Escaping the draft, Aryadaka traveled the world; he went to India, Nepal, the Himalayas, Morocco, and Afghanistan.
He discovered Buddhism out of his prison experience, when he "took meditation seriously and found dharma in his cell".
[2] Aryadaka was ordained as a member of the FWBO in 1984, and was given his name by the order after a three-month retreat in Italy.
[1] While working as a land surveyor, welder, and sculpturist, Aryadaka built up the Western Buddhist Order in Seattle, co-founded the Seattle Buddhist Center on Beacon Hill, and worked with prisoners.
[2] Aryadaka died in 2003 at the age of 55 from liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus.