page_title: Chithurst Buddhist Monastery
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Chithurst Buddhist Monastery / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Main Buddha from the Chithurst Dhamma hall
context_page_description: Cittaviveka, commonly known as Chithurst Buddhist Monastery, is an English Theravada Buddhist Monastery in the Thai Forest Tradition. It is situated in West Sussex, England in the hamlet of Chithurst between Midhurst and Petersfield. It was established in 1979 in accordance with the aims of the English Sangha Trust, a charity founded in 1956 to support the ordination and training of Buddhist monks in the West. The current abbot, since 2014, is Ajahn Karuniko.
  The monastery was established by Ajahn Sumedho under the auspices of his teacher, Ajahn Chah of Wat Pah Pong, Ubon, Thailand. Ajahn Chah visited the monastery at its inception as the first branch monastery of Wat Pah Pong to be established outside of Thailand. Although the style of the monastery has been modified to accommodate Western social and cultural mores, it retains close links with Thailand especially monasteries of the Thai Forest Tradition and is supported by an international community of Asians and Westerners.
  "Cittaviveka" is a term used in the Pāli scriptures of Theravada Buddhism.
caption: Photo from the Dhamma hall at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery
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