About Venerable Thubten Damchö

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.

Author Archive | Venerable Thubten Damchö

Benefiting others starts with motivation

By Venerable Thubten Damchö on Jun 9, 2018 in Young Adult Week 2018

How the Buddhist approach to benefiting others starts with motivation. Working with the mind to habituate virtuous motivations.

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Tags: audio, ethical conduct, Sravasti Abbey

Venerable Damcho smiling while teaching.

Review: Nine stages of sustained attention

By Venerable Thubten Damchö on Apr 20, 2018 in Gomchen Lamrim, Stages of the Path to Awakening with Thubten Chodron

Venerable Thubten Damcho reviews the nine stages of sustained attention, using the visual tool of a traditional Tibetan thangkha.

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Tags: audio, concentration, Sravasti Abbey, video

A Buddhist education

By Venerable Thubten Damchö on Dec 26, 2017 in Pilgrimage and Travels

Venerable Thubten Damcho reflects on her recent trip to Asia, and explores the idea of a Buddhist education.

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Tags: Tibetan Buddhism, video

More on joyous effort

By Venerable Thubten Damchö on Oct 6, 2017 in Gomchen Lamrim, Stages of the Path to Awakening with Thubten Chodron

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

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Tags: audio, Sravasti Abbey, video

Gomchen Lamrim review: Equanimity and equalizing self and others

By Venerable Thubten Damchö on Apr 21, 2017 in Gomchen Lamrim

Venerable Thubten Damcho reviews the two types of meditation on equanimity and discusses their similarities and differences.

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Tags: audio, bodhicitta, Sravasti Abbey, video

Gomchen Lamrim review: The truth of dukkha

By Venerable Thubten Damchö on Oct 21, 2016 in Gomchen Lamrim

A review of the three, eight, and six types of dukkha of beings in cyclic existence. Guided meditation on the dukkha of the beings of the six realms.

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Tags: audio, renunciation, Sravasti Abbey, video

Planning for ordination

By Venerable Thubten Damchö on Aug 7, 2016 in EML 2016

Venerable Thubten Damcho shares some of the advice she received regarding preparing and planning to become a monastic.

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Tags: Sravasti Abbey, video

Meditation and review on seeing the kindness of all beings

By Venerable Thubten Damchö on Jun 12, 2015 in Easy Path to Travel to Omniscience

Kindness is all around us and we can condition ourselves to see it in every single being through reflection and meditation. Then a wish to repay it arises.

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Tags: audio, bodhicitta, video