Andy Weber
The artist Andy Weber spent seven years living and studying the iconographical art of Tibetan Buddhism under the guidance of accomplished masters in India and Nepal. His unique style of authentic images for visualization are highly respected not only by the growing number of Western Buddhists but also by Tibetan…
Don Handrick
Don Handrick is a touring teacher for the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), sharing the Dharma with centers and study groups in North America and other parts of the world, both in-person and online. Don’s study of Buddhism began in 1993 after reading The Tibetan Book of…
Fawn Damitio
Fawn has been teaching yoga and mindfulness since 2019 and has been practicing yoga and meditation for 30 years. These practices, initially offered to her by others, have been one of her greatest gifts in life. She seeks to deepen her own practice and uplift others by sharing this gift…
Gelongma Lozang Yönten
Gelongma Lozang Yönten (Chaplain and Lecturer of Buddhist Studies at Maitripa College in Portland, Oregon USA) has been a nun since 2003. Buddhist since her teenage years, Ven. Yönten moved to Australia and studied extensively under Gyurmé Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Tashi Tsering (at Chenrezig Institute, AU) from 2002–2009 before moving to…
Geshe Ngawang Dakpa
Geshe Ngawang Dakpa serves as a resident teacher at Tse Chen Ling. He was born in Nakchu, northeast of Lhasa, Tibet and became a monk at the age of ten. At the local monastery of Othok he studied both Dharma and secular subjects extensively before entering Sera Je Monastery eleven…
Geshe Tenzin Legtsok
Geshe Tenzin Legtsok graduated from Sera Jey Monastic University in South India where he studied classic Indian Buddhist treatise and their Tibetan commentaries in the tradition of ancient Nalanda University. He has been ordained as a Buddhist monk since 2001. Born in Virginia, USA in 1973, he obtained a Bachelor…
Geshe Tenzin Zopa
Geshe Tenzin Zopa holds the honoured Geshe (Doctorate) degree from Sera Jey Monastic University, South India. He was born in the remote Himalayan region of Tsum valley in Nepal and was ordained at the age of 9 in Kopan Monastery by the late Great Mahasiddha Geshe Lama Konchog. He received…
Geshe Thubten Sherab
Geshe Thubten Sherab, a student of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa since childhood, brought this direct lineage of teachings to New Mexico in 2001. Geshe Sherab held the position of headmaster of the Mount Everest School at Kopan Monastery in Nepal, and was appointed to serve as acting abbot of…
Geshe Wangdu
Known affectionately by some long term students as “Geshe Wangdu”, Rinpoche’s current full name, with all honorifics included, is Segyü Khen Rinpoche Lobsang Wangdü. (The title “Khen” denotes the role of current Abbot.) Currently Rinpoche is Abbot at Segyü Dratsang and prior to that held the same role for a…
Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa
As one of the last generation of Tibetan Buddhist scholars to begin their educational careers in Tibet prior to the Chinese invasion, Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa has played an instrumental role in the reestablishment and preservation of Tibetan Buddhist traditions in exile, and in the spread of Tibetan Buddhism to the…
His Eminence the 7th Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche
His Eminence the 7th Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche was born in McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, in 1985. In 1987, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama recognized him as the reincarnation of His Holiness the 6th Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche (1903 – 1983), who was the most Senior Tutor of His Holiness…
Isabella Wesner
Isabella is a yoga teacher, massage and art therapist. Traveling for 8 years cross-continental, her classes are based on a diverse foundation of integrative & holistic techniques. In 2021, Isabella studied Zen Thai Shiatsu Massage Therapy, a combination of Osteopathy, TCM, Shiatsu and Thai Massage and created her small business,…
Jeff Highfill
Jeff has been meditating and studying Buddhism for over 10 years under the guidance of the most seasoned FPMT teachers and of course Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He has attended the Kopan November Course in 2013, completed all Discovering Buddhism Modules, studied The Foundation of Buddhist Thought under Geshe Tashi in…
Jessica Fajans
Jessica is a celebrated yoga teacher with 10+ years of experience and training in yoga practices, meditation, and pranayama. She creates a practice that feels inclusive and welcoming, focusing on opening energetically and enhancing ease in the body. Her intention is to hold space for connection and presence and to…
Kalden Kho
Originally from eastern Tibet, Kalden Kho brings a wealth of Tibetan cultural and spiritual experience to his sound healing meditation activities. He became a monk at the age of 5 and continued his monastic studies until the age of 23 when he completed a three-year retreat. He subsequently escaped to…
Kalden Kho
Originally from eastern Tibet, Kalden Kho brings a wealth of Tibetan cultural and spiritual background to his sound experience offerings. He became a monk at the age of 5 and continued his monastic studies until the age of 23, when he completed a three year retreat. He subsequently escaped to India in…
Karuna Cayton
Karuna Cayton acquired a Masters in Clinical Psychology in 1992. He is a licensed Psychotherapist having trained at the Children’s Health Council in Palo Alto, California. From 1975 to 1988 he lived at Kopan Monastery studying Buddhist psychology and philosophy under the guidance of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche.…
Miffi Maxmillion
Miffi Maxmillion runs the spiritual program at Langri Tangpa Centre, Brisbane Australia. She is a registered FPMT teacher and leads beginner’s and balancing emotions classes. Miffi is also the centre ‘umze’ or chant leader at pujas. She left behind a thriving haute couture and costume business in Melbourne, when her mother Inta Mckimm (who ran…
Pam Cayton
Pam Cayton lived in Nepal from 1978-88 where she studied Buddhism, taught English and helped organize courses in Buddhist philosophy and meditation. In 1981, she founded The Himalayan Yogic Institute, now the Himalayan Buddhist Meditation Center in Kathmandu. After moving to the United States in 1988 with her husband…
Paula Chichester
As an adolescent in Berkeley in the 1960’s, I began a search for a means to shift the dominant paradigm of our perceptions of reality in order to survive the coming environmental chaos and resulting social unrest. A decade later, upon meeting Lama Thubten Yeshe and his teachers and disciples,…
Richard Prinz
Richard earned a BA in Psychology at UC Berkeley during the social unrest of the late 1960’s. With a motivation to find a path to a peaceful society, he travelled to India. Going overland from Europe to spend a year in India and Nepal, it was not until reaching Australia…
Scott Snibbe
Scott Snibbe is a new media artist, author, and meditation instructor. He serves as the executive director of A Skeptic’s Path to Enlightenment, and hosts its popular meditation podcast. In 2024, Snibbe released his first book, How to Train a Happy Mind, featuring a foreword by His Holiness the Dalai…
Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche
At the age of two, Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche II (1984 – present) pointed to the photo of the recently deceased Assistant Tutor of the 14th Dalai Lama and said, “That’s me!” Recognized as the reincarnation of the former Tsenshab Serkong Rinpoche, the young tulku received his Buddhist training initially at…
Tengyur Rinpoche
Tengyur Rinpoche is a Geshe Lharampa graduate from Sera Jey Monastery, and a junior English translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama since 2012. In 2024 Tengyur Rinpoche graduated from Harvard University with a Master’s degree in Theological Studies. He was born in Tawang in the North-Eastern part of India…
Tenzin Ösel Hita
Tenzin Ösel Hita, born in 1985, is a radical freethinker, humanitarian, documentary filmmaker, musician, father, friend, lifelong student, and former 21st-century Buddhist monk. When just 14 months old, Ösel was formally recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of Lama Thubten Yeshe, the revered Tibetan yogi, scholar,…
Tubten Pende
Tubten Pende, a.k.a. Jim Dougherty, has been a practicing Buddhist since 1972 when he was introduced to Tibetan Buddhism in India. Pende was included in the first wave of FPMT’s Western Buddhist teachers. He was the coordinator of the Geshe Studies Program at Manjushri Institute in the UK; spiritual program…
Venerable Amy Miller
Amy J. Miller (Ven. Lobsang Chodren) first encountered Buddhism in 1987 at Kopan Monastery in Nepal and has been ordained since 2000. She has spent a great deal of time engaged in meditation retreats, study, teaching, and Buddhist center management and lived at Land of Medicine Buddha in 1992. Prior…
Venerable Angie Muir
Born in Scotland, in 1970, she obtained a Bachelors Degree in 1992. Feeling disillusioned with her prospective career path and life ahead of her, she left Scotland and combined travelling with work in Asia for 3 years until in 1995 she felt a calling to go to India to explore…
Venerable Gyalten Chimé
Venerable Gyalten Chimé (Lisa DuPont, M.S.), is an American Buddhist monastic in the Tibetan, Gelug tradition with over 25 years of experience in study and retreat in Tibetan Buddhism with numerous Tibetan Masters. Ven. Chimé also brings her many years of training & experience in psychology/neuroscience as a school psychologist and…
Venerable Katy Cole
Originally from Perth, Western Australia, Katy Cole (Tenzin Zomkyi) has been a Buddhist nun for over 18 years. She was ordained with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala in 2004. Since 2003, Katy has served in a variety of positions within Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s FPMT: as Liberation Prison Project’s…
Venerable Losang Dondrub
Ven. Dondrub began studying the Dharma on his own followed by study at Drepung Loseling Institute in Atlanta in 2008. He became involved with Guhyasamaja Center after moving to D.C. in 2010. Ven. Dondrub took refuge vows from Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Jampa in May of 2011 and novice monk…
Venerable René Feusi
Ordained by the Dalai Lama more than thirty years ago, Swiss monk René Feusi has studied with some of the greatest scholars and inspiring lamas in the Tibetan diaspora. He has also performed numerous extensive retreats, including a two-and-a-half-year seclusion focused on developing mental stability. He has led large Buddhist…
Venerable Robina Courtin
Venerable Robina Courtin has worked full-time for Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s organization, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, since her ordination in the late 1970s. Over the years she has served as editorial director of Wisdom Publications, editor of Mandala Magazine, executive director of…
Venerable Samten
Ven. Samten has lived and worked at the Land of Medicine Buddha for over a decade. He is the caretaker of the gompa and does the daily Medicine Buddha Puja and water bowl offerings.
Venerable Sangye Khandro
California-born, Ven. Sangye Khadro ordained as a Buddhist nun at Kopan Monastery in 1974. Ven. Sangye Khadro took the full (bhikshuni) ordination in 1988. While studying at Nalanda Monastery in France in the 1980s, she helped to start the Dorje Pamo Nunnery, along with Ven. Chodron. Ven. Sangye Khadro has studied…
Venerable Steve Carlier
Ven Steve was born in the UK and has been learning about Buddhism since 1977. He first met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1978. He was ordained as a Buddhist monk by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 1979, and received full ordination from Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche the following year.…
Venerable Tenzin Namjong
Born and raised in Hawaii, Venerable Tenzin Namjong studied and trained in Zen and Theravada Buddhist traditions before embracing the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, due mainly to the kindness of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Princeton University and has been part of the…
Venerable Thubten Pema
Venerable Pema received ordination from our spiritual director, Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 2010. She finished Discovering Buddhism in 2005 and has since completed both the Basic Program and Masters Program. Since 2015, Ven. Pema has been teaching Discovering Buddhism and has recently expanded her teaching to online courses for American…
Venerable Yangchen
Ven Yangchen has been a nun for 23 years, she is a lifelong learner, and has dedicated much time to study, practice, and retreat. She has a deep and enduring connection with Land of Medicine Buddha (LMB) and has also offered service at Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s house in CA., Shantideva…
Xinye Lin
Lin Xinye is an award-winning multidimensional artist and designer who bridges hyper-traditional concepts with hyper-contemporary techniques. After studying urban planning in China, Xinye graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Master’s in Architecture. By synthesizing Eastern philosophy, advanced soft/hardware technologies, the Chinese culture, concepts of Wuxing…
Yangsi Rinpoche
Yangsi Rinpoche was recognized as the reincarnation of Geshe Ngawang Gendun, a renowned scholar and practitioner from Western Tibet, at the age of six. Rinpoche trained in the traditional monastic system for over 25 years, and practiced as a monk until the age of 35. In 1995 he graduated with the…
