September 19th, 2025

7:00pm-8:30pm

Hybrid | Free

Please join Dr. David Kittay and author Janet Ettele as they discuss Janet’s writing, and the every-day relevance of dharma in life today. Janet uses the art of story to bridge 2500-year-old Buddhist teachings to our contemporary western culture. She has written a series of short novels based on the eighth century Buddhist monk and scholar Master Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life.

With a foreword from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and endorsements from Robert Thurman, and Jane Goodall, her most recent book is How Joyous Effort Works. Presenters welcome questions from attendees.

As Master Shantideva's teaching presents The Six Perfections, each of Ettele's books in her series is focused on one of each of the perfections: How Generosity Works, How the Root of Kindness Works (ethics), How Patience Works, and How Joyous Effort Works. For more information about Janet Kathleen Ettele and her work, visit her website: janetettele.com 

 "...Janet Kathleen Ettele's 'How Joyous Effort Works' introduces Buddhism interweaving it with stories of our daily life. I hope this book enables the general readers to get a better understanding of the Buddhist teachings, Getting conviction not because of faith, but due to reasoning." His Holiness the Dalai Lama

"...Mark the pages, and keep the book handy - it's one you'll want to read again and again." Robert A.F. Thurman 

BIOS

Dr. David “Komodo Drugpa” Kittay specializes in teaching courses on Buddhism and on Eastern and Western philosophy at Columbia U., most recently, “Technology, Religion, Future,” “Interpreting Buddhist Yoga,” "Law and Religion," and "Reincarnation, Simulation, Resurrection." With Lozang Jamspal, he is the translator of The Vajra Rosary Tantra (Wisdom Publications 2020), and many other Sutra, Tantra, and commentarial texts, and is currently finalizing Tsongkhapa’s Precious Sprout. He regularly lectures at Tibet House US, where he serves on Executive Committee and the Board, and at Do Ngak Kunphen Ling Tibetan Buddhist Center, at Columbia, and worldwide, and is the President of the Tibetan Classics Translators Guild of New York. He also writes and lectures on the subject of compassionate lawyering, and has served as a trial and civil rights lawyer, federal bankruptcy trustee and a receiver for the Securities Exchange Commission. He is currently Director and Professor of Philosophy at the Harlem Clemente Course for the Humanities, teaching humanities to economically disadvantaged people in Harlem. Dr. Kittay's current primary research interests are Buddhist philosophy and tantra, hermeneutic yoga, and consciousness studies.

Janet Kathleen Ettele is a musician and author who blends her background as a student of Buddhist dharma with her art, bringing its teachings into contemporary practice through her writing and music. She has performed with Tencho Gyatso, the niece of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Grammy Award nominee and Tibetan flutist Nawang Khechog. A graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, where Ettele studied music composition, becoming an author decades later was an unexpected but welcome opportunity. Ettele worked in the entertainment industry until becoming a mother. She lives in Connecticut where she has raised two sons and has happily welcomed the addition of two grandchildren.