NWDA News

Northwest Dharma Moving Ahead in 2025

Gatherings of regional Buddhist teachers, like this one in Portland in 2023, is one of NWDA's contributions to the community.

Building an Advisory Council for the Future To tap some of the vast wisdom and compassion of Buddhist leaders throughout this region, Northwest Dharma Association is planning to call together a Northwest Dharma Advisory Council. Our vision is that this council will meet perhaps three times a year, with the purpose to offer advice and vision about where NWDA should be going in the future. To be clear this won’t be a board, just an advisory council, with no responsibilities other than offering input. While the organization is currently doing fine, and making a real difference to the regional Buddhist…

Compassionate Action

Kilung Monastic College Restored as Learning Hub

The new Kilung Monastery Shedra is of traditional design, with many modern features.

After eight years of determined effort, the lights are back on in the Kilung Monastery Shedra, a monastic college in Tibet. Support for rebuilding the shedra has come from around the world, but primarily through Kilung Foundation on Whidbey Island, northwest of Seattle. The new Kilung Shedra in Dzachuka, East Tibet, is a modern structure, built with fire and earthquake resistance, designed to withstand the rigors of high-altitude winters. It features a glass-roofed courtyard for passive solar temperature regulation, and specially insulated thick walls, all replacing the wooden structure that burned to the ground in 2016. The new lights…

Dharma Arts

First Seattle Sand Mandala Made by Tibetan Nuns

The nuns chant and play instruments to consecrate the site. Left to right: Sonam Dolma, Geshema Yeshi Sangmo, Chung Dolma, Sherab Dolma

Four visiting Tibetan Buddhist nuns created a sand mandala in Seattle this fall, the first time female monastics have done so in Seattle. The four, from Jangchub Choeling Nunnery in India, visited Seattle Sept. 30 to Oct. 5 as part of their first-ever U.S. tour. The fact that they accomplished the tour and sand mandala ceremony without help from male monastics, marks a significant advancement for monastic women in Tibetan tradition. The Jangchub Jamste Tour was led by Geshema Yeshi Sangmo, who was accompanied by nuns Sonam Dolma, Chung Dolma, and Sherab Dolma. The tour included 21 stops across the…

Dharma Education

Montana-based Jestunma Teaching Worldwide

Jetsünma and Dorlop Chönyi Sangmo playing traditional instruments during a ceremony at the Namchak Retreat Ranch. Lama Lungrig Nyima at the rear.

Jetsünma Jamyang Dolma, an inspiring female Tibetan-ancestry teacher based in Western Montana, is expanding her teaching schedule locally and across the country. Jetsünma spent nearly 12 years studying and practicing Buddhist teachings, and nine years in retreat, before becoming a teacher. Typically, she teaches in Montana, California, New Mexico, Nepal, India, and, as she says, “wherever I’m invited to teach.” In 2025 she will teach in various Namchak Community programs in Western Montana, including the Compassion in Action Fellows Program and multiple weekend retreats. She is a sangha member and teacher at the Ewam Garden of One Thousand Buddhas in…

Sangha News

Olympia Zen Center to Mark 25 Years of Practice

Niho Tetsumei Roshi, who gave dharma transmission to Eidō France Carney in Japan, was among the important Zen leaders at the 2002 dedication of the Olympia Zen Center

The Olympia Zen Center sangha will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Sōtō Zen temple in July of 2025, as the center continues to evolve for the future. Many friends, sangha members and special guests will gather in ceremony and deep gratitude for the practice, and for everything the Olympia, Washington, temple has provided. We expect to be honored by the presence of Reverend Gengo Akiba Roshi, the bishop of Sōtō Zen in North America. Olympia Zen Center sangha first gathered around founding teacher Rev. Eidō Frances Carney in 1995. This was just after she returned from…