Staff and Teachers
The Manjushri Institute is an independent institution with access to many excellent teachers. Its strongest affiliation is with the Gelukpa lineage, founded by the great Lama Tsongkhapa, and with the excellent teachers of Drepung Monastery, now located in India. Over time it is our hope to bring many fine teachers from many different countries and lineages and we welcome your suggestions, support and assistance in this effort.
The Manjushri Institute of Buddhist Studies was founded in dedication
to the former Tara Tulku Rinpoche, who passed from his previous life in
1991. We continue to hold him as source of great inspiration and hope
that his young Tulku, now studying at Drepung Loseling Monastery, will
someday also come to teach at the Manjushri Institute. Gankar Rinpoche,
a close disciple of Tara Rinpoche, serves as an advisor to the Manjushri
Institute.
Below we offer information about the teachers and staff who have been
part of our programs. We will add to this list with each teacher who accepts
our invitation to teach and it is our hope that many of these fine teachers
will return when the opportunity arises.
Teachers
Venerable Sharpa Choeje Tara Rinpoche
Tara Tulku was born in the Kham region of Eastern Tibet in 1925. He received his Geshe Degree from Drepung Loseling Monastery in Lhasa and later studied for many years at Gyuto Tantric College. He left Tibet in 1959 and was appointed in 1969 by the Dalai Lama as Lama Uzed and then Abbot of Gyuto Monastery in India for two three-year terms. Rinpoche was later appointed as the Abbot of the Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in Bodh Gaya. In 1990 he was made Sharpa Choje, the second highest Lama in the Gelukpa tradition. He made four extended teaching tours in the North America and in 1983/84 was the Luce Professor of religious studies at Amherst College in Massachusetts. He was beloved by many students and disciples in India and the U.S.
Gyuto Khensur Rinpoche, Geshe Lobsang Dorje
Venerable Geshe Lobsang Dorje was born in 1937 in Markham in the Tibetan
province of Kham. In 1954 he enrolled in the Loseling College of Drepung
Monastery and studied under such great teachers as Gyepa Khensur Rinpoche,
Sharcho Tara Rinpoche and Khensur Yeshi Thupten. He received vows as a
fully ordained monk (Gelong) from Ling Rinpoche, the late Senior Tutor
to the Dalai Lama, who later became the Gaden Throne holder. In 1983 he
received the highest degree of Geshe Lharampa. Khensur Rinpoche is a recipient
of many tantric empowerments from such excellent teachers as His Holiness
the Dalai Lama and his late tutors, Ling Rinpoche and Trichang Rinpoche.
He is the former abbot at the Gyuto Tantric College.
Geshe Dorje taught at the MIBS Summer Retreat in 2004 on Mediations on
Wisdom/The Three Principals of the Path. We have invited him to return
in 2007.
Geshe Gankar Rinpoche
Venerable Gankar Tulku Rinpoche was recognized at the age of five as the
third Gankar Tulku of Dzidugon Monastery in Markham Tibet. His principal
teachers were Tara Rinpoche, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche and Ling Rinpoche.
He earned his Larampa Geshe degree in 1996 at Drepung Loseling in India
and then entered Gyuto Tantric College. He has traveled and taught extensively
in Asia, Europe, and North America. In 2000-02 he was Director of Gyuto
Wheel of Dharma Monastery in Minnesota. He is currently the Spiritual
Director and main teacher for Khacholing Center, also in Minnesota.
Gankar Rinpoche led a Medicine Buddha Sand Mandala Ceremony
in April 2004 at Hampshire College and gave a Manjushri empowerment at
the MIBS 2004 Summer Retreat.
Venerable Karma Legshe Tsomo
We are extremely pleased to have Ven. Karma Legshe Tsomo among the wonderful teachers who have blessed the MIBS with their teachings. Karma Lekshe Tsomo is a fully ordained nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. She studied for nine years at the Institute for Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala India and with many other excellent teacher throughout Buddhist Asia. Ven. Legshe-la now teaches Buddhism and World Religions at the University of San Diego and is president of Sakyadhita: International Association of Buddhist Women. She has founded numerous Buddhist nunneries, schools and educational programs for women in the southern Himalayas. Her books include Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha; Buddhism Through American Women's Eyes; Sisters in Solitude: Two Traditions of Monastic Ethics for Women; and Living and Dying in Buddhist Cultures.
Legshe-la gave teaching on the Heart Sutra and the Perfection of Wisdom in March 2005 and several lectures at the Five Colleges during her week long visit. We sincerely hope she will return for a longer stay in 2007.
Glenn Mullin
Glenn H. Mullin is a writer, a translator of classical
Tibetan literature, and a teacher of Buddhist meditation and culture.
He lived in the Indian Himalayas from 1972 - 84 and studied under many
masters of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. His two principal tantric
gurus were Kyabje Ling Dorjechang and Kyabje Trijang Dorjechang. Glenn’s
other teachers include the Dalai Lama, Sakya Trizin Rinpoche, Kalu Rinpoche,
Ngakpa Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche, Tai Situ Rinpoche, Khenchen Konchok Gyaltsen,
Geshe Ngawang Dargyey, Geshey Rabten, and Gongsar Tulku.
Glenn is the author of over 20 books on Tibetan Buddhism. He has also
worked as a field specialist on three Tibet-related films and five television
documentaries. His book The Fourteen Dalai Lamas was nominated for the
prestigious NAPRA award for best book, and The Female Buddhas won a 2004
Best Book Award from Foreword Magazine.
Tashi Lhungpo Khen Rinpoche, Geshe Lobsang Tsetan
Geshe Tsetan was born in Ladakh and received his early monastic education
at Tashi Lhungpo Monastery in Western Tibet. He completed his Geshe degree
in exile at Drepung Loseling Monastery in India. Geshe-la first came to
the U.S. in 1978 and taught at the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center in
New Jersey for many years. He has taught at Smith, Amherst and Hampshire
Colleges as well as the Manjushri Center in Amherst for many years and
is the founder of the Siddhartha School in Ladakh. (www.siddharthaschool.org)
This year (2005) Geshe-la was appointed Abbot of Tashi Lhungpo Monastery,
now located in southern India
Geshe Tsetan led the 2005 Winter Samatha Retreat for the MIBS and returned
in October 2006 to give a short teaching and the lung (oral transmission)
on Tsongkhapa's Concise Stages of the Path.
Namgyal Khensur Rinpoche, Geshe Wangdak
Lobsang Tenzin Geshe Wangdak, Khensur Rinpoche, was born in 1934 in the
Kham province in Tibet. At age ten he entered Ba Zingon Monastery and
at 18 joined Loseling College at Drepung Monastery where he studied until
1959. In 1960 he resumed his studies at Buxa and in 1970 moved to the
new Drepung Monastic University in south India. Soon after completing
his Geshe exams in 1977, he was invited to teach at Namgyal Monastery
in Dharamsala, India, where he was senior teacher for 14 years. In 1991,
he was appointed Abbot of the monastery by H.H. the Dalai Lama, until
1994. In 1995, His Holiness appointed Khensur Rinpoche Abbot and Senior
Resident Teacher at Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, NY. He retired from Ithaca
in 1998, and now resides at the Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Center in Middletown,
Connecticut.
Rinpoche gave a White Tara initiation and Lo Jong teaching for the Manjushri Institute in April 2005.
Venerable Geshe Lhading Rinpoche
Lhading Rinpoche was the senior resident teacher at Drepung Loseling Institute,
Atlanta, from 2003 to 2005. Born in Lhokha, Tibet in 1947, he was recognized
as the sixth reincarnation of Lhading Lama, a great 17th century adept.
He received his spiritual training beginning at the age of three at the
monastery founded by his predecessor, Lhading Monastery. Rinpoche followed
His Holiness the Dalai Lama into exile to India in 1959 and continued
his spiritual training at the re-established Drepung Monastery. He holds
the Geshe degree and has taught extensively at Drepung monastery and in
North America. He has led two Mystical Arts of Tibet tours and is considered
a gupta yogi, a great master appearing as a humble and friendly monk.
Lhading Rinpoche taught at the MIBS 2005 Summer Retreat
on the Mind of Enlightenment and the Six Perfections.
Za Choeje Rinpoche
Za Choeje Rinpoche was identified by H.H. the Dalai Lama as the sixth
reincarnation of ZaChoeje Rinpoche. At the age of 16 he entered Drepung
Loseling Monastery where, after ten years of study, he graduated with
the Geshe Lharampa degree and continued his studies at Gyume Tantric College
in India. Rinpoche first came to the U.S. in 1998 as leader of the Mystical
Arts of Tibet Tour and remained to lecture on Tibetan culture and philosophy
at Emory University. In 2001, together with friends and students, he established
Emaho Foundation of Scottsdale, Arizona where he is the resident teacher.
Za Choeje Rinpoche gave a Green Tara empowerment in Amherst in November 2005 following the White Tara Mandala Ceremony with the monks of Drepung Loseling at the University of Massachusetts.
Institute Directors
All MIBS staff are volunteers whose efforts of behalf of the Institute
are an extension of their Dharma practice. This biographical information
is presented for the officers of the Institute for those who may find
the information helpful.
Rick Taupier is president and coordinator of the Manjushri
Institute of Buddhist Studies. A student of the Dharma since 1973, he
is an ordained Buddhist layman, having taken partitial vows from Tara
Rinpoche and full vows with Loseling Khen Rinpoche Lobsang Gyatso. His
primary teachers are Dr. Tenzin Thurman, Geshe Ngawang Wangyal, Ven. Tara
Rinpoche, Kyabje Locho Rinpoche, Lhading Rinpoche and Loseling Khen Rinpoche
Lobsang Gyatso. He has received teachings from many other fine teachers
including H.H. the Dalai Lama, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Gyuto Kenshur Rinpoche
Lobsang Dorje, Geshe Tsulga, and Jangtse Choje Rizong Rinpoche. He is
the Associate Director of the Environmental Institute and a faculty member
in Regional Planning at the Univ. of Mass. He is currently pursuing a
second PhD in the history of Buddhist Central Asia.
Gyuto Kenshur Rinpoche Lobsang Dorje & Rick Taupier
Michael Childs lives and works in Amherst. He is trained
as a clinical and developmental psychologist and maintains a private practice
focused on helping children, adolescents, and their families. He serves
as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the Manjushri Institute. He
has been a Mahayana Buddhist for over thirty years, with roots developed
during several years in India in the early seventies. His principle teacher
was Lama Yeshe, but he has been fortunate to receive teachings and empowerments
from many of the principle teachers of the Tibetan Mahayana tradition,
including the Gelugpa, Kagyu, Nyingmapa and Shakya traditions. His spiritual
practice focuses on the Gelugpa tradition of Je Tsongkhapa, but he values
all spiritual paths that recognize the importance of renunciation, compassion,
and a universal wisdom that connects all of us.