Ajahn Pasanno took ordination in Thailand in 1974 with Venerable Phra Khru Ñāṇasirivatana as preceptor. During his first year as a monk he was taken by his teacher to meet Ajahn Chah, with whom he asked to be allowed to stay and train. One of the early residents of Wat Pah Nanachat, Ajahn Pasanno became its abbot in his ninth year. During his incumbency, Wat Pah Nanachat developed considerably, both in physical size and reputation.

Spending 24 years living in Thailand, Ajahn Pasanno became a well-known and highly respected monk and Dhamma teacher. He moved to California on New Year’s Eve of 1997 to share the abbotship of Abhayagiri with Ajahn Amaro.

In 2010 Ajahn Amaro accepted an invitation to serve as abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England, leaving Ajahn Pasanno to serve as sole abbot of Abhayagiri for the next eight years. In spring of 2018, Ajahn Pasanno stepped back from the role of abbot, leaving the monastery for a year-long retreat abroad. After returning from his sabbatical, Ajahn Pasanno now serves as an anchor of wisdom and guidance for the community [at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, CA, USA]

Born in England in 1956, Ajahn Amaro received his BSc. in Psychology and Physiology from the University of London. Spiritual searching led him to Thailand, where he went to Wat Pah Nanachat, a Forest Tradition monastery established for Western disciples of Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, who ordained him as a bhikkhu in April 1979. He returned to England in October 1979 and joined Ajahn Sumedho at the newly established Chithurst Monastery in West Sussex.

In 1983 he made an 830-mile trek from Chithurst to a new branch monastery, Harnham Vihāra, near the Scottish border. In July 1985, he moved to Amaravati Buddhist Monastery north of London and resided there for many years. In the early 1990s, he started making trips to California every year, eventually establishing Abhayagiri Monastery near Ukiah, Northern California, in June of 1996.

He lived at Abhayagiri until the summer of 2010, holding the position of co-abbot along with Ajahn Pasanno. At that time, he then moved back to Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England to take up the position of abbot of this large monastic community.

Ajahn Ahimsako was born near San Francisco, California in 1959, and spent nearly thirty years living in various countries pursuing a career in classical ballet as a dancer, teacher, and educator. While living in England he travelled to Sri Lanka, where his interest in Buddhism prompted him to begin visiting Amaravati Buddhist Monastery and the London Buddhist Vihara. He began his monastic life in 2002 at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California, and was accepted into the Bhikkhu Sangha there in 2004 with Luang Por Pasanno as preceptor.

Since 2009, Ajahn Ahimsako has spent eight years living at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery under the guidance of both Luang Por Sumedho and Ajahn Amaro. More recently Ajahn Ahimsako spent one year living at Wat Ratanawan in Thailand. He joined the Chithurst community in the autumn of 2018, and was appointed as the abbot in November 2019.