our founder
Lineage & Ordination
Venerable Clear Grace Dayananda received novice ordination under Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh in the Plum Village Vietnamese Zen tradition, entering the Liễu Quán Dharma Line (8th generation) and the Lâm Tế Dhyāna (Linji) School (42nd generation).
She later received higher ordination (upasampadān) with the Embracing Simplicity Contemplative Order under her preceptors: the late Ashin U Pannadipa Thero and her living Master, Maha Theri Dr. Pannavati Karuna, who continues to guide her. Through Dr. Pannavati, she inherits a rich multi-lineage transmission, Theravāda lineages (Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Burma) alongside Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna streams, including Vajryana empowerments, Sōtō Zen, and Vietnamese Zen.
In this way, Venerable Dayananda embodies the confluence of many rivers of Dharma as she stands in a multi-lineage inheritance.
Bio
Venerable Clear Grace Dayananda is a Black, queer Buddhist monastic and teacher whose life bridges multiple traditions and communities in service of liberation. Ordained in both Vietnamese Zen and Theravāda lineages, and guided by her living master Maha Theri Dr. Pannavati Karuna, she carries a rich multi-lineage transmission that integrates Theravāda, Mahāyāna, Vajrayāna, and Zen. With a background as a corporate executive, she brings exceptional skills in leadership, vision, and systems building to her Dharma work, including the creation of a mobile monastery and Sangha House NOLA in New Orleans. Her service is rooted in meeting communities impacted by systemic harm with presence, truth-telling, and compassion, offering integrative practices that support resilience, reconciliation, and joy. Recognized with the 2024 Outstanding Women in Buddhism Award and featured in Lion’s Roar and Tricycle, Venerable Dayananda embodies radical authenticity and healing at the crossroads of race, queerness, and spirituality, standing as a transformative leader whose work demonstrates that liberation is a collective flowering nurtured through wisdom and compassionate action.
Traveling Nunk
Traveling Nunk is the root of Sangha House NOLA, both our nonprofit foundation and the lived vow of embodying the Dharma in the world. Born through The Great Aspiration, a pilgrimage and mobile monastery that carried Venerable Dayananda across the country, it embodies the courage to do what is hard to do and the boundless love that gives rise to liberation. This initiation gave rise to Sangha House NOLA and its Beloved Community.
Consultation
Venerable Dayananda guides a courageous turn inward toward self-discovery, compassionate understanding, and reconciliation. She makes the liberating teachings of the Buddha tangible, accessible, and deeply relatable, offering a transformative path through life’s challenges, especially within a world shaped by discrimination and systemic suffering.
This work welcomes all who feel called to look deeply and take the next step toward liberation, transformation, and healing.
Invite Venerable
Venerable Clear Grace Dayananda is available to share teachings through Dharma talks, retreats, ceremonies, and community gatherings. With over two decades of experience, she has accompanied people across generations and settings, from schools and universities to hospitals, correctional facilities, workplaces, and neighborhood circles. In every space, she offers wisdom, clarity, and steady presence, meeting people directly where they are.
LIVING THE VOW
Sangha House NOLA rests on the vow of monastic practice, lived in relationship with the Beloved Community. Guided by Venerable Clear Grace Dayananda, our vision unfolds as boundless love in action, liberation in practice, and the living out of the teachings of the Dharma.