Acharya Judy Lief, a close, personal student of Tibetan meditation master Ven. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Former director of Naropa University and a fuonding faculty member of the Courageous Women’s Cancer Retreat. Judy focuses on how the insights and meditative techniques stemming from the Buddhist tradition can be applied to the challenges of everyday life and to pressing global issues. Judy is the author of Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality.
Matthieu Ricard, French cellular geneticist, who became a monk in the Himalayas, a close student of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche; translator for the Dalai Lama. Matthieu’s new book is Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World.
The last walking stretch to the ancient Tharpaling Monastery is along a rural road up and down switchbacks, past meadows of wild flowers and pristine pine and oak forests, and past rustic farm cottages.
Tucker Peck, MA is finishing his doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Arizona, with a focus on the scientific study of meditation’s effects on the mind, brain, and body. Tucker began training in meditation in 2005 and has studied with Sharon Salzberg of the Insight Meditation Society and Dr. John Yates of Dharma Treasure. Tucker received formal approval to teach meditation from Dr. Yates, whose own approval to teach meditation can be traced, through Ananda Bodhi, to the historical Buddha. While Ananda Bodhi was recognized by the Karmapa, and Tucker’s lineage thus has a Vajrayana history, his teachings come primarily from the Theravada tradition.
Karma Galay is the Chief Programme Officer in the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs of Bhutan. Karma holds a Master’s Degree in International Policy Studies from Stanford University. His research includes ‘Time Use and Happiness’, and ‘The Socio-economic Environmental Impact Analysis of Khothapga Gypsum Mine’. His additional areas of interest are micro-economics in Bhutan, and also crime and punishment in modern Bhutan, and co-editing various important works on ‘Gross National Happiness: Assumptions and Applications”.
Lopen Sonam Bomden is head of the Research and Library Section, of the Monk Body. Lopen Sonam holds a Master’s Degree in Buddhist Studies from Mysore Institute, Karnataka, India, and also a Master of Divinity from Naropa University, in Colorado. Lopen Sonam received teachings and empowerment from various Nyingma and Kargyud Masters living in and outside Bhutan. he has also completed several years’ of meditation, and has served the monk Body, in various significant positions.
Namkhai Nyingpo Rinpoche, the great Master and founder of Lhdrak Kharchhu Monastery, where several of our workshops, in Bumthang, Bhutan, will be held. He was recognized at a very young age, by H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama.
His Holiness Namkhai Nyingpo will be in a long retreat in 2013. However, we are assured that, if he is in the Monastery in June, when our group will be at the Monastery, and not in retreat, that it is possible for blessings and spiritual talks.
Namkhai Nyingpo’s lineage dates back to the nearest disciples of the 8th Century venerated Guru Rinpoche, who came to Bhutan from Tibet, on the back of a flying Tigress.
Namkhai Nyingpo has studied Buddha’s Dharma with many masters, and has received teachings and empowerment transmissions from the Four Major Schools of Tibetan Buddhism.