Faculty, Staff, and Board of Directors

Faculty of Namgyal Ithaca

Venerable Lobsang Gyaltsen fled to Bhutan with his father and family in 1959 after the Chinese communist invasion of Tibet. As a child, Venerable Lobsang did not attend school and was taught to read and write at home by his father. At age 14, he became a monk at Sekhar Monastery in Bhutan. In 1979, after 12 years of studies, he joined the Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India. At Namgyal Monastery he finished his monastic training in memorization and studies in both sutra and tantra in the Buddhist fields of sciences, and in the traditional tantric monastic practices, ritual arts, and performances, such as mandala construction, butter sculpture, ritual dance, and religious chanting. In 1993, Ven. Lobsang received the degree of "Master of Buddhist Sutra and Tantra." In 2003, he joined the Namgyal, Ithaca branch, where he currently resides and teaches classes in Tibetan Buddhism.

Ven. Lobsang is a wonderful teacher, whose warm-heartedness and insight into the Buddhist teachings offers students a wonderful opportunity to gain further insights into their own practice. Since arriving at Namgyal, Ithaca, Ven. Lobsang has traveled to many universities, museums, and cultural institutions, creating sand mandalas and teaching Buddhism on behalf of Namgyal, India and Ithaca, in service to the mission of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to protect and preserve Tibetan religious culture.

Venerable Tenzin Gephel was born in exile in Northern India after his parents escaped from Tibet in 1959. He received his primary education at a Tibetan school in Dharamsala, India, and at the age of 13, he became a monk at Namgyal Monastery in India, the personal Monastery of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. There he studied the liturgy of meditation deities, and the Buddhist sciences, including epistemology, philosophy, ethics, and the esoteric tantric systems. He also trained in the traditional Tibetan sacred arts such as ritual music, sand mandala construction, and the making of tormas (butter sculptures.) In 1992, after completing the thirteen-year Namgyal Tantric College curriculum, he earned the degree of "Master of Buddhist Sutra and Tantra."

Venerable Gephel has been a resident monk of Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies in Ithaca, NY since 1997, where he teaches a variety of courses on subjects in Tibetan Buddhism. He engages the local community in activities through Namgyal Institute, serves as a volunteer for Hospice, and has created sand mandalas at many museums and universities, as well as for the yearly ritual ceremonies at Namgyal Monastery, India. In the fall of 2000 Ven. Gephel was appointed as the first Buddhist Chaplain at Cornell United Religious Works at Cornell University; he spends half his time serving as the chaplain and half his time working at Namgyal Monastery. His duties as Cornell University Chaplain include leading a regularly scheduled Buddhist meditation group, teaching not-for-credit courses through CURW, providing counseling for students and staff as needed, and participating in interfaith activities in the CURW community. In his free time, Venerable Gephel writes on different topics relating to Tibetan culture and religion. He enjoys improving his English, and taking long walks around the city of Ithaca.

Venerable Tenzin Thutop was born in India in 1968, and entered the Dalai Lama's personal monastery in Dharamsala when he was 13 years-old. He earned the title of novice monk at 18, and at 27 became fully ordained as a monk and obtained the degree of "Master Of Buddhist Sutra and Tantra." Ven. Thutop has lived at several of the Namgyal Monastery branches, including those at Kushinagar and Bodhgaya, India. He served in the entourage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama during the Kalachakra teachings in Barcelona, Spain, and Mongolia, and on other occasions throughout His Holiness's travels in India. Ven. Thutop has participated in exhibitions of the Kalachakra Mandala in Italy, Finland and other countries, and his interest in comparative religion lead to time spent at a Catholic Monastery in Missouri in 1996.

Venerable Tenzin Thutop arrived at the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies in Ithaca, NY in May of 1999, where he currently resides and teaches classes in Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan language. He is a wonderful teacher, and during his time in Ithaca, NY, he has given several presentations about Buddhism at churches, synagogues, schools, and universities, and in the summer of 2002 he taught a month-long course on mandala studies at Cornell University. Ven. Thutop has many highly specialized skills in the traditional tantric monastic practices, such as Mandala construction, butter sculpture, and ritual performances. He continues to travel throughout the world creating sand Mandalas and sharing his knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism with its rich history of traditional ritual arts and practices.

Venerable Tenzin Norbu was born in Tibet in 1963, and twenty years later escaped to India due to events surrounding the communist invasion of his country. Upon arriving in India, Tenzin Norbu entered Namgyal Monastery, the Dalai Lama's personal Monastery in exile in Dharamsala. After 13 years of monastic duties and studies in the Buddhist fields of sciences, he obtained the degree of "Master Of Buddhist Sutra and Tantra."

Venerable Tenzin Norbu dedicates his life to live and work as a monk, and has many highly specialized skills in the traditional tantric monastic practices, such as Mandala construction, butter sculpture, and ritual performances. He has traveled to many countries throughout the world with groups of Namgyal monks creating and sharing the art of sand mandalas and other forms of artistic iconography used in Tibetan Buddhist ritual ceremonies. Venerable Norbu arrived at the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies in Ithaca, NY in November of 2005, where he currently resides and will be teaching classes in Tibetan Buddhism. He will continue to travel throughout North America creating sand Mandalas and sharing his knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism with its rich history of traditional ritual arts and practices.

Palden Choedek Oshoe was educated at an early age at the Tibetan Children's Village (TCV) in Dharamsala, India, under the direction of Jetsuen Pema la, the younger sister of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After completing the 10th grade, Palden took vows as a monk at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, where he remained and studied for seven years under the spiritual direction of the late Venerable Lobsang Gyatso and Geshe Damchoe Gyaltsen la. He left the institute in 1991 to study thangka painting from his brothers, and also to assist them in their projects. Palden was then asked by the Administrative Committee of Namgyal Monastery in India to go to Ithaca to become the official translator for Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies. Palden arrived in Ithaca in 1994, and since that time he has been the formal translator for the resident Namgyal monks and visiting Tibetan Lamas and scholars. He is also the primary instructor of Tibetan Language and Tibetan Traditional Art Classes at the Namgyal Institute. Palden is a wonderful teacher who offers an understanding of western philosophical sciences, and great insight into the Buddhist teachings.

Tenzin Lodoe was born in 1964 in India and enrolled in the Namgyal Monastery on April 10th, 1978. During his eighteen years at the Monastery, he studied and completed the philosophical curriculums and subjects such as logic, epistemology, critical philosophical analysis - which includes topics such as the Hindu and Vaibhashika System, Sautantrika, Yogachara and Madhyamika Schools of philosophy, Hermeneutic (Linguistic and Semantic) and Tsongkapa's Ngags Rim Chenmo (Tantra) - as well as having completed the training of ritual procedures, mandala theory and construction, preparation of butter sculpture, the sacred dances, chanting, and ritual offering. At Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, NY, "Tenlo" teaches beginning Tibetan Language classes, introductory courses on Tibetan Buddhism, and acts as the secondary translator for the resident Namgyal monks and teachers. Tenlo is an outstanding teacher who offers a unique perspective as one who has lived both as a monastic as well as a lay person.

Tenzin Chopak began studying Tibetan Buddhism in 1995 with resident teachers at Drepung Losel Shedrup Ling in Knoxville, TN. In 1996 he began studying under the Nyingma teachers Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche, and Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche.

After preliminary Tibetan language studies, Tenzin Chopak traveled to India in 1999 and resided there for eight months. During that time he was ordained as a monk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and spent his time studying language and Buddhist practice from Gelug and Nyigma masters. He then studied and lived for nearly three years at the Nyigma retreat center Padma Samye Ling in upstate New York. Now living as a lay person in Ithaca, NY, Tenzin Chopak is training to translate teachings and events for Namgyal Monastery.

Adjunct Faculty

The adjunct faculty consists of scholars located at University's and other institutions throughout the United States who periodically visit Namgyal to teach or offer weekend intensive teachings and seminars.

Robert Thurman

Professor, Department of Religion, Indo-Tibetan Studies at Columbia University

Anne Klein

Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Rice University, Houston Texas

Daniel Cozart

Professor in the Department of Religion, Dickinson College

Daniel Perdue

Instructor, Department of Religion, University of North Carolina

Sidney Piburn

Scholar in Tibetan Buddhism, co-founder of Snow Lion Publications and the North American Branch of Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, NY

Alex Berzin

Harvard PhD in Far Eastern languages and Indian Studies, renowned translator, author, and world-wide lecturer

Thubten Chodron

American born Tibetan nun and resident teacher at Dharma Friendship Center in Seattle Washington

Venerable Tenzin Legphel Priyadarshi

Buddhist Chaplain and research student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Visiting Scholar, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Research Assistant, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University

Craig Preston

Author, translator and founder of the Nagarjuna Language Institute in Ithaca, NY

Staff

• Jeanine Rose Mollica, Administrator

Board of Directors

• Ted Arnold, President
• Ven. Tenzin Gephel
• Ven. Tenzin Thutop
• Cornelia Tobey
• Prof. David Holmberg
• Heather Harrick
• Babette Teich-Visco
• Tenzin Tsokyi
• Urgyen Khetsatsang