Damchö (Diana Finnegan)

Damcho is the main teacher of Comunidad Dharmadatta, one of the largest Buddhist practice communities serving Latin America. With a seven-year study program, online meditation halls, weekly teachings and hybrid retreats, Comunidad Dharmadatta has been offering the Dharma in Spanish free of charge since 2009. After a career as a journalist based in New York and Hong Kong, Damcho was ordained as a Buddhist nun from 1999 through 2023. Damcho trained for a decade under various Tibetan Buddhist masters in India, and earned a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a thesis on gender and ethics in Sanskrit and Tibetan narratives about Buddha’s direct female disciples. She co-edited and translated Interconnected: Embracing Life in a Global Society and The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World from the Inside Out. Her earth-centered approach locates gender and ecological issues at the very heart of Buddhist practice.