Lama Thubten Yeshe

Founder, Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition

Lama Thubten Yeshe was born in Tibet in 1935. At the age of six, he entered the great Sera Monastic University, Lhasa, where he studied until 1959, when the Chinese invasion of Tibet forced him into exile in India. Lama Yeshe continued to study and meditate in India until 1967, when, with his chief disciple, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, he went to Nepal. Two years later he established Kopan Monastery, near Kathmandu, in order to teach Buddhism to Westerners. In 1974, the Lamas began making annual teaching tours to the West, and as a result of these travels a worldwide network of Buddhist teaching and meditation centers the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition began to develop.

Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche

Spiritual Director, Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahyana Tradition

Rinpoche was born in Thami, Nepal, in 1946. At the age of three he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Lawudo Lama, who had lived nearby at Lawudo, within sight of Rinpoche’s Thami home. Rinpoche’s own description of his early years may be found in his book, The Door to Satisfaction (Wisdom Publications).

Geshe Ngawang Samten

Resident Geshe of Vajrayana Institute

Geshe-la was born at Panchamari, MP, India. At the age of nine, he entered the Sera Monastic Institute and took the vows of monk ordination with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In 1998 and 1999 he sat for the Geshe Lharampa (Doctorate in Buddhist Philosophy) examination, and in 1998 he was selected as a lecturer in the Gelug tradition at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath.

Ven Thubten Yeshe

Ven Yeshe is our resident translator. He interprets all of Geshe Samten's teachings into English. Ven Yeshe is from Kopan Monastery in Nepal, where he received his monastic education and his translator training.

Ven Thubten Chokyi

Ven Thubten Chokyi is a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition and a resident teacher at Vajrayana Institute. She has been meditating for many years and recommends this practice for anyone wanting to bring mindfulness into the activities of every day life.

Renate Ogilvie

Renate is a registered psychotherapist trained in the UK and currently practising in Sydney.

Renate has taught Tibetan Buddhism for over 15 years; she is an inspirational teacher, who uses both western psychological approaches and Tibetan Buddhist traditions to provide a unique synthesis for the modern, enquiring mind.