Alliance for Bhikkhunis provides the opportunity for you to support bhikkhunis all around the world!
Did you know? Because of the Vinaya (code of monastic disciplinary rules), bhikkhunis cannot handle money or directly ask lay practitioners for donations, even to address their most basic needs. Instead, lay people can invite bhikkhunis to make a request for support, called pavarana. That’s where Alliance for Bhikkhunis comes in. Alliance for Bhikkhunis has extended a pavarana invitation to bhikkhunis worldwide to let us know when and where support is needed. Then, we share those requests here with you, collect donations from you and others around the globe, and forward those donations to bhikkhunis on your behalf.
If you would like to help provide for the needs of bhikkhunis and the growth of the Bhikkhuni Sangha, please consider a donation to Alliance for Bhikkhunis. Your donations are used to support a wide range of projects across the Buddhist world. Donations can be made by using the button under each project or by sending a check to our PO box.
Thank you for your support!
OFFER YOUR SUPPORT TOWARD CURRENT NEEDS
Please consider contributing to the following funds and projects:
The Alliance for Bhikkhunis General Fund supports a wide range of one-time requests from bhikkhunis and monasteries worldwide as well as our ongoing efforts on behalf of the bhikkhuni movement. Examples include:
Bhikkhuni healthcare needs such as doctor visits, medicines, health insurance, etc.
Transportation for bhikkhunis to attend conferences, ordination ceremonies, trainings, retreats, and teaching engagements.
Purchase costs and development of monastery properties and buildings.
Publication of new bhikkhuni books, research, and training materials.
Emergency needs.
And more…
Click below if you would like to contribute to the Alliance for Bhikkhunis’ General Fund. No administrative fees are deducted by PayPal when you donate through the PayPal Giving Fund!
Dhutanga Insight Meditation center (ธุดงคสถานปุญญปัญญา), Thailand
“Intergeneration and Sustainability: Thai Bhikkhuni Sangha” conference in Bangkok, Thailand, September 2025. (Photo by Pornrak Chowvanayotin.)
The Thai Bhikkhuni Sangha is in a state of growth and transition, and this includes a great need for education in the Bhikkhuni Vinaya, which has been excluded thus far from mainstream Thai Buddhist education. A landmark 2025 conference, which brought together bhikkhunis from across Thailand, confirmed this profound need for a unified Vinaya curriculum. Now, in 2026, a planning group led by Bhikkhunī Dhammanandā, Bhikkhunī Dhammavijjānī, and Bhikkhunī Vajarañāṇī has initiated the “Sangha Samadhi” project to ensure the sustainable transmission of knowledge to future generations of bhikkhunis.
This multidimensional learning approach is designed to provide a deep and practical understanding of the Vinaya through a diverse range of educational methods:
Interactive Lectures: Core Vinaya principles and historical contexts delivered by senior experts to provide a solid theoretical foundation.
Contemplative Dialogues: Deep-listening sessions where monastics can share experiences and insights, fostering mutual understanding and “Sangha Samaggi.”
Workshop & Case Studies: Small group sessions to analyze real-world scenarios and modern challenges, applying monastic rules to contemporary life.
Practical Demonstrations (Hands-on): On-site practice of Sanghakamma (monastic procedures) to ensure precision and confidence in performing communal rituals.
The Sangha Samaggi Dhamma-Vinaya Training Program, scheduled for July 2026, hopes to enroll 50 to 60 participants, comprising bhikkhunis, sikkhamanas, and samaneris representing provinces across Thailand. Estimated costs (in USD) include:
Travel subsidies (round-trip travel for 50 monastics): $4,500
Accommodation & food (fully sponsored by local hosts): $0
Educational materials (printed case studies and workshop kits): $500
Logistics & venue (facility preparation and audiovisual equipment): $300
Total estimated project cost: $5,300
Alliance for Bhikkhunis has offered support from its general fund in the amount of $2,250 to cover half the travel subsidies. Please consider making a donation toward the remaining project costs.
Dr. Gunaratna’s architectural drawing for the upper floor of the planned new residence.
In late 2025, Bhikkhuni Dr. W. Suvimalee, of Gunatillake Bhikkhuni Aramaya in Sri Lanka, reached out to Alliance for Bhikkhunis to request assistance in raising funds for a new residential facility. In recent years, their community has survived severe flooding, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the worst economic crisis Sri Lanka has ever known. These calamities have taken a heavy toll on the village families who support the temple, and so they are appealing to the wider community for help.
The original plaster is decaying.Bhikkhunis at Gunatillake Aramaya in Sri Lanka, including Ven. Suvimalee (2nd from right).
The old bhikkhuni residence was built in 1958 with inferior waricchi (wattle and daub), smeared over with a light coating of plaster, which has begun to show alarming signs of decay, in part due to intrusion by various kinds of pests. As a result of this deterioration, the time has come to build a new residential level as soon as possible. It will include rooms for bhikkhunis, a central sitting area, and toilet facilities.
Architectural drawings have been made free of charge by the well-known Sri Lankan architect Dr. Locana Gunaratna, Ph.D., who trained at the London School of Architecture, Harvard University, and University of Colombo. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement award from the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects.
A generous donation of $25,000 US made through Alliance for Bhikkhunis has already jump-started this project. Additional funds are sought to bring it to completion. Click below to donate to this project via PayPal.
Fledgling Passaddhi Vihara
Olympia, Washington, USA
Passaddhi Vihara is a bhikkhuni residence founded in 2024 in Western Washington State in the United States.
Founding bhikkhunis, Ayyā Suvijjānā (full ordination in 2010) and Ayya Niyyānika (full ordination in 2017), both initially trained at Dhammadharini Monastic communities with Ayyā Tathālokā as their preceptor. They have now begun to create a new monastic community in the Pacific Northwest. They envision a small community for monastics and other eight-precept renunciants who are dedicated to the development of deeper states of peace and stillness.
The first phase has begun with a two-bedroom rental located in West Olympia. During this time, their focus is on their monastic and internal development, creating a good framework for the monastery. Passaddhi Vihara hosts online Dhamma sharing (meditation and sutta studies), in-person days of walking and sitting meditation, weekly alms rounds, and the flow of daily monastic life.
The vision for the future involves transitioning to a larger property of several acres as the community expands. The Passaddhi Vihara Support Foundation is open to acquiring a modest property with two or three structures, provided there is sufficient community support for this vision. A central aim is to create a place where laypeople can come to practice during scheduled hours and join the monastics for programs, providing a sanctuary for quiet, reflection, and meditation—a resource for the broader community as well as a stable home for the monastics.
To make a donation or to learn more about Passaddhi Vihara programs, future plans, and more ways to get involved, click here to visit their website.
Sakyadhita Training & Meditation Center
Gorakana, Panadura, Sri Lanka
The Sakyadhita Training and Meditation Center in Sri Lanka has been providing Buddhist nuns with support during their initial training and assisting women aspiring for higher ordination since 2000. Local and international nuns regularly travel to this exceptional center to advance on their paths to become fully ordained bhikkhunīs.
Under the guidance of the abbess, the Venerable Bhikkhunī Madulle Vijithanandā, Sakyadhita Sri Lanka helps poor nunneries in the region and provides social services to local people, such as counseling to families. The organization focuses especially on meditation and Dhamma education for children and adults. Activities include delivering Dhamma discourses, visiting homeless children and hospitals, conducting Buddhist programs, offering blessing and chanting, and organizing interfaith meetings and peace processions. The center also rises to the occasion in times of natural disaster.
The cost of a higher ordination (upasampadā) for one nun is between $66–380 USD, which covers lodging, food, training costs, and other expenses.
An educational fund provides for Theravāda nuns in Sri Lanka to undertake university education, similar to the monks. The cost is approximately $350 USD per year per nun for books, transportation, medical, and other expenses.
Programs are organized for small nunneries on such topics as community health care, counselling skills, and social development, and financial contributions and food packets ($50–150) are also provided to poor nunneries across Sri Lanka.
The four monastic requisites (food, clothing, shelter, and medicine) are needed for the senior and younger nuns residing in Sakyadhita Sri Lanka.
To learn more or to donate directly to Sakyadhita Sri Lanka, click here. Or click on the donate button below to donate through Alliance for Bhikkhunis.
Project: Sri Gothami Arama
The venerable bhikkhunī Vijithā and the venerable bhikkhunī Dhamma Darshikā, are the most senior bhikkhunīs in Sri Lanka. Their monastery, Srī Gothamī ārāma, is located in the southwest of Sri Lanka, in Olaboduwa. Read more here.
In addition to teaching the Dhamma and meditation, both venerables train new nuns. They are also providing for the needs of people in the local villages, taking care of those, who are severely sick, either at their homes or at the hospital, donating them not only some emotional support and comfort, but also material needs.
Both venerables are rapidly aging and are facing many health issues. Bhikkhunī Vijithā is in her 80s and her health is deteriorating rapidly. Monthly expenditures on medicines and treatments have increased. Wheelchair access for Venerable bhikkhunī Vijithā to enter the dāna hall is needed.
There are currently 9 nuns staying in the small ārāma, therefore the support is currently scarce and much needed.
Regular monthly allowance for nuns – food, robes, medicine, cleaning supplies, transportation, overhead costs for the nuns
Repair of the ārāma – rooms, sanitary facilities, roof, fence, kitchen and entrance gate
Construction of new kutis (lodging) for the nuns
Barrier free ramp and stairs repair
Support for Indian Nuns in Nagpur
Nuns at Nagpur, India
These Ambedkarite Buddhist nuns in Nagpur, India practice diligently in the Theravada tradition. Though full of devotion, they are some of the poorest Buddhists in the world who struggle to find access to training and accommodation. Temples are owned by lay committees who force the nuns to move on every few months. Mostly only older women and very poor children ordain, with the odd exception of a woman. The nuns have so much patience and perseverance. They often attend Vipassana retreats and also do many pujas as this is how they survive. Nuns also study Pali and engage in some social work – counselling and offering Sunday school for local children.
It is estimated by a Washington think tank that 4 million people died in the pandemic in India. Now India has emerged from the Pandemic, but the caste system that has oppressed scheduled caste (ex “untouchable”) people for thousands of years persists, eating into every facet of life there. In India there is currently a Hindu Nationalist government which is not in favor of the emancipation of lower caste people, and violence towards minorities has increased. The nuns live very simply with many public temples lacking toilet and shower facilities. Nuns need resources for medicine, food, robes, bedding, books for university, resources for pilgrimage and funds to go and do retreat at Vipassana centres.
Bhikkhuni Projects Currently Needing Support
Alliance for Bhikkhunis provides the opportunity for you to support bhikkhunis all around the world!
Did you know? Because of the Vinaya (code of monastic disciplinary rules), bhikkhunis cannot handle money or directly ask lay practitioners for donations, even to address their most basic needs. Instead, lay people can invite bhikkhunis to make a request for support, called pavarana. That’s where Alliance for Bhikkhunis comes in. Alliance for Bhikkhunis has extended a pavarana invitation to bhikkhunis worldwide to let us know when and where support is needed. Then, we share those requests here with you, collect donations from you and others around the globe, and forward those donations to bhikkhunis on your behalf.
If you would like to help provide for the needs of bhikkhunis and the growth of the Bhikkhuni Sangha, please consider a donation to Alliance for Bhikkhunis. Your donations are used to support a wide range of projects across the Buddhist world. Donations can be made by using the button under each project or by sending a check to our PO box.
Thank you for your support!
OFFER YOUR SUPPORT TOWARD CURRENT NEEDS
Please consider contributing to the following funds and projects:
General Fund
The Alliance for Bhikkhunis General Fund supports a wide range of one-time requests from bhikkhunis and monasteries worldwide as well as our ongoing efforts on behalf of the bhikkhuni movement. Examples include:
Click below if you would like to contribute to the Alliance for Bhikkhunis’ General Fund. No administrative fees are deducted by PayPal when you donate through the PayPal Giving Fund!
Sangha Samaggi (Sangha Harmony)
Dhamma-Vinaya Training Program
Dhutanga Insight Meditation center (ธุดงคสถานปุญญปัญญา), Thailand
The Thai Bhikkhuni Sangha is in a state of growth and transition, and this includes a great need for education in the Bhikkhuni Vinaya, which has been excluded thus far from mainstream Thai Buddhist education. A landmark 2025 conference, which brought together bhikkhunis from across Thailand, confirmed this profound need for a unified Vinaya curriculum. Now, in 2026, a planning group led by Bhikkhunī Dhammanandā, Bhikkhunī Dhammavijjānī, and Bhikkhunī Vajarañāṇī has initiated the “Sangha Samadhi” project to ensure the sustainable transmission of knowledge to future generations of bhikkhunis.
This multidimensional learning approach is designed to provide a deep and practical understanding of the Vinaya through a diverse range of educational methods:
The Sangha Samaggi Dhamma-Vinaya Training Program, scheduled for July 2026, hopes to enroll 50 to 60 participants, comprising bhikkhunis, sikkhamanas, and samaneris representing provinces across Thailand. Estimated costs (in USD) include:
Alliance for Bhikkhunis has offered support from its general fund in the amount of $2,250 to cover half the travel subsidies. Please consider making a donation toward the remaining project costs.
Click here to donate to this project via PayPal.
New Residential Building at Gunatillake Aramaya
Pamunuwa, Handessa, Sri Lanka
In late 2025, Bhikkhuni Dr. W. Suvimalee, of Gunatillake Bhikkhuni Aramaya in Sri Lanka, reached out to Alliance for Bhikkhunis to request assistance in raising funds for a new residential facility. In recent years, their community has survived severe flooding, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the worst economic crisis Sri Lanka has ever known. These calamities have taken a heavy toll on the village families who support the temple, and so they are appealing to the wider community for help.
The old bhikkhuni residence was built in 1958 with inferior waricchi (wattle and daub), smeared over with a light coating of plaster, which has begun to show alarming signs of decay, in part due to intrusion by various kinds of pests. As a result of this deterioration, the time has come to build a new residential level as soon as possible. It will include rooms for bhikkhunis, a central sitting area, and toilet facilities.
Architectural drawings have been made free of charge by the well-known Sri Lankan architect Dr. Locana Gunaratna, Ph.D., who trained at the London School of Architecture, Harvard University, and University of Colombo. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement award from the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects.
A generous donation of $25,000 US made through Alliance for Bhikkhunis has already jump-started this project. Additional funds are sought to bring it to completion. Click below to donate to this project via PayPal.
Fledgling Passaddhi Vihara
Olympia, Washington, USA
Passaddhi Vihara is a bhikkhuni residence founded in 2024 in Western Washington State in the United States.
Founding bhikkhunis, Ayyā Suvijjānā (full ordination in 2010) and Ayya Niyyānika (full ordination in 2017), both initially trained at Dhammadharini Monastic communities with Ayyā Tathālokā as their preceptor. They have now begun to create a new monastic community in the Pacific Northwest. They envision a small community for monastics and other eight-precept renunciants who are dedicated to the development of deeper states of peace and stillness.
The first phase has begun with a two-bedroom rental located in West Olympia. During this time, their focus is on their monastic and internal development, creating a good framework for the monastery. Passaddhi Vihara hosts online Dhamma sharing (meditation and sutta studies), in-person days of walking and sitting meditation, weekly alms rounds, and the flow of daily monastic life.
The vision for the future involves transitioning to a larger property of several acres as the community expands. The Passaddhi Vihara Support Foundation is open to acquiring a modest property with two or three structures, provided there is sufficient community support for this vision. A central aim is to create a place where laypeople can come to practice during scheduled hours and join the monastics for programs, providing a sanctuary for quiet, reflection, and meditation—a resource for the broader community as well as a stable home for the monastics.
To make a donation or to learn more about Passaddhi Vihara programs, future plans, and more ways to get involved, click here to visit their website.
Sakyadhita Training & Meditation Center
Gorakana, Panadura, Sri Lanka
Under the guidance of the abbess, the Venerable Bhikkhunī Madulle Vijithanandā, Sakyadhita Sri Lanka helps poor nunneries in the region and provides social services to local people, such as counseling to families. The organization focuses especially on meditation and Dhamma education for children and adults. Activities include delivering Dhamma discourses, visiting homeless children and hospitals, conducting Buddhist programs, offering blessing and chanting, and organizing interfaith meetings and peace processions. The center also rises to the occasion in times of natural disaster.
Project: Sri Gothami Arama
The venerable bhikkhunī Vijithā and the venerable bhikkhunī Dhamma Darshikā, are the most senior bhikkhunīs in Sri Lanka. Their monastery, Srī Gothamī ārāma, is located in the southwest of Sri Lanka, in Olaboduwa. Read more here.
In addition to teaching the Dhamma and meditation, both venerables train new nuns. They are also providing for the needs of people in the local villages, taking care of those, who are severely sick, either at their homes or at the hospital, donating them not only some emotional support and comfort, but also material needs.
Both venerables are rapidly aging and are facing many health issues. Bhikkhunī Vijithā is in her 80s and her health is deteriorating rapidly. Monthly expenditures on medicines and treatments have increased. Wheelchair access for Venerable bhikkhunī Vijithā to enter the dāna hall is needed.
There are currently 9 nuns staying in the small ārāma, therefore the support is currently scarce and much needed.
Support for Indian Nuns in Nagpur
These Ambedkarite Buddhist nuns in Nagpur, India practice diligently in the Theravada tradition. Though full of devotion, they are some of the poorest Buddhists in the world who struggle to find access to training and accommodation. Temples are owned by lay committees who force the nuns to move on every few months. Mostly only older women and very poor children ordain, with the odd exception of a woman. The nuns have so much patience and perseverance. They often attend Vipassana retreats and also do many pujas as this is how they survive. Nuns also study Pali and engage in some social work – counselling and offering Sunday school for local children.
It is estimated by a Washington think tank that 4 million people died in the pandemic in India. Now India has emerged from the Pandemic, but the caste system that has oppressed scheduled caste (ex “untouchable”) people for thousands of years persists, eating into every facet of life there. In India there is currently a Hindu Nationalist government which is not in favor of the emancipation of lower caste people, and violence towards minorities has increased. The nuns live very simply with many public temples lacking toilet and shower facilities. Nuns need resources for medicine, food, robes, bedding, books for university, resources for pilgrimage and funds to go and do retreat at Vipassana centres.
Thanks so much for any kind offerings you make.
Donate to this project via PayPal