Andrea Sherman, PhD
Andrea Sherman, PhD, is a gerontologist, educator, trainer and End of Life Doula. She is a graduate of the New York Zen Center Foundations in Buddhist Contemplative Care Program, teaches meditation at Westchester Meditation Center, and studies Vajrayana Buddhism with Phakchok Rinpoche. As an educator her focus is on palliative and end of life care, caregiving, creativity and aging, and lifecycle transitions.
Ani Jamyang Donma, RP
Ani Jamyang Donma, RP is a certified Clinical Chaplain and Pastoral Counselor. She is a Staff Inter-Faith and Buddhist Chaplain at The Hospital for Sick Children. Ani J. provides ongoing support to patients, families, and staff, as well as On-Call throughout the hospital as needed. She is also an active supporting participant in the Pediatric Advanced Care Team at SickKids. Originally of the Anglican Christian faith, she took ordination as a Buddhist nun, within the Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana Tradition. Ani J. has over 25 years’ experience in Meditation/Mindfulness, Buddhist Philosophy, Contemplative Bedside Care, and Tibetan Yoga. Ani J. is often…
Joie Szu-Chiao Chen
Joie is a PhD candidate in Buddhist Studies at Harvard University, where her research looks at the confluence of various modes of learnedness in Tibetan Buddhism, in particular how the language and visual arts play into the formation of a learned Buddhist person. She holds a BA in Film Studies and English from Yale University and an MPhil in Tibetan & Himalayan Studies from the University of Oxford.
Kyabgön Phakchok Rinpoche
Kyabgön Phakchok Rinpoche was born in 1981 and is a lineage holder of the Profound Treasures of Chokgyur Lingpa from the Nyingma School of Early Translations and one of the throne-holders of the Riwoche Taklung Kagyu Lineage. Phakchok Rinpoche’s primary root gurus are his grandfather, the late Kyabje Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, and late Kyabje Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche. Phakchok Rinpoche has received a traditional education from the Dzongsar Shedra in India, the complete Chokling New Treasures lineage from Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Kyabje Tsikey Chokling Rinpoche, and the Great Perfection lineage from Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche. Rinpoche’s teaching style is direct, addressing…
Matthew Zalichin
Matthew Zalichin began studying Buddhism as an undergraduate in 1971. His teachers include many of the past and current century’s most eminent Tibetan lamas of all main lineages, but principally the Kagyu and Nyingma through his two root gurus Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, whom he met in 1977. He has, for the most part, practiced as a householder in North America, and from roughly 1981-2000 focused on ngondros, various yidam practices, and dharma center administration while working full time, raising a family, paying mortgages, and so on. Authorized as a meditation instructor in 1981, he taught meditation,…
Michael Friedman
Michael Friedman has spent 50 years in an intensive study of philosophy in general and the nature of mind in particular. He completed the traditional three-year retreat in 1989 in Dordogne, France under the guidance of H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and Taklung Tsetrul Tulku Pema Wangyal, and at present teaches weekly at Samye Hermitage New York.
Oriane Lavole
Oriane Lavole is a PhD candidate in Buddhist Studies (Religious Studies Department) at Stanford University. Her research centers on the role of sacred sites in the tradition of the New Treasures of Chokgyur Lingpa. In parallel, Oriane continues to work as a translator and interpreter of Buddhist texts and teachings from Tibetan to English. She has been interpreting for Phakchok Rinpoche and other Chokling Tersar lineage masters and scholars and has been a part of Samye Translations and Publications (formerly Lhasey Lotsawa) since 2015. Oriane also occasionally produces translations for 84,000 and Khyentse Vision.
Peter Woods
Executive Director — Peter completed a degree in Philosophy at University of Virginia in 2009, and later earned a Master’s in Religion from Yale Divinity School in 2015. He went on complete Rangjung Yeshe Institute’s Translator Training Program and Master’s in Buddhist Studies as a Tsadra Scholar, living in Nepal from 2015 to 2019. Peter works with Samye Translations and their Nekhor project, and serves as executive director at Samye Hermitage New York.
Sophie (Shu-chin) Wu
Trained in Chinese intellectual history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Sophie teaches Asian history and philosophy, including Buddhism, as an associate professor at Agnes Scott College. Her current academic research focuses on Chinese and Tibetan independent films and contemplative education. As a longtime student of Buddhism, Sophie is a board member and meditation instructor for Phakchok Rinpoche’s organization. She lives in Atlanta with her husband. In her (imaginary) free time, Sophie enjoys home-roasted coffee, nature hikes, and traveling.
Tulku Migmar Tsering
Tulku Migmar Tsering is a master of the Chokling New Treasures lineage of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in Nubri, Nepal in 1975 and began his training at an early age after having been recognized as a reincarnate lama. Tulku Migmar began his formal education in 1983 at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Kathmandu. Through the years, Tulku Migmar proved to be an outstanding practitioner, mastering all of the elaborate vajrayana rituals and sacred arts so essential to the Chokling New Treasures tradition. Tulku-la completed a 3-year retreat under the close guidance of his root guru,…