Kusuma Devendra

Kusuma Devendra
Born	Sri Lanka
Nationality	Sri Lanka
Education	Ph.D.
Alma mater	Buddhist and Pali University, Sri Lanka
Occupation	Abbot of Ayya Khema International Meditation Centre
Known for	Buddhist nun, author, teacher
Home town	Horana, Sri Lanka
Religion	Buddhism, Theravada

Bhikkhuni Kusuma, Ph.D. (1929-2021) was a fully ordained bhikkhuni from Sri Lanka who pioneered the re-establishment the Theravada Female Buddhist Order in Sri Lanka, 1000 years after the Order died out. She has taken upon herself the task of carrying on the efforts of her mentor, Sister Ayya Khema, in establishing the Ayya Khema International Buddhist Mandir in Sri Lanka.

For much of her early life, Kusuma Devendra was an academic, studying molecular biology in the United States and teaching science and English at university. She turned to Buddhism after realizing that science could not answer all of her questions about the nature of existence. She subsequently earned two PhDs—one on bhikkhunis in Sri Lanka and one on the Vinaya, the division of the Buddhist canon concerning the rules and procedures governing the Buddhist monastic sangha.

Ven. Bhikkhuni Kusuma traveled to South Korea and Taiwan to study living lineages of female monasticism, and in 1996 formally took her own ordination vows at Sarnath in India, before a united conclave of the top bhikkhu and bhikkhuni leaders of Korea’s five principle monastic orders, led by the late patriarch of the Jogye Order, Ven. Seo Am Sunim.

The author of several books, Ven. Bhikkhuni Kusuma represented Sri Lanka at many international Buddhist conferences and was considered a leading light and role model by Theravada bhikkhunis around the world. She lived at Ayya Khema International Meditation Centre, Horana, Sri Lanka.