Friedgard Lottermoser

Friedgard Lottermoser, Ph.D. was born in Berlin in 1942 and spent her childhood in what was then known as East Germany. She moved to West Germany when she was ten and spent three years in Burma, where her stepfather worked for a German firm.

In 1965, she received a B.A. in Pali from the University of Rangoon, then earned an M.A. in Pali at the University of Mandalay. While in Burma, she studied Vinaya with the bhikkhu (fully-ordained monk)scholar Sayadaw Shin Janakabhivamsa and meditation with the well-known lay teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin. From 1973 on, she helped organize the first meditation courses of the U Ba Khin tradition to be held in Europe and has been actively involved in establishing several Buddhist centers there. In 1979 she received a Ph.D. for her work in Pali and has been working on a critical Pali dictionary since then. Dr. Lottermoser attended the International Conference on Buddhist Nuns in Bodhgaya in 1987 and serves as a member of the Sakyadhita Vinaya Research Committee.