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Ajahn Amaro

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2025

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Ajahn Amaro
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,... Read more

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.

Cover for Mara and the Mangala II
Cover for Mara and the Mangala II – The Liar

Mara and the Mangala II – The Liar

Ajahn Amaro (2025)
This story is intended to be a partner to the two novels ‘The Pilgrim Kamanita ~ A Legendary Romance’, written by Karl Gjellerup in 1906, and ‘The Killer ~ Mara and the Mangala, Book I’, written by myself, published in 2019. This present book exists as a tale that both stands on its own and serves as a continuation of the stories in the previous... Read more

This story is intended to be a partner to the two novels ‘The Pilgrim Kamanita ~ A Legendary Romance’, written by Karl Gjellerup in 1906, and ‘The Killer ~ Mara and the Mangala, Book I’, written by myself, published in 2019.

This present book exists as a tale that both stands on its own and serves as a continuation of the stories in the previous volumes. There is no need to have read the earlier books in order to make sense of this one; however, should the reader wish to go to the source from which many of the characters and scenes of this tale have sprung, the previously published books can be found here and here.

In the tradition of such eminent authors as Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Alexandre Dumas, the present book is being released as a serial novel, one chapter every fortnight, over the years 2025-26. It is planned that, once all the chapters have been released, an edition of the whole story will be published as a single book.

One of the worst things that can happen to a tale to be read for pleasure is to have it surrounded by footnotes and appendices. This is true; but it’s also true that some readers might like to know: ‘Did this come from the Buddha?’ ‘Where can I find the rest of that quote?’ ‘Did that really happen!?’

An appendix of notes and references has therefore been created, which outlines the sources of the derived material that has been used. The main body of the text is not marked in any way to indicate these notes; however, if the reader is curious about a certain passage, they can go to the end of the chapter, look for the page and quotation in question, and see if there’s a comment or reference for it. In this way, if one just wants to read the story and ignore the rest one can easily do so but, if one is interested in finding out more and checking the facts, the origins are mostly outlined there.

Also, gentle reader, please note that the original author (Karl Gjellerup) switched freely between using Sanskrit (the language of the Northern Buddhist and Hindu scriptures) and Pali (the language of the Southern Buddhist scriptures) during the course of his foundational tale. In our efforts to be true to his style this mixture of usage has been maintained in the two subsequent volumes.

Ajahn Amaro
Amaravati Monastery
Spring, 2025

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