In May of 2006, Ven. Dhammadinna
and Tenzin Jesse returned from India after sustained
requests from a number of Seattle students who hoped for weekly
Dharma teachings from a resident teacher. In response to their requests,
these two Western teachers ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
founded a Dharma community including both the vipassana and non-sectarian
Tibetan traditions. They now make their home in Seattle and offer year-round
teachings there as well as occassional teachings elsewhere in North
America.
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Ven. Dhammadinna took robes
in 1983 in the Theravadin tradition after earning a science
degree at U. Mass. She then moved to Burma with her teacher
and remained in Asia for 21 years, studying with U Pandita
Sayadaw and Ajahn Buddhadasa, among others, walking daily alms
rounds, living a simple, monastic life and meditating in
the forests and temples of Burma and Thailand.
For a number
of years, Ven. Dhammadinna has taught Buddhism and led meditation retreats
at Suan Mokkh in South Thailand as well as in England, India, and the
US. In 2000 she was sent by her Burmese master to Dharmsala to study
with His Holiness the Dalai Lama privately. In 2003 Ven. Dhammadinna
took ordination in the Tibetan tradition with His Holiness and, at His
request, received bhikshuni ordination in Taiwan. |
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Tenzin Jesse worked for five years as a crisis
counselor after graduate
studies in psychology and
then spent two decades guiding wilderness expeditions on the Pacific Ocean. In the midst of her years in the wilderness with the bears and the whales, Jesse began studying
with His Holiness the Dalai Lama after being profoundly inspired by hearing Him teach in 1993. She has subsequently studied
with teachers in the Gelug, Kagyu and Nyingma traditions and has completed the studies of the seven-year
Lama Tsong Khapa Institute Master's Program, a traditional Buddhist monastic curriculum including the abhisamayalamkara, madhyamakavatara and abhidharmakosha.
Tenzin Jesse was director of Dharma Friendship Foundation
for eight years, teaching Buddhist practice and philosophy as well as classical Tibetan language for five
of those years. She has written a Tibetan language textbook and recently published a new translation of the
King of Prayers. In 2004 she relocated to India to study with the Dalai Lama and received ordination from His
Holiness shortly thereafter. Tenzin Jesse returned her ordination after coming back to Seattle where she founded BodhiHeart Sangha. |
