Passaddhi Meditation Centre  

Marjó Oosterhoff

Marjó Oosterhoff is Passaddhi’s manager and resident teacher, and now mainly teaches at other venues. She has been practising vipassana and metta meditation for many years, and in 1995 was authorised by her teacher in the Netherlands (Venerable Mettavihari) and her teacher in Burma (Sayadaw U Janaka) to start teaching retreats in the West.
Marjó started to practise vipassana meditation more than 40 years ago and has trained and practised in Western meditation centres as well as in Asian monasteries and nunneries. She ordained as a temporary nun on three occasions for the traditional rains retreats in a monastery in Burma. Temporary ordination for both men and women is quite normal in the Theravada Buddhist tradition of Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka. Ordaining temporarily is a time of renunciation and reflection, connecting with the long tradition of the Buddha's followers who have practised and taught his teachings for more than 2.500 years. To practise meditation, one doesn't need to ordain or even to be a Buddhist. However, for Marjó ordaining supports her in her commitment to live wisely and compassionately. It helps her to feel the inspiration of all the monastics who have gone before her, and of those who are keeping the Buddha’s teachings alive through practising them today.

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