Welcome to Episodes 17-19 of the Vibe with Venerables series, where we talk “live” to Buddhist masters together. Full listing of all Vibe with Venerables episodes here.
TL;DR
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Episodes 17-19. Boundless Joy
In this series of Boundless Joy, Venerable Thubten Chodron and Sravasti Abbey monastics invite you to reflect on the often-overlooked immeasurable of sympathetic joy. How can we cultivate genuine joy for the happiness and success of others, even when we may feel envy or jealousy? Learn to celebrate others’ good fortune as your own and understand why this practice leads to a profound sense of interconnectedness and peace. Also, learn to rejoice in your own goodness.
Each Venerable speaker will share their insights on how to deepen this immeasurable quality of Joy, making it an integral part of our lives.
Episode 17, with Venerable Thubten Samten
3 August 2025 (Sunday), 5pm US Pacific Time, 8pm US Eastern
4 August 2025 (Monday), 1am London, 8am Singapore, 10am Sydney (Timezone converter) [Register here]
Episode 18, with Venerable Thubten Damcho
10 August 2025 (Sunday), 5pm US Pacific Time, 8pm US Eastern
11 August 2025 (Monday), 1am London, 8am Singapore, 10am Sydney (Timezone converter) [Register here]
Episode 19, with Venerable Thubten Chodron
17 August 2025 (Sunday), 5pm US Pacific Time, 8pm US Eastern
18 August 2025 (Monday), 1am London, 8am Singapore, 10am Sydney (Timezone converter) [Register here]
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About the Teachers
Bhikshuni Venerable Thubten Chodron, Founder & Abbess, Sravasti Abbey
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Establishing Sravasti Abbey fulfills a long-held dream for Venerable Thubten Chodron (Venerable 德林 De Lin in Chinese): to train Western ordained sangha in the Buddha’s teachings. Her vision includes doing prayers and practices in English and using technology to spread the Dharma. She brings her core values of gender equality, social engagement, and care for the environment to the Abbey community.
A native of the U.S., Ven. Chodron, is particularly qualified to teach Western monastics. She trained in Asia for many years, receiving novice ordination from Kyabje Ling Rinpoche in 1977 and full ordination in Taiwan in 1986. Her teachers include His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and Lama Thubten Yeshe and many others.
In addition to founding Sravasti Abbey, Ven. Chodron is a well-known author and teacher. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, including ten volumes in The Library of Wisdom and Compassion, co-authored with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with whom she has studied for nearly fifty years.
Venerable Thubten Samten, Bhikshuni, Sravasti Abbey
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Venerable Samten met Venerable Thubten Chodron in 1996 when the future Ven. Chonyi, took the future Ven. Samten to a Dharma talk at Dharma Friendship Foundation in Seattle. The talk on the kindness of others and the way it was presented is deeply etched in her mind. Four Cloud Mountain retreats with Ven. Chodron, eight months in India and Nepal studying the Dharma, one month of offering service at Sravasti Abbey, and a two month retreat at the Abbey in 2008 fueled the fire to ordain on August 26, 2010. See photos of her ordination.
Ven. Samten’s full ordination took place in Taiwan in March 2012, when she became the Abbey’s sixth bhikshuni. See photos of her full ordination.
Right after finishing a Bachelor of Music degree, Ven. Samten moved to Edmonton, Canada to pursue training as a corporeal mime artist. Five years later, a return to university to obtain a Bachelor of Education degree opened the door to becoming a music teacher for the Edmonton Public School board. Concurrently, Ven. Samten became a founding member and performer with Kita No Taiko, Alberta’s first Japanese drum group.
Ven Samten is responsible for connecting with people who want to visit the Abbey to attend retreats, come to offer service and to answer questions that people send in via email and phone calls. For the past five years she has been assisting Venerable Tarpa with the planning and construction of the soon-to-be-completed Buddha Hall. Ven Samten helps to coordinate and facilitate the SAFE (Sravasti Abbey Friends Education Program), an online learning experience allowing people to build a foundation in their dharma studies. Earlier this year in 2025, Ven Samten and Ven Damcho went to Brazil to participate in an education conference designed to explore the value of compassion in the training of teachers.
Venerable Thubten Damcho, Bhikshuni, Sravasti Abbey
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Singaporean by birth, Venerable Thubten Damcho met the Dharma in the U.S. through the Buddhist Students’ Group at Princeton University, from which she graduated in 2006. On her return to Singapore, she took refuge at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery where she served as a Sunday school teacher. Struck by the aspiration to ordain, she attended a novitiate retreat in the Theravada tradition in 2007. After meeting Ven. Chodron in Singapore in 2008, Ven. Damcho was further inspired to pursue a monastic life.
After attending the Exploring Monastic Life Program, Ven. Damcho quickly moved to the Abbey to train as an anagarika in December 2012. She was ordained on October 2, 2013. Ven. Damcho received her full ordination at Miao Fa Temple in Taiwan in 2016. Venerable Damcho’s monastic life is rich and varied. She serves as assistant to Sravasti Abbey’s founder, author and well-known Buddhist teacher Venerable Thubten Chodron, and translates Chinese texts into English.
She has given Dharma talks in the U.S., India, Singapore and Brazil, and was the Chinese-English interpreter at a full ordination program in Taiwan in 2019 and 2024. After learning Tibetan through Maitripa College in 2017, she has translated short sutras from Tibetan to English for 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
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