His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Inspiration and Guide of the FPMT

 

 

 

His Holiness is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. He frequently states that his life is guided by three major commitments: the promotion of basic human values or secular ethics in the interest of human happiness, the fostering of inter-religious harmony and the welfare of the Tibetan people, focusing on the survival of their identity, culture and religion.
You can read more about His Holiness the Dalai Lama here.

 

Venerable Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935-1984)

Founder

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lama Thubten Yeshe was born in Tibet in 1935. At the age of six, he entered Sera Monastic University in Tibet where he studied until 1959, when as Lama Yeshe himself has said, “In that year the Chinese kindly told us that it was time to leave Tibet and meet the outside world.” Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, together as teacher and disciple since their exile in India, met their first Western students in 1965. By 1971 they settled at Kopan, a small hamlet near Kathmandu in Nepal. In 1974, the Lamas began touring and teaching in the West, which would eventually result in The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. Lama Yeshe passed away in March 1984 and Tenzin Osel Rinpoche (born 1985 in Spain) was recognised as his incarnation by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. You can read more about Lama Yeshe here.

 

Venerable Lama Kyabje Thubten Zopa Rinpoche

Spiritual Director

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lama Zopa Rinpoche was born in 1946 in Thami, in the Mount Everest region of Nepal, not far from the Lawudo cave where his predecessor had meditated for the last 20 years of his life. Lama Zopa Rinpoche is now the Spiritual Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition and oversees all of its activities. You can read more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche here.

 

Stephan Pende Wormland

Resident Teacher, since 2008

 

 

 

 

 

Stephan Wormland, born 1965 in Germany, has studied and practiced meditation in multiple traditions for over 25 years. He has a master’s degree in clinical psychology, trained in Gestalt therapy and worked in a psychiatric hospital. He lived as an ordained monk in the Tibetan tradition for 11 years and, during that time, served as the director of Nalanda Monastery in the south of France and spent a total of 4 years in group and solitary retreats. Currently he is the resident teacher of the Center for Visdom og Medfølelse in Copenhagen and teaches meditation in Buddhist Centers around Europe. Since 2009 he has been studying Radiant Mind with Peter Fenner and completed the Nondual Teacher Training. Together with his partner Jetthe Fabioola he offers courses in Natural Mindfulness & Mindful Dreaming and he is a senior trainer and program advisor of the Potential Project.
You can read more about Stephan Pende on his blog on this website and on he and Jetthe’s website.

and more…

Besides our precious resident teacher Stephan Pende Wormland, the center has the opportunity and joy to be able to invite qualified guest teachers from the FPMT. For more information, see Visiting Teachers under Activities

Following is a list of some of our upcoming and recent visiting teachers:

Dr. Alan Wallace

27 june -1 july 2012

see Activities or Calendar/Visiting Teachers for more information on course offerings

 

 

 

Dr. Wallace was a student of the Dalai Lama, has a doctorate from Stanford, and has practiced and taught Buddhism and meditation for over 35 years.

Read more about Alan here and about his work with the Santa Barbara Institute for Conciousness Studies here.

 

Venerable Rita Riniker

(Lobsang Palmo)

12-18 june 2012

see Activities or Calendar/Visiting Teachers for more information on course offerings

 

 

 

 

Born in 1950, Ven Rita grew up in Switzerland. She ran her own restaurant business for many years, then traveled to Nepal where she met Buddhism at Kopan Monastery in 1990.

Ven Rita has been ordained for over 12 years – she took ordination in 1991 with her main teacher, Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche. Since then she has been based primarily in India at Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamsala, initially studying at the Tibetan Library of Works and Archives for 6 years and more recently offering service as one of the centre’s primary teachers of Tushita’s famous “Introduction to Buddhism” courses.

Ven Rita has led and guided many retreats including five 3-month Vajrasattva retreats, Green Tara retreats and a 2-month Lam Rim Chen Mo retreat with teachings by Yangsi Rinpoche in 2000. Ven Rita is especially well known for leading Nyung Naes, having completed more than 80 consecutive Nyung Naes over a period of 6 months in 1998.

Rita has also been teaching in Europe for many years and has made several teaching tours to Israel and more recently the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

Listen to some of her teachings here.

 

Venerable Robina Courtin

1-9 august 2012

see Activities or Calendar/Visiting Teachers for more information on course offerings

 

 

 

 

 

Ordained since the late 1970s, Robina Courtin has worked full time since then 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.

Venerable Robina’s teachings are unrelentingly challenging, hard-hitting, serious, funny, visceral, inspiring and empowering. She specialises in applying the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism to contemporary city life, using examples from TV, magazines and film. She has taught meditation to prisoners all over the world, developing a particularly close connection with people with life sentences in the USA. She is founder and director of the Liberation Prison Project, and the subject of an award-winning Australian documentary called Chasing the Buddha.

You can read more about Venerable Robina here and hear some of her teachings here

Caroline Brazier

11-15th january 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caroline is a Buddhist teacher within the Pure Land tradition, psychotherapist, co-founder of Amida Trust and course leader of the Amida Psychotherapy Programme in England. Caroline is the author of six books on Buddhism and therapy and travels internationally teaching and offering workshops.
See more about Caroline Brazier’s current work with Tariki Trust here and her course offerings in collaboration with Amida Trust here.

 

Geshe Sherab

8-13 november 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geshe Sherab is the young, fluent in English, former Headmaster of Kopan Monastery, Nepal, the spiritual centre of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).  He has lived for several years in the U.S. also, so he is familiar with North American culture, and knows how to relate to the western mind when teaching the Dharma.

Born in Nepal of Tibetan parents, Geshe Sherab received his education at Kopan Monastery from the time he was a boy, and completed his studies at Sera Je Monastic University and at Gyume Tantric College in India. He has lived in the USA working at the FPMT Central office and several nearby Dharma Centres in New Mexico. He returned to Nepal after several years in the U.S.A. to become Headmaster of Kopan Monastery.  Geshe-la has just retired from the Headmaster role in order to have more time to devote to meditation and to teaching internationally.

Manadala magazine has a story of Geshe Sherab here.

You can download and listen to several recordings of Geshe Sherab teaching here.

 

Venerable Paula Chichester

(Lhundrup Nyingje)

21-28 september 2011

 

 

 

 

Since 1980, Venerable Paula has devoted her life to attaining the realizations of the path to Enlightenment by following the advice of her teachers, mainly Lama Thubten Yeshe and Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche. She spent 25 years completing two great mantra retreats in Lama Tsong Khapa’s Ear Whispered Lineage. She is also a scientist, healer, dancer, and musician.