Robin Moore was born in Palo Alto, USA in 1963. At the age of 16 he attended Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts. Here, both in the comparative religion classes and in the English Literature class, in which the students read Jack Kerouac’s ‘The Dharma Bums,’ he was introduced to the Buddhist teachings. Later, he studied religion for two years at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. His interest in Buddhism burgeoned and as a result he worked on staff at the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) at Barre, Massachusetts during the year of 1987. Here he met Ajahn Sumedho, who provided an inspiration which led him to the monasteries in England.
On Migration
After two years as a novice he was ordained in 1990 as a bhikkhu (named Suriyo Bhikkhu) at Chithurst Monastery in the UK with Ajahn Sumedho (Tahn Chao Khun Raja Sumedhachariya) as preceptor. After training in England for seven years he lived in Thailand for eight years. Three of these years were spent as an itinerant (‘tudong’) monk, wandering for several thousand kilometers across Thailand. During the final year and a half he lived at Wat Nyanavesakavan with Phra Ajahn Payutto (Tahn Chao Khun Brahmagunabhorn) and began the translation of Ajahn Payutto’s Buddha-dhamma. Between 2003 and 2006 he acted as abbot of Hartridge Monastery in Devon, UK. After a long struggle with poor health, he left the monkhood in 2007. He now resides in Bangkok and works as a translator for the Buddhadhamma Foundation.
Suriyo Bhikkhu