NEWPORT, Wash. (RNS) At a conference for Western Buddhist teachers some years ago, the Venerable Thubten Chodron and other monastics complained to the Dalai Lama about the difficulties they faced: lack of finances, education, a place to live.
At one point the leader of Tibetan Buddhism began to weep. Finally he told the teachers: “Don’t rely on us to do things for you; go out and do things to help yourself. If you run into problems come and tell me.”
Those words changed the course of Chodron’s life.
The notion of starting a Tibetan Buddhist monastic community in the West was already in the back of her mind. All she needed was permission.
Chodron’s quest took her from Seattle to Missouri to Idaho, and ultimately to 240 acres of forested land just outside Newport, Wash., a quiet town of just 2,100 people.
Here, she formed Sravasti Abbey, one of the only U.S. monasteries where women — and soon men — can devote themselves to Tibetan Buddhism and become fully ordained. Since its founding in 2003, the abbey has served as a training ground for 10 ordained women (known as bhikshunis) and a community for hundreds of visiting lay monastics and practitioners.
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But the abbey may be her most lasting legacy.
Wilson, the Canadian professor, said the monastery could have a huge impact, not only on the regional community but globally, because people coming for monastic training can learn an Americanized form of Tibetan Buddhism that they can take back to their own countries.
The Dalai Lama has yet to visit the monastery, though he did offer an endorsement prominently displayed on the abbey’s website: “I am glad to know that the community seeks to provide both monks and nuns with not only equal opportunity, but also equal responsibility to study, practice and teach the Dharma.”
In 2013, during a visit to Australia, he even suggested that the next Dalai Lama could very well be a woman.
For Chodron, it is a sweet thought and an affirmation of a vision cast long ago.
