My Teachers
[
Geshe Gonpo |
Geshe Dawa
| Khensur Rinpoche |
HHDL
| Geshe Roach |
Namgyal
Monks ]
Geshe Gonpo taught the retreats at Namgyal this past summer (I went to the
retreat of the 35 Purification Buddhas practice). He has also been back to
Namgyal to grant Manjushri and Medicine Buddhas empowerments, and will be back
next month to give a Tara empowerment and teach the summer retreats.
Geshe Lobsang Gonpo was born in 1937 in Kham,
Eastern Tibet. He entered Zin Gon Monastery at the age of 10 where he studied
for 8 years. When he was 18 years old, he made the long trip to Lhasa Tibet to
enter Drepung Loseling Monastic University. He studied in Drepung Loseling
until the Chinese invasion in 1959. Then like many monks he stayed in
India in Buxa for ten years as a Tibetan refugee, continuing his studies.
Slowly Drepung Loseling was being rebuilt in South India. Helping with that
project he eventually moved into Drepung Loseling in South India Mundgod. After
32 years of rigorous study of the five philisophical subjects he earned the
degree of Geshe Lharampa.
After receiving his Geshe degree he stayed on year in the Gyume tantric
monastery. From 1989 - 1991 he served as the discipline master for Drepung
Loseling. Geshe La has a large amount of students in Drepung Loseling. He
teaches all of the five subjects; Praminavartika karika, Abisamayalamkara,
Madyamaka avatara, Vinaya Sutra, and Abidharmakhosha.
He is currently one of the resident teachers of The Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist
Center in Middletown Connecticut.
My first Tibetan teacher was Geshe Dawa. I
went to a summer retreat at Namgyal Monastery in the summer of 2000; Geshe-la
was teaching the course (an introduction to Tibetan Buddhism with a White Tara
empowerment).
Geshe Thubten Dawa was born in 1931 in the Kongpo region of Central Tibet.
He began his religious education at the age of sixteen when he entered the
Jangtse college of Ganden Monastic University. In 1978 he completed the
rigorous geshe training from Ganden Jangtse Monastery and was awarded the
Geshe Lharampa degree, the highest of the geshe degrees. In 1980 he was
assigned to teach dialectical debate, philosophy and Buddhist practice at
Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India, where he taught until he was
appointed to a position at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
teaching Buddhism to Western students.
Currently he teaches at Nechung Monastery and the Library of Tibetan Works and
Archives, both of which are in Dharamsala. Over the years he has also taught at various universities and
Buddhist centers in Korea, Australia and the Unites States and other
countries. Geshe-la taught at two retreats at Namgyal Monastery Institute of
Buddhist Studies in Ithaca, NY during the summer of 2000.
In 2000 Khensur Rinpoche visited the Tibetan Cultural Center in
Bloomington, IN. I was living in Indianapolis at the time and drove an hour and
a half every night for a week to attend his teachings on Lama Tsongkhapa's
"Foundation of all Good Qualities", the Buddhist concept of the mind,
and a Medicine Buddha empowerment. The translator at these events was also kind
enough to send me a cd of some recordings of some of Geshe-la's other teachings,
including his teachings on the Heart
Sutra.
Lobsang Tenzin Geshe Wangdak, Khensur Rinpoche, was born in 1934 in the Kham
province in Tibet. At age ten he entered Ba Zingon Monastery there. At 18,
Rinpoche journeyed to central Tibet and joined the Loseling College at
Drepung Monastery near Lhasa, where he studied until 1959. In 1960, after
fleeing to India, he resumed his studies at Buxa, where a temporary monastery
was established. In 1970, he moved to the newly relocated Drepung Monastic
University in Mundgod, south India. After two years of intensive study and
practice he moved to Sarnath, studying there until 1977. Rinpoche returned to
Drepung to take his Geshe exams, and his scholastic achievement eaned him the
Geshe Lharampa degree.
Soon after completing his Geshe exams, he was invited to teach at Namgyal
Monastery in Dharamsala, India, where he was senior teacher for 14 years,
teaching both sutra and tantra. While at Namgyal, Rinpoche received
initiations and teachings of tantric practices if all four traditions of Tibetan
Buddhism. In 1991, he was appointed Abbot of the monastery by H.H. the
Dalai Lama, a position he held 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. Besides his studies in the core curriculum under his tutor at
Drepung, Pema Jetsun, Khensur Rinpoche received tantric initiations from HH the Dalai
Lama; from His Holiness' two tutors, Ling Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche; and
other esteemed scholars including Zong Rinpoche.
His Holiness, Tenzin Gyatso the present 14th
Dalai Lama of Tibet
 Although I have never had the blessing of meeting His Holiness, I count
him among the first rank of my Tibetan Teachers. The first book I read on
Tibetan Buddhism was authored by His Holiness (The Heart of the Buddha's Path),
and I have read (I think) around a dozen of His Holiness's other books. I've
also watched several of his videos, read 3 of his biographies, and listened to
recordings of his teachings on the 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, the Heart Sutra, and
the Four Noble Truths. At least half of what I have learned about Tibetan
Buddhism is due to the kindness of His Holiness, and I personally feel that if
not for the presence and example of His Holiness I would not be a Buddhist.
So please take a look at my page dedicated to His Holiness.
 In
the same manner, I also consider Geshe Roach to be one of my more important
spiritual friends. Although I have never met him (he is currently nearing the
completion of a three year solitary retreat in Arizona), I have read his books the Diamond Cutter
and the Garden,
and I have also finished several of his online courses. The first course was an overview of
Tibetan Buddhism, I have found this course to be immensely beneficial--it worked
just as advertised--having received an overview of all of Tibetan Buddhism, I am
now endeavoring to fill in more detail.
Geshe Michael Roach is a fully ordained American
monk who received his Geshe (doctor of Theology) degree from Sera Mey Monastery
in India after 22 years of study there and in the United States with his root
Lama, Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tharchin. Geshe Michael has been teaching
Buddhism since 1981. He is a scholar of Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Russian, and has
translated and published numerous works. Geshe Roach received his undergraduate
degree from Princeton University, and worked in New York City as a director of a
large diamond firm for many years. He is the founder of the Asian Classics
Institute, the Asian Classics Input Project, Diamond Abbey, Three Jewels
Bookstore, Godstow Retreat Center, Diamond Mountain University and Retreat
Center and the Enlightened Business Institute and has been active in the
restoration of Sera Mey Monastery. Geshe Michael Roach is currently in isolated
three year retreat until 2003.
Asian Classics Institute
Diamond Mountain
But of course, I wouldn't be anywhere if it weren't for the monks at
Namgyal. :-)
Venerables Tenzin Thutop, Tenzin Gephel, and
Tenzin Deshek.
Namgyal
Monastery (North American Branch)
Read a speech given
by Venerable Tenzin Gephel on the occasion of Amnesty International's Day of
Action (November 19, 200)
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