Teachers

Lama Tharchin Rinpoche is a Dzogchen, Great Perfection, master of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism. He is the tenth lineage holder of the Repkong Ngakpas, once the largest community of non-monastic practitioners in Tibet. Rinpoche was educated in His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche's monastery in Kongpo, Tibet, where he completed eight years of retreat. His other teachers include his uncle, Lama Sherab Dorje, Chatral Rinpoche, and Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche.

Lama Tharchin left Tibet in 1959 and came to the United States in 1984. In California, he founded Vajrayana Foundation and Pema Osel Ling, and in Hawaii, Vajrayana Foundation Hawaii and a retreat center, Orgyen Dechen Cho Dzong on the Big Island. As a householder with two sons, Rinpoche has a wonderfully kind and wise approach especially suited to Westerners.

Born in western Tibet in 1945, Lama Tsering Gyaltsen left Tibet in 1959 and went to live at His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche’s resettlement monastery in India where he completed a three-year retreat. Lama attended Varanasi Tibetan Institute of High Studies within Sanskrit University and, in 1982, received an Acharya degree. He now lives with family in Corvallis, Oregon.

Lama has selflessly assisted our translation project and taught several ritual practices Currently he is main teacher for THe Joyful Grove of Scripture & Realization (Lung Tok Pemay Gatsel), our online learning program.

Born in 1949 in Montreal, Canada, Lama Dechen Yeshe Wangmo founded Jnanasukha in 2002. She has more than thirty years experience studying, practicing, translating, and teaching Vajrayana. Her training began when she met the 16th Karmapa. She completed a traditional three-year retreat in 1985 and in 1992 was authorized as a teacher by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche. She was one of the original members of Kalu Rinpoche's International Translation Group. Through a close connection with the life of Yeshe Tsogyal, Lama created an experiential model of Yeshe Tsogyal's life called The Eight Mirrors. Having completed the translation of The Dakini Heart Essence, she is now teaching, translating other texts, and leading pilgrimages to the sacred sites of Yeshe Tsogyal in Tibet.