Local Order Members

Karunadevi

Karunadevi encountered Buddhism in 1980 through the writings of Lama Govinda. Her involvement with the FWBO (Friends of the Western Buddhist Order) began in 1988 when she and a few friends started a meditation and study group in the Bay Area. This group evolved into what is now the San Francisco Buddhist Center.

Ordained in 1993, Karunadevi leads study and retreats, mostly with women in San Francisco and at other centers in the U.S. The founder and former director of a health center for teenagers in Daly City, she has two grown children. Her name means "Shining light of compassion."