Transforming Problems Into Happiness
with Ven. Tenzin Tsepal

Thursdays—February 29 to April 25

 9 am on YouTube Live

An unavoidable hallmark of cyclic existence is encountering various problems throughout our lives—challenging people, unwanted circumstances, illness, aging, and general dissatisfaction. But problems are just another form of teaching. “Whether a life situation is wonderful or not depends on the way your mind perceives and interprets it.”

Ven. Tenzin Tsepal shares reflections based on a favorite Dharma book, Transforming Problems by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. This small book contains volumes of practical advice for training the mind to see problems as beneficial conditions supportive of, and even necessary for, our happiness. While mind training texts like this are not intended to eliminate the difficulties we inevitably encounter, they teach us how not to be disturbed by them, and instead how to accept and transform such harms to make swift progress along the path to full awakening.

Venerable Tenzin Tsepal

Venerable Tenzin Tsepal was a student of Venerable Chodron’s in Seattle from 1995 to 1999. She then lived in India for two years to explore monastic life. In 2001, she received sramanerika ordination from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and received bhikshuni ordination at Fu En Si Temple in Taiwan in 2019.

Venerable Tsepal studied the five-year Buddhist Studies Program at Chenrezig Institute (CI) in Australia, and then stayed for 14 years to pursue intensive residential study. As the Western Teacher at Chenerzig Institute, she tutored weekend teachings and retreats and taught the Discovering Buddhism courses.

In January 2016, Venerable Tsepal returned to the U.S. to participate in Sravasti Abbey’s winter retreat. She joined the community the following September. Ven. Tsepal offers service in a variety of ways, including by sharing the Dharma.

Read her full bio. See a playlist of Venerable Tsepal’s talks here.

Materials

Slides:
April 25
April 18-Meditation outline
April 18
April 11
April 4
March 28-Lamrim outline
March 28
March 21
March 14
March 7
February 29