Carolina Buddhist Vihara

Bhikkhuni Sudhamma, born in Charlotte, NC, in 1963, enjoyed a brief career as an attorney in San Francisco before changing professions to take care of disabled people.  In 1993, when she first encountered the Dhamma through Thai monks visiting San Francisco, she was suffering personal losses that forcefully bought home the truth of impermanence; by mid-1994 she wished to ordain.  In mid-1999 she gratefully received from Sri Lankan elder Ven. Gunaratana, of the Bhavana Society, the opportunity to enter the holy life. She obtained higher ordination as a bhikkhuni (female monk) in Sri Lanka in 2003. 

Currently, Ven. Sudhamma serves as the resident monk at Carolina Buddhist Vihara, a Theravada Buddhist center in a small house in the suburbs of Greenville, SC.  This region is often called “the buckle of the Bible Belt” for its loyalty to Christianity, yet the Vihara has been welcomed by the general community, and is well-supported by local people.