BGR executive director Kim Behan.
By Ayya Anandabodhi Bhikkhuni
On March 8, 2022, Kim Behan, the executive director and a founding member of Buddhist Global Relief, received the Outstanding Woman In Buddhism Award (OWBA) for her years of selfless service to better the lives of people worldwide. The OWBA is an International award, given to a select number of Buddhist women each year on International Women’s Day to honor and raise awareness of their important contributions to Buddhism and the welfare of the world.
Kim has always preferred to stay in the background, avoiding the limelight and remaining focused on her work and her Dharma practice. Today, with her permission, I would like to shine some light on this bright, capable and gentle being so we can all join in mudita—appreciative joy—for her generosity, vision and hard work that has transformed the lives of many people.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam (now Ho Chi Minh City), Kim grew up with the influence of her devout grandmother who introduced her to the Buddha Dharma and to the importance of prayer in her early years. Kim’s father was a humanitarian and a man of vision—although it was common for boys to be favored over girls to receive even a basic education, he placed great importance on the education of the girls in the family and often reminded them that one day, when they were successful in life, they should turn their attention to care for the poor and those in need.
As a young girl, Kim witnessed much poverty in her country and saw that many girls of her own age had to work to support their families while she was going to school. Reflecting on this, a strong conviction arose in her to one day help people who were suffering to gain better living conditions and education in order to fulfill their potential and live full and meaningful lives.
After graduating from the private French school Lycée Marie Curie in Vietnam, Kim came to the U.S. at the age of 18 to further her studies. She immersed herself in study, and earned a B.S. in management from Rutgers University and an M.S. in software engineering from the University of Colorado. Marrying and raising two sons, Kim also developed her career as a project manager and software developer. This helped her financially to care for her family, but during all those years, she knew deep down that something was missing in her life. In her efforts to make a life for herself in the U.S., she had left behind what was truly meaningful to her—a life of Dharma and her love for the poor.
In 2006, Kim attended a summer retreat led by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi at Bodhi Monastery in New Jersey. Hearing the Buddha’s teachings laid out so clearly opened her to the Buddha Dharma and reawakened her true calling to help those in need and to live a life dedicated to the Dharma.
In 2007, Kim and her sister, who is a medical doctor, founded a small nonprofit with the goal to provide medical care and alleviate poverty in rural areas of Vietnam. In 2008 she wrote to Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi regarding their charity work, and he invited her to join a team of people to discuss the formation of Buddhist Global Relief. Kim’s experience in establishing a charity, her people skills, and her heartfelt dedication to the Dharma and to benefiting the lives of others had a galvanizing effect as BGR began to take shape. In 2009, after recovering from a serious health setback, Kim took early retirement in order to devote her full effort to help the poor of the world and to dedicate her life to earnest study and practice of the Buddha’s teachings under the spiritual guidance of Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi.
I first met Kim in 2010 when she, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, and Sylvie Sun, emissaries of Buddhist Global Relief, came to visit us at Aloka Vihara in San Francisco. Meeting Kim was like meeting an old friend, and we have maintained a deep spiritual friendship over these years. I have always seen Kim as the heart of Buddhist Global Relief—somewhat hidden, but essential, motivated by love, hard work, and a wish to benefit the whole. I feel moved when I think of her father’s words, flowing like a river of compassion and wisdom from one generation to the next. Kim certainly fulfilled her father’s wishes—they became aligned with her own.
Ayya Anandabodhi Bhikkhuni was born in Wales in 1968 and began her Buddhist monastic life in England in 1992. She moved to the U.S. in 2009 to co-found Aloka Vihara Forest Monastery in California. In 2011 she received full Bhikkhuni ordination, joining the global resurgence of Theravada Bhikkhunis. Ayya Anandabodhi’s practice and teaching are guided by early Buddhist teachings, and through nature’s pure and immediate Dhamma.
