olivier biraro: Protagonist and author

Olivier Biraro was born in Rwanda in 1981. At age 17, after surviving the Rwandan genocide and the Kibeho massacre, as well as imprisonment and torture at the hands of Rwandan state forces, he started practicing Buddhism and later became the first and the only Buddhist Monk in the Theravada Tradition from Rwanda, taking the name Venerable Sangharakkhita, “protector of the community.”

He also holds black belts in Karate and Tae Kwon Do, and has attended several international competitions as a member of his country’s national teams. Today, no longer an ordained monk, he is a resident of Gifhorn, Germany and he teaches Yoga, Tai Chi and mindfulness meditation as ways to mend broken communities.

He is an inspirational speaker on subjects of inner peace, forgiveness, reconciliation and trauma healing. Aside from publishing several books of his own, he translates classic books that aim at awakening the human consciousness. He has translated “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, “The Prophet” by Khalil Gibran and “Your Word is your Wand” by Florence Scovel Shinn into his mother tongue.

Olivier Biraro, also writing as Venerable Sangharakkhita, has published many books on forgiveness, mindfulness and healing:

A Drop of Dhamma

A Drop of Dhamma is the basis for part of the story of the documentary film Minding Shadows. It was published in 2016 in Kandy, Sri Lanka. This is a book about how to find inner peace through understanding the transitory nature of all things.

Available in Kindle format at Amazon.com.

Minding Shadows

Minding Shadows is a book about healing inner wounds through mindfulness and shadow work.

Available in Kindle format at Amazon.com.

Candle in the Wind

Venerable Sangharakkhita’s first self-published book in English is Candle in the Wind, published in 2014 in Kigali Rwanda. It is a narrative of a journey of forgiveness and spiritual fortitude after emerging from a tragedy.

Available in Kindle format at Amazon.com.