Bhante Sujato


Bhante Sujato, known as Ajahn Sujato or Bhikkhu Sujato, is an Australian Theravada Buddhist monk who was ordained into in the Thai forest lineage of Ajahn Chah.
A former musician with the Australian band Martha's Vineyard, Sujato became a monk in 1994. He took higher ordination in Thailand and lived there for years before returning to Australia. He spent several years at Bodhinyana Monastery in Western Australia before going on to found Santi Forest Monastery in 2003 where he served as the abbot. Following Bhante Sujato's wishes, Santi became a nun's monastery in 2012, and he returned to live in Bodhinyana.
In 2005, Bhante Sujato co-founded the Buddhist website SuttaCentral along with Rod Bucknell and John Kelly, to provide access to early Buddhist texts in their original language and make translations available in modern languages. After being unable to secure copyright-free digital translations of the Pali Canon for SuttaCentral, Bhante Sujato moved to the island of Chimei, off the coast of Taiwan, to undertake the task of creating English translations of the four Nikāyas, living there from 2015 to 2018. These translations have since been published on SuttaCentral, and as free edition books.
In 2019, Bhante Sujato moved to Sydney to establish Lokanta Vihara with his long term student, Bhante Akaliko, to explore what it means to follow the Buddha’s teachings in an era of climate change, globalised consumerism, and political turmoil. He is also involved with Engaged Buddhism.
Bhante Sujato along with his teacher Ajahn Brahm were involved with Re-establishing Bhikkhuni Ordination in the Forest sangha of Ajahn Chah. Sujato along with other scholars such as Brahm and Bhikkhu Analayo had come to the conclusion that there was no valid reason the extinct bhikkhuni order couldn't be re-established. The ordination ceremony led to Brahm's expulsion from the Thai Forest Lineage of Ajahn Chah.