Jotipalo Bhikkhu (the name comes from the Pali terms for "light" and "protector") was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, in 1965. He received his B.A. from Wabash College in 1988. Ordained as a novice in 1999, he took full ordination a year later at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, a recently opened monastery in the lineage of the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravadin Buddhism located in Redwood Valley, California. He also spent a year at the Arrow River Forest Hermitage near Thunder Bay, Ontario.