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FACE TO FACE | EASTERN HORIZON 35

thought as to how the food came to
Engaging Modern
their table and the chain of events
and sacrifices made by many,
especially animals, which eventually Buddhist Youth
end up as meat on our plates. If
Malaysians could only look deeply
and contemplate on the causal food in Asia
supply chain and supply chains
of other goods and services that By Venerable Thubten Damcho
we utilise daily, I believe that we
will all become more responsible
Venerable Thubten Damcho is a
consumers. We will come to
Buddhist nun residing at Sravasti
understand the pain and suffering
Abbey, one of the first Tibetan
of many humans and non-humans
Buddhist training monasteries in the
and halt further exploitation of
United States.
labour and natural resources.

Born and raised in Singapore, she
Another pertinent point is that
if we could cut down on meat graduated from Princeton University
in 2006 and worked as a secondary school teacher and public
intake, it would certainly help
policy analyst in the Singapore government before returning to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions
the US to take novice ordination in 2013. She received bhikshuni
(methane) and alleviate the
suffering of so many sentient beings
ordination in Taiwan in 2016.
who are kept as livestock in most

cruel conditions.
Venerable Damcho’s monastic life is rich and varied. She serves
as assistant to Sravasti Abbey’s founder, author and well-known
Also, Malaysians must overcome
Buddhist teacher Venerable Thubten Chodron. Her other duties
apathy and the NIMBY (Not in
range from translating Vinaya rites and commentaries from
my back yard) syndrome and
Chinese into English, to removing weeds from the Abbey’s 300-
dispose solid waste properly and
acre property.
responsibly. Open burning and
dumping of waste (especially
Venerable Damcho has given Dharma talks in the US, India,
industrial effluent) into our rivers
which eventually end up in the sea and Singapore. She was the Chinese-English interpreter at a full
ordination program in Taiwan in 2019. She has also translated short
should be halted. If these are very
sutras from Tibetan into English for 84000: Translating the Words of
difficult to do, simply be mindful of
the Buddha.
switching off the tap and electrical
appliances when not in use and
turning to more water and energy
efficient appliances. Our collective You can watch the talks that she has given at Sravasti Abbey here. Learn
mindful actions of looking deeply more about Sravasti Abbey at SravastiAbbey.org and Buddhist teachings
into our habitual tendencies in our at ThubtenChodron.org.
own minds is the ultimate solution
to our pressing environmental The following interview was conducted with Ven Damcho by Benny
crises plaguing the world today. EH Liow for Eastern Horizon.