Illustration by ontsunan

To ensure that Buddhist Global Relief continues to receive the backing of prominent Buddhist monastics and other Buddhist teachers, our founder Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi created a “Sangha Council” of monastics and other Buddhist clergy to stand behind BGR and provide its Board members, staff, and supporters with Dharma teachings and spiritual inspiration. 

In addition to providing a background spiritual presence to BGR, infusing the organization with the spirit of the Dharma, the Sangha Council will hold events such as online Dharma talks, retreats, and blessing ceremonies to inspire the wider community of people affiliated with BGR—and those not yet associated with us—and convey Buddhist teachings in both traditional ways and in ways that address the major social crises of our time.

We are grateful to the Sangha Council members, who honor BGR and our work with their presence, wisdom, and blessings.

SANGHA COUNCIL MEMBERS

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.

Bhikshu Jin Chuan

BGR Board member and Sangha Council member Bhikshu Jin Chuan was born in New Jersey and grew up in the Bay Area. He discovered his calling to monastic life during his high school years. In 2005, he joined the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, where he now serves as both chaplain and assistant professor at Dharma Realm Buddhist University. Together with Bhikshu Jin Wei, he is helping establish Redwood Vihara, a forest monastery in Boulder Creek, California.

Bhikshu Jin Wei

BGR Sangha Council member Bhikshu Jin Wei began his spiritual journey in his native Poland, where he started practicing meditation in 1999. His path led him to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in 2013 to pursue monastic training. Currently, he serves as a lecturer in DRBU Extension while dedicating himself to the development of Redwood Vihara.

Ajahn Kovilo

Ajahn Kovilo is an Ohio-born monk who was introduced to meditation through the Goenka tradition of insight meditation. He first entered the monastery in 2006. After receiving full ordination from Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro at Abhayagiri Monastery in California in 2010, he spent the next decade training at monasteries in the Ajahn Chah tradition in America and Thailand. In 2020, after a year practicing at a Pa Auk Sayadaw monastery, Ajahn Kovilo enrolled at the Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU) to study Pali and to better understand Mahāyāna practices. He graduated from DRBU in 2024 and has now joined the Clear Mountain community in person.

Ajahn Nisabho

After finishing college in 2012, Ajahn Nisabho left his native Washington State to go forth as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. He received full ordination the following spring under Ajahn Anan, a senior disciple of renowned meditation master, Ajahn Chah, and spent the following years training in forest monasteries around the world with contemporary masters such as Ajahn Anan, Ajahn Pasanno, and Ajahn Jayasaro. Over these years, he came to believe the tradition represented a faithful embodiment of the original Buddhist path able to yield great fruit even amidst the complexities of modern life. In the summer of 2021, he returned to Seattle to plant the first seeds of Clear Mountain Monastery.

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.