Venerable Dhammananda speaks during an interview in the Songdhammakalyani monastery, in Nakhon Pathom province on Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. Dhammananda renounced her family life and a prestigious academic career in Thailand to follow the path of the Buddha. She then defied her homeland’s unequal status of women in Buddhist practice by traveling to Sri Lanka to become Thailand’s first fully ordained nun in Theravada, one of the oldest forms of Buddhism. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit












