Marjó Oosterhoff Passaddhi’s Teacher

Marjó Oosterhoff is Passaddhi’s manager and resident teacher. 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 20 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 and Burma.

For Marjó it 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. Of course one doesn't need to ordain to practise meditation, or even to be a Buddhist, but for Marjó it helps her in her commitment to waking up, feeling the inspiration of all the monastices who have gone before her, and of those who are still practising today.