America. The community of monks and nuns there is very ethical, joyful, and stable, and it felt like the right container to help me transition from a lay person to a monastic. I went through all the stages leading up to monastic ordination—living as a long-term guest at the monastery, completing an anagarika (postulancy) period, and receiving novice ordination in 2019.
As soon as I received the precepts, I felt safe, as if I no longer had to worry about the direction my life was heading. The first two years of training were still very difficult because I had to come face to face with all the bad habits I had practiced for so long to run away from my pain. I had to learn how to become my own friend and to never give up on myself, as I had often done before.
I traveled to Taiwan in 2024 to take full ordination as a bhikshuni in the Dharmaguptaka monastic lineage followed in Mahayana Buddhism. During my time at the Abbey, however, I felt increasingly called to explore the Theravada Buddhist tradition, which seemed to better align with my inclination towards the Pali Canon and certain kinds of meditative practices.
Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to meet senior Theravada teacher Ayya Anandabodhi Bhikkhuni, who had trained in the Thai forest tradition, which I find most inspiring. Ayya Anandabodhi had recently moved to the Pacific Northwest to establish a contemplative nuns community called Parayana Vihara, where I now live. I felt a natural resonance with her intuitive style of practice, and I appreciated the vihara’s emphasis on meditation and sutta study.
(Photo by Lee Cobert.)
A Dalhikamma re-ordination ceremony was performed in November 2025 in which I officially joined the Theravada Bhikkhuni Sangha, with Ayya Anandabodhi as my preceptor. A total of fourteen bhikkhus and bhikkhunis traveled from up and down the West Coast, Canada, and New Jersey to participate in this historic event, which had never before been performed in Washington State.
Though my monastic journey hasn’t exactly been linear, I have grown and benefited enormously from all I have learned along the way. Monasticism isn’t for everyone, but I believe it is the most meaningful way for me to spend my life, and it helps me to fulfill my potential as a Buddhist practitioner.
I am eternally grateful to great teachers like Venerable Thubten Chodron and Ayya Anandabodhi who blazed a path for younger nuns to follow in their footsteps. I am also grateful to my parents and the countless sentient beings who enabled me to be where I am today. I sincerely hope to repay their kindness by practicing well and doing what I can to help alleviate the root causes of suffering in the world.
Gathered bhikkhunis, bhikkhus, and lay supporters at the Dalhikamma (reordination ceremony) of Venerable Silananda. A grant for monastic travel expenses to the event was made by Alliance for Bhikkhunis thanks to the generosity of its many donors. (Photo by Lee Cobert.)
Changing My Life’s Direction: Ven. Silananda Tells Her Story
By Venerable Silananda
On November 21, 2025, in Port Townsend, Washington, USA, dalhikamma (re-ordination ceremony in the Theravada tradition) was conferred upon Venerable Silananda Bhikkhuni (formerly Ven. Thubten Kunga Bhikshuni). A total of eight bhikkhunis and six bhikkhus were present to welcome Ven. Silananda into the Theravada tradition. She is now a member of the Parayana Vihara bhikkhuni community in Port Townsend, under the leadership of Ayya Anandabodhi. Her name, Silananda, means “Blissful in Virtue.” Below she recounts the path that led her to his occasion.
Each person’s spiritual path in life is unique, and it is up to each of us to chart it. Though we may need to ask for lots of help along the way, no one else can do this work for us. While forging the path, we become more aware of the conditioning we’ve received and also become more deliberate about the conditioning we’re creating for the future.
Like many other people, the first part of my life was focused on figuring out how to get what I needed to survive and making sense and meaning of the world. I was born Christina Clare Manriquez and grew up as the only child of a Caucasian-American mother and a father who immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines when he was 16. We lived in a condominium in the city of Alexandria, located about 10 miles south of Washington, DC, in Virginia.
All of my cousins lived far away, so I spent a lot of time alone when I wasn’t at school or with my mother, who had stopped working to raise me. My dad had a well-paying, stable job, so we were solidly middle class and I never worried about food or money. My parents’ marriage ended when I was around 10 years old, but they continued living under the same roof to co-parent me until I left for college.
I attended a small private grade and middle school with strict discipline and required uniforms. I excelled in academics but was not very good at athletics. Both of my parents were raised Catholic, and they forced me to go to Sunday school and complete all the sacraments up through Holy Communion. I also attended a Catholic college-prep high school near my home and again wore a uniform.
I grew up with a lot of resentment toward Catholicism because of its misogyny and homophobia, and I wanted nothing to do with religion until I studied Buddhism during my last college semester at the University of Virginia. I started out as a psychology major but switched to sociology, with a minor in anthropology, because I wanted to understand why there was so much suffering in the world. The most valuable sociological theory I learned was deconstructionism, which mirrors a tenet of Buddhist philosophy that all “truths” are merely conventional and collectively designated.
Mental suffering pervaded my life starting in my pre-teen years, and I tried to escape it as a young person by indulging in many unhealthy kinds of sense pleasures. However, I reached a point in my mid-20’s where I realized that sex, drugs, and rock and roll were not the route to fulfillment.
I returned to graduate school and earned a master’s degree in public administration so I could have a stable career that benefited society. I did an internship at the U.S. Department of State and worked there after I graduated in the Population, Refugee, and Migration Bureau for seven years. I enjoyed working in the humanitarian assistance field and visiting exotic parts of the world. However, I did not always agree with the ethics behind U.S. government policies and couldn’t find many role models I wanted to emulate.
I ran into many obstacles trying to make a career switch, and meanwhile my long-term relationship fell apart when my partner and I started developing different interests. A friend started to take me to a weekly insight meditation group, and I realized while meditating there that I had to change my life’s direction if I were to be truly happy.
I quit my job, moved out of my apartment, and gave away my car and most of my possessions. First, I traveled to Nepal to teach English to child monks and visited many Buddhist temples and monasteries. I stayed for three weeks at the Japanese Zen monastery Upaya in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and participated in the Exploring Monastic Life program at the Tibetan Buddhist monastery Sravasti Abbey near Spokane, Washington. I immediately felt at home at the Abbey and felt I had finally found role models that I wanted to become.
Established by Venerable Thubten Chodron Bhikshuni in 2003, Sravasti Abbey is one of a handful of monastic training centers in North America. The community of monks and nuns there is very ethical, joyful, and stable, and it felt like the right container to help me transition from a lay person to a monastic. I went through all the stages leading up to monastic ordination—living as a long-term guest at the monastery, completing an anagarika (postulancy) period, and receiving novice ordination in 2019.
As soon as I received the precepts, I felt safe, as if I no longer had to worry about the direction my life was heading. The first two years of training were still very difficult because I had to come face to face with all the bad habits I had practiced for so long to run away from my pain. I had to learn how to become my own friend and to never give up on myself, as I had often done before.
I traveled to Taiwan in 2024 to take full ordination as a bhikshuni in the Dharmaguptaka monastic lineage followed in Mahayana Buddhism. During my time at the Abbey, however, I felt increasingly called to explore the Theravada Buddhist tradition, which seemed to better align with my inclination towards the Pali Canon and certain kinds of meditative practices.
Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to meet senior Theravada teacher Ayya Anandabodhi Bhikkhuni, who had trained in the Thai forest tradition, which I find most inspiring. Ayya Anandabodhi had recently moved to the Pacific Northwest to establish a contemplative nuns community called Parayana Vihara, where I now live. I felt a natural resonance with her intuitive style of practice, and I appreciated the vihara’s emphasis on meditation and sutta study.
A Dalhikamma re-ordination ceremony was performed in November 2025 in which I officially joined the Theravada Bhikkhuni Sangha, with Ayya Anandabodhi as my preceptor. A total of fourteen bhikkhus and bhikkhunis traveled from up and down the West Coast, Canada, and New Jersey to participate in this historic event, which had never before been performed in Washington State.
Though my monastic journey hasn’t exactly been linear, I have grown and benefited enormously from all I have learned along the way. Monasticism isn’t for everyone, but I believe it is the most meaningful way for me to spend my life, and it helps me to fulfill my potential as a Buddhist practitioner.
I am eternally grateful to great teachers like Venerable Thubten Chodron and Ayya Anandabodhi who blazed a path for younger nuns to follow in their footsteps. I am also grateful to my parents and the countless sentient beings who enabled me to be where I am today. I sincerely hope to repay their kindness by practicing well and doing what I can to help alleviate the root causes of suffering in the world.
To connect with Ven. Silananda and Parayana Vihara, visit https://parayanavihara.org/.
Special thanks to Alliance for Bhikkhunis volunteer Ajitha Cristie-David for her help in commissioning and editing this article.