Venerable Thubten Damcho

Ven. Damcho (Ruby Xuequn Pan) met the Dharma through the Buddhist Students’ Group at Princeton University. After graduating in 2006, she returned to Singapore and took refuge at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See (KMSPKS) Monastery in 2007, 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, and attended an 8-Precepts retreat in Bodhgaya and a Nyung Ne retreat in Kathmandu in 2008. Inspired after meeting Ven. Chodron in Singapore in 2008 and attending the one-month course at Kopan Monastery in 2009, Ven. Damcho visited Sravasti Abbey for 2 weeks in 2010. She was shocked to discover that monastics did not live in blissful retreat, but worked extremely hard! Confused about her aspirations, she took refuge in her job in the Singapore civil service, where she served as a high school English teacher and a public policy analyst. Offering service as Ven. Chodron’s attendant in Indonesia in 2012 was a wake-up call. After attending the Exploring Monastic Life Program, Ven. Damcho quickly moved to the Abbey to train as an Anagarika in December 2012. She ordained on October 2, 2013 and is the Abbey’s current video manager. Ven. Damcho also manages Ven. Chodron’s schedule and website, helps with editing and publicity for Venerable’s books, and supports the care of the forest and vegetable garden.

View Posts

Cultivating the Four Immeasurables

Meditation on consistency in compassion

A guided meditation on how to cultivate consistency in our practice of compassion by reflecting…

View Post
Ven. Damcho smiling.
Antidotes to Afflictions

Meditation on coping with fear and anxiety

Guided meditation to look at what triggers fear and anxiety and how to cope with…

View Post
Volume 2 The Foundation of Buddhist Practice

Review of Chapter 7

Reviewing Chapter 7, leading a meditation on the nature of the mind and a discussion…

View Post
Volume 1 Approaching the Buddhist Path

Working with the afflictions review

Venerable Thubten Damcho leads a lively discussion about how to apply antidotes to the afflictions.

View Post
Venerable Damcho smiling.
Young Adults Explore Buddhism 2018

Benefiting others starts with motivation

How the Buddhist approach to benefiting others starts with motivation. Working with the mind to…

View Post
Gomchen Lamrim

Review: Nine stages of sustained attention

Venerable Thubten Damcho reviews the nine stages of sustained attention, using the visual tool of…

View Post
Gomchen Lamrim

More on joyous effort

Venerable Thubten Damcho continues the review of joyous effort, covering discouragement, faith, and favorable conditions

View Post