Santi Forest Monastery is a residence and place of practice for Buddhist nuns in the Theravada Forest tradition, located in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Santi is a monastery that supports the full ordination of women in Buddhism. Together with Dhammasara Nun’s Monastery in Western Australia and Newbury Forest Monastery in Victoria, it is also one of three Theravadin Buddhist monasteries for nuns in Australia.¹ 

In 1986 former socialite Elizabeth Gorski purchased a property with the intention of establishing a meditation centre. In 1997, she purchased two more lots adjacent to the original property, bringing the total land size to around 150 acres. Elizabeth then moved to Perth to become a Buddhist nun in the Thai Forest Tradition, Ayya Nirodha. In 2003 the property began to be run as Santi Forest Monastery, under the leadership of Bhante Sujato. After ten years of service, Bhante Sujato decided to hand over to the community of nuns to continue to develop Santi as a bhikkhuni monastery.² Ayya Nirodha had received bhikkhuni ordination from Ajahn Brahm in 2009 and became the Abbot of Santi Forest Monastery. She retired in 2017, to go into retreat. The story of her life of generosity, kindness and peace is documented in a commemorative book that was compiled on her 80^th birthday.³

Santi currently hosts an annual rains retreat, various day retreats, important Buddhist community events, and produces dhamma publications and a monthly newsletter.⁴ The role of Spiritual Director of Santi is currently held by Ajahn Hasapanna, who is also the Abbot of Dhammasara Nuns Monastery in Western Australia and Assistant Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia.⁵ 

By: Juewei Shi, Sioh Yang Tan and Anna Halafoff  

References: 

¹  Santi Forest Monastery, About Santi FM, 2026, https://santifm.org/santi/about/. 

²  “History of Santi,” Santi Forest Monastery, accessed August 7, 2026, https://santifm.org/santi/history-of-santi/; Nan Tien Institute – NTI, “Buddhist Life Stories of Australia | Ajahn Sujato,” YouTube, May 14, 2026, 52 min., 13 sec., https://youtu.be/R-euvUz0tLU. 

³ Santi Forest Monastery, “A life inspired: Ayya Nirodha,” April 9, 2025, https://santifm.org/santi/2025/04/09/a-life-inspired-ayya-nirodha/. 

⁴ “Dhamma publications,” Santi Forest Monastery, accessed August 7, 2026, https://santifm.org/santi/dhamma-publications/; “Past Santi newsletters,” Santi Forest Monastery, accessed August 7, 2026, https://santifm.org/santi/about-2/santi-fm-news/; “Applying to stay – lay Buddhist practitioners,” Santi Forest Monastery, accessed August 7, 2026, https://santifm.org/santi/stay/applying-to-stay-lay-people/. 

⁵ Santi Forest Monastery, “About Santi FM.”