2026 NEW YEAR RETREAT
‘Promoting Human Unity in a Time of Discord and Division’
Friday evening and Saturday • January 9 and 10, 2026
Over the past year, divisions in this country have been bitterly intensified, causing immense pain for those on the receiving end of racial, ethnic, religious, gender, and class bigotry. The Buddha’s teaching extols kindness and compassion as cardinal ethical virtues and insists that our personal task, as practitioners, must be to live and work “for the welfare and happiness of the many.” At this New Year’s retreat, members of BGR’s Sangha Council will offer reflections, meditation practices, and ethical guidelines for understanding and healing the divisions that separate us.
Held via Zoom, the retreat will begin with a session on Friday evening and will continue in three sessions on Saturday. The sessions will be led by BGR founder and chair Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi and BGR Sangha Council members Ayya Ānandhabodhī, of Pārāyana Vihāra in Port Townsend, Washington; Dhammadīpā Roshi, of Dassanāya Buddhist Community in Alexandria, Virginia; and Thubten Lamsel and Thubten Monlam, of Sravasti Abbey in Newport, Washington. Detailed times will be announced soon.
Please join us!
Our Teachers
Ayya Ānandabodhī
Ayya Ānandabodhī was born and raised in Wales, UK. She has spent over 30 years as a Buddhist monastic, practicing mostly in the Forest Tradition in the UK, and for the past 15 years in the US. Taking full ordination in 2011, she joined the worldwide revival of the Theravāda Bhikkhunī Order. Ayya now resides at Pārāyana Vihāra in Port Townsend, Washington, and teaches meditation retreats in the US and occasionally overseas. Ayya’s practice and teaching are guided by early Buddhist scriptures, living in community, and through nature’s pure and immediate Dhamma.
Dhammadīpā Roshi
BGR Sangha Council member Dhammadīpā is the founder and Guiding Teacher of Dassanāya Buddhist Community in Alexandria, Virginia. She has been practicing Buddhism since 1987 and she was ordained in 2007. Dhammadīpā has received Dharma Transmission in the tradition of Soto Zen, and practiced for five years as a nun in the Theravāda tradition. In addition to English, she teaches in Spanish, an expression of her Latin heritage. She enjoys watercolor painting and spending time with her adult daughter.
Thubten Lamsel
Born in Australia, Venerable Thubten Lamsel moved to the U.S. to study and ordain with Venerable Thubten Chodron at Sravasti Abbey in 2017. She took novice ordination in 2018, and full ordination in Taiwan at Fo En Si Temple in 2024. Before ordination, Venerable Lamsel worked as a university-based public health researcher and as a health promoter at a small non-governmental organization. Serving as part of the BGR Sangha Council provides a practical outlet for her ongoing passion for health and wellbeing for all.
Thubten Monlam
Venerable Thubten Monlam began her Dharma journey in 2014 in Carbondale, Colorado, inspired by teachings on love and compassion. Her interest deepened after a retreat on Chenrezig, the Buddha of compassion, leading her to study Venerable Thubten Chodron’s book Cultivating A Kind Heart and to visit Sravasti Abbey. While working for youth-focused non-profits, she continued her Dharma studies and practice. She moved to the Abbey in 2021, took siksamana ordination in 2022, and received full bhikshuni ordination in Taiwan in 2024. At the Abbey, she serves on the community care team, the guest care team, helps manage the kitchen, and edits Dharma materials. She is committed to the bodhisattva path, aspiring to actualize her highest potentials so she can help others do the same.
