Resident Teachers

Ven. Geshe Thupten Dorjee

Ven. Geshe Thupten Dorjee was born Sonam Palden in Tibet during the Chinese Communist invasion of 1959. He and his family escaped occupied Tibet and settled in Bhutan when he was three. At the age of 13, Geshe entered Drepung Loseling Monastery in Karmataka, South India, where he was awarded the degree of lharampa geshe, the highest academic degree possible within the Gelug monastic university system. A few years later, he earned the ngarampa geshe degree from Gyuto Tantric University in Dharamsala, India.

In 1995, Geshe traveled the world as part of the Mystical Arts of Tibet, a group of Tibetan monks who showcase Tibetan culture, practices and beliefs; and in 1996, he accepted an invitation to teach at the Losel Shedrup Ling Buddhist Centre in Atlanta, Georgia.

Since the Fall of 2006, Geshe has taught courses in Tibetan culture, Buddhist philosophy, and principles of non-violence at the University of Arkansas' Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. In 2008, he was awarded the prestigious Outstanding Faculty Award by the University of Arkansas Alumni Association and Associated Student Government. [FULL BIO]

Ven. Geshe Thupten Dorjee

Ven. Rinzin Dorjee

Ven. Rinzin Dorjee was born in Minyak, Tibet, a town that lies in far eastern Tibet very close to China. Rinzin is the oldest of eight children. Rinzin left Tibet in 1991, having been a member of a small Gelug monastery in Minyak since he was eight years old. He was around 12 years old when he left Minyak and traveled westward to Lhasa, where he joined a group of forty Tibetans who were attempting to escape Tibet and emigrate to Nepal. Rinzin joined Geshe's monastery in South India and became one of his students.

Rinzin has been chanting since he was eight years old, and has received special instruction in the art ever since then. His chanting comes from the lowest area of the abdomen around the navel; others chant from the chest or the throat. He is also a gifted mandala master and artisan, sewing and carving many forms of Tibetan sacred art. [FULL BIO]

Ven. Rinzin Dorjee

Ven. Pema Rinchen

Ven. Pema Rinchen was born in 1976 in Mondgod, Karnataka, India. He took his monk's ordination in 1987, and in 1992 joined Drepung Loseling Monastery where he earned his Geshe degree. In 1998, he received his full ordination directly from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Pema has toured North America with the Mystical Arts of Tibet. In 2004, he was appointed Head Chant Master of Drepung Loseling Monastery. [FULL BIO]

Ven. Pema Rinchen