Property:Introbuddhism
From Tsadra Foundation Advanced Contemplative Scholarships
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2
I traveled to Nepal in September 2000 as a tourist, motivated by a desire to learn more about Buddhism. During that trip, I briefly studied at the shedra of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. At the end of my planned travel period, I returned home. However, Buddhism had touched me so deeply that I decided to quit my university studies in The Netherlands, and two months later, I returned to Nepal to continue my studies in the shedra. +
June 2018, While travelling I ended up at Gomde Pyrenees (GP) as a volunteer, at the start it would of mostly been curiosity based self study and asking senior students of Rinpoche at the center questions informally.
In Sept 2018 Rinpoche came to teach for a few days on Mountain retreat a text by H.H Dudjom Rinpoche, this would of been my first formal Buddhist teaching. +
I spent most of my teenage years studying on my own, and I officially started studying under a teacher in 2024 with Lama Sangye from Slovakia. +
I've first started to study buddhism by myself through books and internet articles at around 11 years old, soon after when I was 12 I started to do regular Zazen practices at a Sōtō Zen-shu center near my house in Porto Alegre, Brasil, called 'Via Zen' under the guidence of resident Nun Shoden. Soon after that I attended short retreats at the center's rural location, 'Vila Zen' one under the guidance of Coen Roshi, the national supervisor of this specific tradition when I was 14 and later another retreat with 'Via Zen' main teacher, Monk Dengaku at 18 years old. It was only when arriving at Kathmandu though at 19 years old that I took formal refuge and started to devote myself basically full time to pratice and study, starting this process under Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche's guidance. +
Jigme Tromge Rinpoche in 2011. I lived, worked and practiced with him and his sangha at the Padmasambhava Peace Insitute. +
I started with my late husband, Mike Lewis who died in 2021. We were married in 2015 and began practicing around late 2016 with sutras from the Amitabha Pure Land and Lotus Sutra, those were our first contact with Buddhism and it reduced us both to tears. After Mike died, shortly thereafter I met Lama Karma Tenzin Dorje, also known as Lama Mike Crowley, a karma kagyud lay buddhist lama who gave me my first Upasika and later on Bodhisattva vows in Mount Shasta at his center called Amrita Dzong, were he was a student of Chime Rinpoche, First Kalu Rinpoche and Dzongsar Khentyse Rinpoche. He issued me the initatory name Chime Ja, after his teacher Chime Rinpoche at Marpa House in Wales. He also offered for me to attend 3 yr retreat in England at his home center if I didn't have other options. Later on that year in 2021 I met with Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche at google and attended a lecture with a student of his named Tom. Tom later visited Ser Cho Ling for Nyunges and that is where I met my Precious secondary root guru, Wangchen Rinpoche. I stayed for a total of 18 Nyungnes done non-consecutively, completed my first 8 in the fall of 2023 and completed my first 25 Nyungnes as a Chopon in the temple this year in May. +
I began studying Buddhism and meditating regularly on my own in 2020, and started practicing seriously under the guidance of authentic lineage holders of the Chokling Tersar in 2022. In 2020 I started listening to dharma talks online and doing guided meditations on a regular basis. In the summer of 2022, I participated in the Gomde California Buddhist Studies Summer program led by Lama Tsultrim Sangpo. That summer I also started watching online teachings by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, my primary teacher. I met Phakchok Rinpoche in September 2022 and met Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche in person in August 2023. In the summer of 2022 I started practicing Treasury of Blessings and Tara's Triple Excellence. I began the Tukdrup Barche Kunsel Ngondro in 2023 under the guidance of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Phakchok Rinpoche. +
Around 1995, I travelled to Nepal, and while there, did a 10-day Goenka Vipassana retreat, which caught my attention. Then while working in South Korea, I began to study and practice Zen Buddhism at a small international temple and at another small temple. I took refuge and had the intention to take lifetime vows, although I did not.
In 2001, back in Canada, I discovered Gampo Abbey. There I met Thrangu Rinpoche during his visit for the consecration of the stupa. I stayed at the Abbey for two years and during this time, I took refuge and bodhisattva vows. Ani Pema was there for two yarnes, and I benefited from those teachings and from personal discussions with her. I had a chance to attend Shedra for one semester, with Lodro Sangpo, Karl Brunnholzl, Andy Karr. I met many great teachers there, including Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and Mingyur Rinpoche. On a subsequent visit, I started ngondro with Thrangu Rinpoche.
This all began a multi-decade journey of study and practice. Over the years, I travelled to many places to study with Thrangu Rinpoche, including Nova Scotia, Maine, New York, Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Sarnath, and Kathmandu. And I’ve had the good fortune to study and practice with many other great teachers, including HH Karmapa 17. (I really should be enlightened by now!) +
I learned basic shamatha and vipassana sitting practice in the "Meditation Practicum" class at Naropa University in 2003. I have been studying and practicing in Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche's sangha since 2012. +
My studies of Buddha Dharma began about 6 years ago through various teachers online.
A few years later (2022) I met Wangchen Rinpoche & Kalu Rinpoche and there was an instant Karmic connection. Since then I made the aspiration to move to Ser Cho Ling and take my Novice Monk Vows and in 2 years time, this opportunity came to fruition. I now reside at Ser Cho Ling as a Monk and administrator for the center. +
I started studying Buddhism in 2011, through reading books on my own. I initially gained the interest through observing my father meditate. Through him and my godfather, I began to associate loosely with the Rigpa Sweden sangha, under Sogyal Rinpoche. Later, my interest matured, and at 20 years of age, in 2019, I decided to come to Nepal to study buddhism and tibetan language full time. +
A
I started with my late husband, Mike Lewis who died in 2021. We were married in 2015 and began practicing around late 2016 with sutras from the Amitabha Pure Land and Lotus Sutra, those were our first contact with Buddhism and it reduced us both to tears. After Mike died, shortly thereafter I met Lama Karma Tenzin Dorje, also known as Lama Mike Crowley, a karma kagyud lay buddhist lama who gave me my first Upasika and later on Bodhisattva vows in Mount Shasta at his center called Amrita Dzong, were he was a student of Chime Rinpoche, First Kalu Rinpoche and Dzongsar Khentyse Rinpoche. He issued me the initatory name Chime Ja, after his teacher Chime Rinpoche at Marpa House in Wales. He also offered for me to attend 3 yr retreat in England at his home center if I didn't have other options. Later on that year in 2021 I met with Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche at google and attended a lecture with a student of his named Tom. Tom later visited Ser Cho Ling for Nyunges and that is where I met my Precious secondary root guru, Wangchen Rinpoche. I stayed for a total of 18 Nyungnes done non-consecutively, completed my first 8 in the fall of 2023 and completed my first 25 Nyungnes as a Chopon in the temple this year in May. +
I started reading books on Buddhism in the late 1990s, but my encounters with living teachers started in 2000, when I was 25 and living in NYC. I began attending empowerments with visiting lamas, which happened almost every weekend, and eventually found Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpoche, who was offering a one week lung and teaching on his book The Buddha Path. It met very far out in Brooklyn every evening after the work day, so it was an intensive two week program, but at the end Khenpo Choga asked me to serve as president of the NY center of his Dzogchen Shri Singha association. I accepted, but nothing really came of it. Over the years I saw Khenpo Choga many times in NYC and Seattle and received teachings and personal guidance from him. I still have a copy of The Buddha Path and continue to find it one of the best and most comprehensive practice manuals I know of, even as my dharma affiliations have grown in other directions. +
June 2018, While travelling I ended up at Gomde Pyrenees (GP) as a volunteer, at the start it would of mostly been curiosity based self study and asking senior students of Rinpoche at the center questions informally.
In Sept 2018 Rinpoche came to teach for a few days on Mountain retreat a text by H.H Dudjom Rinpoche, this would of been my first formal Buddhist teaching. +
I began studying Buddhism in 2013 during a study abroad semester at Rangjung Yeshe Institute. This counted toward my undergraduate degree in Philosophy and International Studies at Boston College. When I returned in the Spring of 2014, I began studying Buddhist philosophy and ethics at Boston College with John Makransky. Upon graduation in 2015, I left the U.S. and traveled through some of South Asia participating in Buddhist courses and retreats in various traditions. I quickly landed back at Rangjung Yeshe Institute and within the mandala of Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and have been studying under his guidance as both a student and practitioner ever since. My studies and practice have been mostly in Nepal however I have spent extended periods at affiliated retreat centers in Europe and the Americas. +
I began studying and practicing Buddhism in September of 2019 under the guidance of Lama Yeshe Palmo, a graduate of several three-year retreats of Kagyu (now Palpung) Thubten Choling monastery in Wappingers Falls, NY. +
I started to study Buddhism during the Kopan November Class 2018, with Lama Zopa Rinpoche. +
I began to study Buddhism in 2018, when I was traveling in Nepal and attended the Kopan November class. +
B
1977, Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche +
I started practicing zen in 2001 with Arnold Shugen Sensei from the Mountains and Rivers Order. Shugen Sensei used to visit the prison and teach Zen Boddhism. Over the years I studied the works of Zen Master Dogen, and many koan cases as taught by the Mountains and Rivers Order`s Abbot, John Daido Loori Roshi, and Shugen Sensei. At the same time, from 2001 to 2008, I took correspondence courses on Buddhism from the Asian Classics Institute. I completed 13 of their 15 courses. I could not finish all 15 courses because in 2008 N.Y.S. prisons banned cassette tapes. These courses covered teachings taught in monasteries of the Gelug Tradition. A great part of these courses was focused on the Lam Rim by Je Tsongkhapa, Shantideva's Bodhicaryavatara, Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosa, vinaya rules, and on works of several other teachers. +
