Anusha Enryu Fernando

Born in Sri Lanka into a Theravadin Buddhist family, she comes from a lineage deeply connected to meditation, as her grandparents established the Vipassana Meditation Centre in Colombo in 1957. In 2007, she began Zen meditation practice with Hogen and Chozen Roshi, and in 2021 she became a dharma holder.

Her academic background includes a BA in Religious Studies from McGill University, with a focus on Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as an MA in Asian Studies from the University of British Columbia, where she specialized in Sanskrit. For her dissertation, she translated a Sanskrit poem recounting the Buddha’s life story, the Padyacudamani.

For the past thirty years, she has taught and performed Bharata Natyam, an Indian classical dance form, and she is the founder and Artistic Director of Shakti Dance Society. She has also worked for twenty-eight years as the book purchaser at Banyen Books and Sound, Vancouver’s well-known spiritual and metaphysical bookstore. She lives in Vancouver, Canada, with her husband, parents, adult daughter, and several furry companions.