Dear Friends, 
Daffodils and tulips are blooming, and Venerables Chodron and Konchog have just returned to the Abbey from a month of teaching in Europe. Meanwhile, the community has been active tending the gardens, working on Abbey infrastructure projects, and sharing the Dharma widely.
See the Abbey Life photos for a glimpse of the activity. May all the merit generated be dedicated for compassion and wisdom to prevail.
Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron and the Sravasti Abbey Community
Standing Up for Compassion Retreat 
Vens. Semkye and Jigme led the Abbey’s first weekend retreat of the year, focusing on how to rely on ethics and compassion to keep our hearts open and wisely engaged in a crazy world.
A small group of local friends joined the Abbey community, while hundreds more joined the retreat online. See photos here.
Vens. Semkye and Jigme made an engaging and complementary pair as they shared their personal Dharma wisdom and invited sharing from participants on how they are coping with the current political and social turmoil.
Ven. Semkye focused on the three kinds of ethics—restraint, gathering virtue, and benefiting others—drawn from insightful passages in Ethics for the New Millennium by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Venerable Jigme focused on the virtuous mental factor of compassion, its difference from personal distress, and ways to develop fortitude. Talks are on our YouTube channel.
Ven. Chodron’s U.S. & Europe Teaching Tour 
Ven. Chodron spent the month sharing the Dharma in the U.S. and Europe, accompanied by Ven. Konchog, with support from MG Lentz in the U.S. and Ven. Jampa in Europe. Read the whole story with photos on the Abbey website. The first section begins below.
You’ll find most of the teachings on this playlist on the Abbey’s YouTube channel.
Microsoft
The first stop was in Seattle where, at the invitation of the Tibetan Association, Ven. Chodron spoke at Microsoft. It was an educational experience to be at the huge campus of 40 buildings with 10,000 employees and to hear about the long hours people work and the competition they engage in.
In her talk, Ven. Chodron addressed these issues and encouraged people to value the connection to living human beings, especially their families, colleagues, and friends, as well as all the people worldwide whom we don’t know personally but on whom we depend for the essentials of life—food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. One employee commented afterwards, “I watched and listened to the YouTube video and found a renewed sense of how I should live my life in the workplace. So thankful that it is on YouTube for everyone to watch.” Here’s the talk.
Yale University & NYC
This was followed by a full day at Yale University, where Ven. Chodron spoke to four groups. First, she recorded an interview to show to future students of their “What Is a Life Worth Living?” course. Next, she spoke to a class of students currently attending the course.
Ven. Chodron suggested that they change the class title. Asking “What Is a Meaningful Life,” implies that maybe there are lives not worth living, whereas she believes that every life is worth living. Why? Because people can change their bad habits and harmful actions so ending one’s own or others’ lives deprives them of the opportunity to cultivate their buddha nature.
In the third talk at Yale, she spoke to a group of freshmen at the Morris House residence on Compassion in Our Country. They asked about why she chose to become a monastic and the role of monastics in society. Lastly, she spoke to the university’s Buddhist group on The Buddhist Monastic Experience. Guided by Chaplain Suni Kim, the group met in an old chapel on campus.
Heading on to New York City, Ven. Chodron taught “Three Principal Aspects of the Path” by Je Tsongkhapa at Shantideva Center. Mary Grace returned to Seattle after that. Read her reflections on the journey. Ven. Konchog, who videoed all the talks and made the sound systems at the Dharma centers work properly, continued on to Europe.
Read more about teachings in France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. We’ll report on the final talks in Germany in the June enews.
At the end of the journey Ven. Jampa wrote;
Ven. Thubten Chodron wasn’t just sharing the knowledge and wisdom from the Buddha’s teachings but spoke from her own experience. She shared on different occasions one inspiring potent message from the master Shantideva (8th-century) on the bodhisattva deeds: “May people think of benefiting each other.”
Ven. Chodron has been of benefit in each and every moment, every city, every monastery, every center, wherever and with whomever she was. An inspiring example of the power of the bodhisattva deeds.
View photos from the first half of the trip here and photos from the second half here.
Buddha Hall Update
Crews continue to work steadily to repair the extensive water damage from a burst water pipe that flooded a portion of the building in February. Drywall has been replaced and painters are right behind them. There’s also new vinyl going in to cover the bathroom floors. See the video clips.
Twenty tons of river rock, available courtesy of a state grant to reduce fire danger, has been delivered and hand-placed around the building. Some of these areas will eventually be filled with potted ornamental plants, providing a hardscape garden along the circumambulation path. The land around the Buddha Hall is becoming a sparkling green as grasses from extensive hydro-seeding wake up to spring.
Although we can’t yet use the building, the Buddha Hall blessing with Geshe Gendun Samdup will go on as scheduled May 17. Thanks for everyone’s prayers and continued support as we slowly move toward a real opening day for the Buddha Hall. See photos of the Buddha Hall and rock work.
Sharing the Dharma Day & Offering Service Saturday
A mix of old friends and adventurous newcomers attended the Abbey’s first Sharing the Dharma Day of the year. Ven. Pema opened with a meditation on antidotes to anger, and Ven. Sangye Khadro launched a new series of teachings based on Ven. Chodron’s Working with Anger. The warm and sunny weather offered the opportunity to have discussion groups outside.
Despite light rain and cooler temperatures, many of our die-hard Offering Service Saturday friends joined us for mantra rolling, gardening, hydroseeding, and (of course!) forest work. In addition, a group of hearty men distributed rainbow river rocks across the Buddha Hall’s frontside landscaping. Abbey residents and volunteers alike are so thankful for these wonderful days of connection and collaboration.
More Dharma Outreach 
- Talks at North Idaho College (NIC): Ven. Chonyi gave the Abbey’s bi-annual public talk at NIC, entitled “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Pairing reasonings from the Dalai Lama’s teachings with psychological studies cited in Jamil Zaki’s The War for Kindness, she suggested basic kindness as the means to bridge the divides in today’s society, encouraging the audience to engage as “kindness activists.” The talk is on YouTube. The next day, Ven. Monlam and Ven. Dekyi spoke to NIC students on compassion. Their personable and informal way of speaking touched their hearts. Read two students’ reflections on the talks and the deep impact it made on them.
- Ven. Samten and Ven. Damcho, both former school teachers, are in Brazil for two educational conferences at the Federal University of Pampa in Uruguaiana. They were panelists for the International Seminar on Peace Education – Contributions of Compassion to Teacher Training. Their Q & A session is online. They were also key presenters for the South American Symposium of Bachelor Students and Teachers on Compassion and Peace Education. Watch for their upcoming Bodhisattva Breakfast Corner talks on their experience when they return.
- Uniting the Inland Northwest: This community gathering in Spokane, hosted by FāVS News, brought a variety of groups together to focus on bridging regional divides. Ven. Chonyi served on an interfaith panel that illuminated the values of compassion, service, and justice common to all faith traditions.
- Prison Dharma: Vens. Ngawang and Gyatso are facilitating a weekly group at Airway Heights Correctional Center where there is a core group of inmates who attend regularly. They are building trust and taking the Dharma in seriously and applying it in their lives. In addition, the two monks are learning a lot about how to share the Dharma.
- Weekly Dharma: The Beginning Buddhism class with Vens. Jigme and Dekyi in Spokane on Wednesday evenings and the Cultivating Compassion in Everyday Life class with Vens. Tsepal, Lamsel, and Rinchen in Newport on Tuesday nights continue weekly.
Online Teachings & Engagement 
- Ven. Sangye Khadro continued her weekly class on Shantideva’s Engaging in the Deeds of a Bodhisattva for Tse Chen Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies, completing Chapter 7 on the Perfection of Joyous Effort and beginning Chapter 8 on the Perfection of Concentration. Ven. Sangye Khadro also continued the course Samsara and Nirvana for the Land of Medicine Buddha and Ocean of Compassion centers in California as part of FPMT’s Discovering Buddhism program.
- Ven. Dekyi participated in an interfaith panel on How to Sustain Hope During Difficult Times organized by the environmental interfaith group Earth Ministries. The all-female panel included a Rabbi, Muslim leader, and Catholic leader who agreed that hope is not passive and requires personal action and a broad perspective.
- Ven. Dekyi also joined an online training with the Buddhist environmental group One Earth Sangha. Based on the work of environmental activist Joanna Macy, the training introduced “Spiral – The Work That Reconnects,” which helps participants connect with “the whole rainbow of emotions” concerning our relationship to the earth. The purpose is to inspire action motivated by joy and appreciation for the earth and for each other. See Ven. Dekyi’s Bodhisattva’s Breakfast Corner talk, Becoming an Eco-sattva.
Visit with Geshe Thabkhe in Houston, TX 
Venerables Pema and Chonyi made a visit to pay respects to Gen Rinpoche Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe at the Drepung Loseling Institute in Houston, where he is well-cared for by center founder Gala Rinpoche.
Gen Rinpoche kindly gave a private teaching on the first verses of Chandrakirti’s Entry to the Middle Way and answered personal Dharma questions, including how to prepare for death. Watch the teaching on Drepung’s YouTube channel.
The nuns also attended one of Gala Rinpoche’s wonderful weekly teachings and, at his invitation, gave a talk about the Abbey and Western monastic life for his students.
Over the years, Gen Rinpoche Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe has taught the Abbey community several profound texts by Indian masters including Aryadeva’s 400 Stanzas on the Middle Way, Chapter 2 of Dharmakirti’s Pramanavarttika, Kamalashila’s middle Stages of Meditation, and his own commentary on The Rice Seedling Sutra. All of these are freely available online. He will begin online teachings of Nagarjuna’s Precious Garland of Advice to a King on June 2. The Abbey is deeply grateful to receive these profound teachings from such a precious master.
More News 
- Ven. Chodron offered an interview on cultivating fortitude and a blessing by Buddha Bear with Chade-Meng Tan, co-founder of Buddhism.net, while she was in Singapore last year.
- Study Buddhism’s April newsletter features an interview with Ven. Chodron. It says, “Read on to find out what it means to be a 21st-century Buddhist, explore the fine line between cultural adaptation and Dharma dilution, and see how practices like mantra, reasoning, and deity yoga lead to genuine inner peace.” Watch the video series from the interview here.
- Tse Chen Ling recently released Venerable Sangye Khadro’s 2024 teaching series “Maitreya’s Ornament for Clear Realization – Chapter Four.”
- A new online series, Vibe with Venerables, will feature five Abbey monastics speaking in a series of talks on immeasurable love, “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” Beginning with Ven. Chodron on June 1, the series runs weekly on Sundays at 5 pm Pacific Time, 8 am in Singapore through June 29. Watch for it.
- FaVs News interviewed Ven. Samten for a story on a recent Pew Research Center report, “More adults leaving childhood religions, including in the Inland Northwest.”
- Young Adults Explore Buddhism is June 13 – 10. Share the link with folks you know who are aged 18 to 29 and looking for life’s deeper meaning. It’s a wonderful annual event with Ven. Chodron and the community that includes talks, meditation instruction, offering service outdoors in the Abbey’s forest, and wide-ranging discussion. How cool it is to spend nearly a week living with Buddhist monks and nuns?
Upcoming Events 
Here’s what’s happening in May:
Tuesdays, 6:30pm-8:00pm: Cultivating Compassion in Everyday Life with Vens. Tsepal, Lamsel & Rinchen, live at Pend Oreille PUD Conference Room, Newport, WA
Wednesdays, 6pm-7:30pm: Beginning Buddhism with Vens. Jigme & Dekyi, live at Spokane Buddhist Temple
Wednesdays, 6pm-8pm: Engaging in the Bodhisattva’s Deeds Pt. 2 with Ven. Sangye Khadro, on Zoom for Tse Chen Ling
May 2-4: Finding Joy in Troubled Times with Ven. Sangye Khadro, live and online
May 6: Samsara and Nirvana with Ven. Sangye Khadro, on Zoom for Land of Medicine Buddha and Ocean of Compassion Buddhist Center
May 10: Offering Service Saturday with the Abbey community
May 10: Searching for the Self: The Importance of Understanding Emptiness with Ven. Chodron, on Zoom for Vajrayana Institute
May 11: Sharing the Dharma Day with the Abbey community
May 11: Medicine Buddha Puja with Abbey monastics, on Zoom
May 13-17: Jowo Atisha’s Lamp for the Path with Geshe Gendun Samdup, live and online
May 17: Buddha Hall blessing with Geshe Gendun Samdup
May 23-26: Good Karma Memorial Day Weekend Retreat with Ven. Thubten Chodron
Plus weekly teachings online:
- Middle-Length Lamrim, with Ven. Sangye Khadro, streamed live, Thursdays at 9 am Pacific Time
- Following in the Buddha’s Footsteps, with Ven. Thubten Chodron, streamed live, Fridays at 6 pm Pacific Time
Check the Abbey’s Events Page for more talks, retreats & courses!