TEACHERS

HE Kyabje Khenzur Rinpoche Kachen Lobzang Tsetan is a Tibetan Buddhist monk from Ladakh, India who has been traveling and teaching in the United States for over thirty years. He began his monastic life at age seven in Stok, his family village in Ladakh, India. At age thirteen he joined the Stok Monastery to study and memorize Buddhist scriptures. In 1952, when he was fifteen years old, he walked 800 miles with his father from Ladakh to Shigatse, Tibet to enter the renowned Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. Rinpoche received his novice monk vows there and studied Buddhist philosophy at the monastery’s Skilkhang College with many prominent Tibetan scholars. Read more…

Tsunma Tenzin Dasel is Spiritual Director of Tashi Gatsel Ling.  She recently served as assistant to Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo and her nunnery, Dongyu Gatsal Ling in northern, India and returned to Tashi Gatsel Ling in August 2021..

A 1988 graduate with a BA from Bates College, and a Master in Arts, Summa Cum Laude, from Bangor Theological Seminary, she has been studying and practicing Buddha Dharma with her root lama, HE Kyabje Khensur Rinpoche Lobsang Tsetan, since 2002 and was ordained by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama in 2017. Venerable Tenzin Dasel teaches and leads meditation workshops and retreats in the USA and internationally.  Read more…

Contact info: VenTenzinDasel@gmail.com

Rinpoche Palden Sengye was born in Lhasa, Tibet in 1987. He fled to India in 1993, and under the compassionate grace of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, was given an opportunity to study at TCV school. In 1998, His Holiness recognized him as the 7th reincarnation of Palden Sengye Rinpoche of Tashi Lhunpo monastery. He began receiving his monastic education soon after, he observed the novice vows. At the age of 20, he received the complete vows of a monk. In 2019, he was awarded the “Kachen Rapjampa Degree” and subsequently the Geshe “Lharampa Degree” in 2020. Since then, he has been serving as a teacher at the Tashi Lhunpo monastery. Currently, he is studying at the Gyuto Tantric Monastic University at Dharamsala to undertake one-year courses on the Tantric (also known as Vajrayana) Buddhist study

Geshema Tenzin Kunsel is one of 20 Tibetan Buddhist nuns who received her Geshema degree from His Holiness the Dalai Lama on December 22, 2016. Her extraordinary story is one of determination and dedication. With gentle humor she tells her story of overcoming many obstacles on the path to becoming a senior nun. The Geshema degree is equivalent to a doctorate in Buddhist philosophy and is the highest level of training in the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. This historic milestone for nuns is the culmination of decades of study and dedication. The rigorous exam process for the Geshema degree takes a total of four years to complete. Each year the nuns must take 12 days of exams to test their knowledge gained in a 17-year course of study.

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo is a bhikṣuṇī in the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. She is an author, teacher, and founder of the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal Pradesh, India. Read more…

Venerable Robina Courtin was ordained in the late 1970s. Since then she has worked full time for Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s FPMT. Over the years she has served as editorial director of Wisdom Publications, editor of Mandala Magazine, executive director of Liberation Prison Project, and as a touring teacher of Buddhism. Her life and work with prisoners have been featured in the documentary films Chasing Buddha and Key to Freedom.

Ven. Thukten Dema was born in a small village in Bhutan called Gelephu. She is 32 years old and 15 out of those she dedicated to the monastic life. Currently, she resides at Jangchub Choeling Nunnery in Southern India. Ven. Dema is studying at Emory University as a Tenzin Gyatso Science Scholar. She thoroughly enjoys observing nature. She is currently pursuing her Geshe Ma degree (equivalent to a PhD).

Geshe Tsewang Dorje was born in Stok, Ladakh in 1966. As a boy, he joined the village monastery and in 1978 he was enrolled at Sera Monastery (one of the four great monastic colleges in Tibetan Buddhism) to further his study of Buddhist philosophy and take vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Ling Rinpoche (tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama). Read more…

Geshe Ngawang Tenley was born in 1969 and in 1989 began preparation to become a monk under the guidance of his uncle, Geshe Tsulga. He was ordained by the late Gyume Khensur Geshe Urgyen Tseten Rinpoche in 1990 and began the program of studies to become a Geshe at Sera Je Monastery. Read more…

Lama Willa Miller has studied and practiced in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for the last twenty years in the non-sectarian Kagyu, Nyingma and Shangpa lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. Her teachers and guides have included Kalu Rinpoche, Bokar Rinpoche, Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Lama Norlha Rinpoche, Lama John Makransky and others. Read more…