Tsultrim Allione, M.A. is one of the first American women ordained as a Tibetan nun in 1970 by the 16th Karmapa. She is author of Women of Wisdom, a groundbreaking book on the lives of great female Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, as well as articles and various audio programs on the sacred feminine and other Buddhist topics.

After four years as a nun, Tsultrim returned her monastic vows, married, and had three children. She has continued to practice, study and teach for the last thirty years, earning a degree in Buddhist Studies/Women's Studies from Antioch University. Inspired by the vision of a Western retreat center while living in the Himalayas and the need to create a place for the reemergence of the sacred feminine, Tsultrim founded Tara Mandala in 1993 where she is now the resident teacher.

You can learn more about Tsultrim here.

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Adzom Rinpoche is the incarnation of Adzom Drukpa's son, Pema Wangyal, and is also an emanation of great 18th century terton, Jigme Lingpa. Adzom Rinpoche began his studies at age 5, undertook full-time retreat at age 11, and began teaching at 13. Now at 31, he has thousands of Tibetan and Chinese students. He has left hand, foot and body prints in various places through Tibet and at Tara Mandala. Three remarkable characteristics of this young lama are his energy, his compassion and his humility. He teaches tirelessly and joyfully day and night, requiring little time to sleep or eat. He demonstrates a deep compassion for students, tuning in to each person and delivering what is needed.



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Jetsun Khacho Wangmo Rinpoche is one of the few female Lamas in Tibet and she is an emanation of Tara. She is Adzom Rinpoche’s sister, as she was in their last life when they were the children of the great Adzom Drukpa (1842-1924). At that time she was known as Chimey Wangmo, a physician and accomplished yogini.

Recognized by many Lamas in Tibet as an incarnation of Samantabadri, Tara, Yeshey Tsogyal, Machig Lapdron and others, she left her home in eastern Tibet for a monastic college when she was 7. She began a rigorous study of Buddhism’s texts, an education rarely available to women in that area at that time. At 13, she took vows and officially became a nun. At 27, she has nearly attained the highly respected degree of Khenpo, and is deeply committed to making nun’s training available as widely as possible.

Since her early childhood, Jetsun Rinpoche has had visions of Green Tara, a Bodhisattva and important female representation of enlightenment and compassion in Tibetan Buddhism. “It does not change,” she has said. “It just gets stronger. It brings forth a lot of joy and a lot of bliss. The hope is that the student will have the same joy and the same bliss.”

In her three visists to the U.S. so far, Ani Rinpoche has given Green Tara initiations, led many practice sessions in retreats, taught liturgies, given public concerts of sacred music and dance, and recorded her divine voice. Her CD “Songs from the Heart’s Expanse” is available on our store pages.

In Tibet, she is called upon to sing at important moments in monastic rituals and initiaions, when hundreds and often thousands of monks and nuns sit by in prayer. Those who have been graced by the sound of her voice never forget its radiant purity. Her presence shines in the same way, which is why everyone loves her.

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Joanna Macy, PhD, is an eco-philosopher and scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology. She is a leading voice in movements for peace, justice and a sage environment. In the face ov overwhelming social and ecological crises, her work helps people transform despair and apathy into constructive, collaborative action. Her work teaches a new way of seeing the world - as matrix of our own bodies and minds - reversing assumptions and attitudes that now threaten the continuity of life on earth. Joanna is the author of numerous books including Widening Circles and World as Lover, World as Self.

Visit Joanna's website.

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Kilung Tulku Tsultrim Rinpoche is the fifth incarnation of Jigme Ngotsan Gyatso. Born in 1970, he was recognized at an early age by H. H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Kyabje Minling Trichen Rinpoche, and recently H. H. Dodrupchen Rinpoche, who gave him the name Jigme Tenzin Chodrak.

As a youth Kilung Rinpoche received teachings and empowerments of the Longchen Nyinthig and other Dzogchen lineages from many old and great lamas in the Dzachuka region of Kham, east Tibet. At the age of 17, he became the Abbot of Kilung Monastery, reviving traditional sacred dance there and also helping a group of nuns establish a center nearby.

Kilung Rinpoche left Tibet in 1993 on a pilgrimage which was expected to last one year. He was unable to return to Tibet until 2000, and in the intervening 7 years he spent time in the Dzogchen Monastery in southern India and in Kathmandu, Nepal, where he began the Kilung Foundation. In 1998 he first traveled to the United States, where his activities have been centered in the state of Washington. His current activities in Tibet include the rebuilding of the Kilung Monastery, the construction of a school for nomad children, and the building of a bridge over the Dzachu River at a place where regular nomad crossings cost much human and animal life every year.

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Krishna Das is an award-winning kirtan singer and musician who has traveled the world over sharing the blessing of his music. He has taught with Ram Dass and sung for many saints and yogis both here and in India. His recordings of traditional devotional chants are very inspiring.

Over the years, Krishna Das has made numerous pilgrimages throughout India, meeting teachers and saints of many spiritual traditions on his quest to open and purify his heart. Living in jungles, ashrams, and holy places throughout India, he has had an opportunity to absorb the ancient truths that have been held by the Indian culture for thousands of years. He has studied with many Indian and Buddhist masters since first encountering his guru, Neem Karoli Baba.

Visit Krishna Das' website.

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Lorain Fox Davis (Cree/Blackfeet) is adjunct faculty for the American Indian Studies Program and is on the Advisory Council for the Environmental Studies department at Naropa University. She is founder/director of Rediscovery Four Corners, a non-profit organization founded in 1985 to serve Native American youth and elders. For the past 30 years Lorain has worked extensively with indigenous healers, spiritual teachers and Buddhist masters.

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Ram Dass In 1961, while teaching at Harvard, Ram Dass' explorations of human consciousness led him, in collaboration with Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner, Aldous Huxley, Allen Ginsberg, and others, to pursue intensive research with psilocybin, LSD-25, and other psychedelic chemicals. Out of this research came two books: The Psychedelic Experience (co-authored by Leary and Metzner, and based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead) and LSD (with Sidney Cohen and Lawrence Schiller). Because of the controversial nature of this research, Ram Dass was dismissed from Harvard in 1963.

Ram Dass continued his research under the auspices of a private foundation until 1967. In that year he traveled to India, where he met his Guru Neem Karoli Baba. Ram Dass studied yoga and meditation, and received the name Ram Dass, which means "servant of God." Since 1968, he has pursued a variety of spiritual practices, including guru kripa; devotional yoga focused on the Hindu spiritual figure Hanuman; meditation in the Theravadan, Mahayana Tibetan, and Zen Buddhist schools; karma yoga; and Sufi and Jewish studies.

Ram Dass' interests include the support of psychedelic research, international development, environmental awareness, and political action. He has written a number of spiritual books including Be Here Now, The Only Dance There Is, Grist for the Mill (with Stephen Levine), Journey of Awakening, Miracle of Love: Stories of Neem Karoli Baba, How Can I Help? (with Paul Gorma), Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service (with Mirabai Bush), Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing and Dying and One-Liners: A Mini-Manual for a Spiritual Life.

Visit Ram Dass' website.

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Tulku Orgyen was recognized at a young age by H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche as an incarnation of Togden Kunzang Longdrol Rinpoche, a highly realized yogi who was influential in spreading the dharma in Tibet and Bhutan. He spent the first fifteen years of his life in retreat, studying all aspects of Buddhism at his monastery in Pemakod. He has completed the 9-year Khenpo degree and has taught Buddhist philosophy for the past five years. Tulku is currently living in Santa Barbara, CA, where he is teaching Buddhism and studying English and Western Philosophy.

Learn more about Tulku Orgyen here.

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Tulku Sang ngag was born in the Kham region of Eastern Tibet and was recognized in childhood as the 6th incarnation of the Terton Trime Lingpa. He spent nine years in Chinese prisons where he met and studied with his root guru, Tulku Urgyen Chemchok. After his release, he traveled to Bhutan to be with Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche with whom he remained in constant company for 14 years - receiving every empowerment, transmission, and commentary he gave. Tulku Sangak has been a student of Dudjom Rinpoche and Terton Pagyal Lingpa, and is also a close disciple of Chatral Rinpoche. He is also known as a preeminent master of constructing and consecrating stupas which he has done around the world.

Tulku Sangak is currently working on a project dear to his heart, Turquoise Leaf, a retreat center and nunnery. He is committed to helping serious women practitioners and nuns gain equal opportunity and recognition in Buddhist Dharma. He is equally committed to providing retreat quarters in Nepal for nuns who follow the famous lineage of one of the greatest teachers of this century, a Tibetan woman named Shugseb Jetsun Rinpoche.

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Tsoknyni Rinpoche is the son of the late Tulku Urgyen, a Dzogchen and Mahadmudra master. He is also the reincarnation of a great yogi and Drukpa Kargyu master who founded the largest yogini retreat center in Tibet. Rinpoche resides in Nepal, where he holds many responsibilities which include overseeing a monastery and a nunnery, as well as his yogini community of 1,000 in eastern Tibet.

Visit Pundarika Foundation for more information.

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Barry Spacks, a long time professor of literature and creative writing at M.I.T. and U.C. Santa Barbara, has published stories, two novels, and nine poetry collections, including Spacks Street: New and Selected Poems from Johns Hopkins, Regarding Women, winner of the Cherry Grove Collections Prize, and The Hope of the Air from Michigan State University Press. Maxine Hong Kingston writes of him: "I enjoy reading Barry Spacks' poetry for his attention to real things, real people, real life. He finds ways to know everything - the earth, the air - as miraculous, as beautiful, as playful." Spacks is a senior student of Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, with whom he studied for six years.

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