Venerable Robina Courtin
Ordained since the late 1970s, Robina Courtin has worked full time since then for Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche's FPMT. Over the years she has served as editorial director of Wisdom Publications, editor of Mandala Magazine, executive director of Liberation Prison Project, an editor of the lamas’ teachings, and as a touring teacher of Buddhism. Her life and work with prisoners have been featured in the documentaries films Key to Freedom (2007) and the award-winning Chasing Buddha, released commercially worldwide in 2013.
Ordained since the late 1970s, Robina Courtin has worked full time since then for Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche's FPMT. Over the years she has served as editorial director of Wisdom Publications, editor of Mandala Magazine, executive director of Liberation Prison Project, an editor of the lamas’ teachings, and as a touring teacher of Buddhism. Her life and work with prisoners have been featured in the documentaries films Key to Freedom (2007) and the award-winning Chasing Buddha, released commercially worldwide in 2013.
Venerable Angie Muir
Born in Scotland in 1970, Venerable Angie combined traveling with work in Asia for 3 years until 1995, when she felt a calling to go to India to explore meditation and find her life path.
Meeting Her Teacher
Within a few months, she had the incredible fortune due to some previous karma to discover Tibetan Buddhism, meet her main spiritual teacher, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and become ordained. She served at Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s personal residences in the US for over 13 years. Interspersed with that was working at FPMT centers such as Vajrapani Institute and Thubten Norbu Ling as well as doing various personal retreats. Ven. Angie also returned to Scotland for a few years, teaching and leading meditation retreats there.
Living at Vajrapani Institute, California
In 2023, when Lama Zopa Rinpoche showed the aspect of passing away, she was invited to Vajrapani Institute in California where she supports the programs as a teacher in residence. She is currently teaching the FPMT program Discovering Buddhism as well as starting to tour and offer other classes, meditations, and retreats at other centers in North America.
Lawudo
She has also helped lead a pilgrimage to Lawudo Retreat Center in the Himalayas in Nepal where her teacher meditated in his previous life. Read more
Born in Scotland in 1970, Venerable Angie combined traveling with work in Asia for 3 years until 1995, when she felt a calling to go to India to explore meditation and find her life path.
Meeting Her Teacher
Within a few months, she had the incredible fortune due to some previous karma to discover Tibetan Buddhism, meet her main spiritual teacher, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and become ordained. She served at Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s personal residences in the US for over 13 years. Interspersed with that was working at FPMT centers such as Vajrapani Institute and Thubten Norbu Ling as well as doing various personal retreats. Ven. Angie also returned to Scotland for a few years, teaching and leading meditation retreats there.
Living at Vajrapani Institute, California
In 2023, when Lama Zopa Rinpoche showed the aspect of passing away, she was invited to Vajrapani Institute in California where she supports the programs as a teacher in residence. She is currently teaching the FPMT program Discovering Buddhism as well as starting to tour and offer other classes, meditations, and retreats at other centers in North America.
Lawudo
She has also helped lead a pilgrimage to Lawudo Retreat Center in the Himalayas in Nepal where her teacher meditated in his previous life. Read more
Venerable Sangye Khadro (Kathleen McDonald) was born in California, and began studying Buddhism in 1973 Dharamsala, India. She was ordained as a Buddhist nun in Kopan Monastery, Nepal, in 1974. She has studied Buddhism with various teachers such as Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Thubten Yeshe, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. At the request of her teachers she began teaching in 1979, and since then has taught in many countries around the world. She was a resident teacher at Amitabha Buddhist Centre, in Singapore, for 11 years. She is the author of two books published by Wisdom Publications, How to Meditate, and Awakening the Kind Heart. She completed the Masters Program in Instituto Lama Tsong Khapa, Italy, in 2013, and is currently residing at Sravasti Abbey in Washington, USA.
Venerable Mary Reavey
Venerable Mary Reavey is a Buddhist nun who teaches in Buddhist centres, schools, prisons and hospitals. Born in Dundee, Scotland, she was a Staff Nurse when she first encountered Buddhism. Currently she focusses on Shamatha meditation during a year long retreat as the Scottish West coast.
Venerable Mary Reavey is a Buddhist nun who teaches in Buddhist centres, schools, prisons and hospitals. Born in Dundee, Scotland, she was a Staff Nurse when she first encountered Buddhism. Currently she focusses on Shamatha meditation during a year long retreat as the Scottish West coast.
Paula Chichester
Paula Chichester began studying Buddhism when she was 14 at Berkeley High School in California. At university, she studied systems theory and has applied that to her 40 years of meditation. Understanding the whole body/mind/culture/ environment of the practitioner makes each person's journey in Tibetan Buddhism unique. As a dancer, Chinese Chi Gung practitioner, healer, singer, student of psychology, ecology, she brings all these elements into the understanding of the whole person and how tantra works in this greater context. She has spent the last 33 years practicing full time -- 23 years preparing for and completing long retreats -- under the guidance of her inspiring kind teachers: Lama Thubten Yeshe, Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche and Kyabje Ribur Rinpoche. She has also studied with teachers from all 4 schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Her goal in life has been steady since childhood: to realize Mahamudra and do all she can to bring peace to our world.
Paula Chichester began studying Buddhism when she was 14 at Berkeley High School in California. At university, she studied systems theory and has applied that to her 40 years of meditation. Understanding the whole body/mind/culture/ environment of the practitioner makes each person's journey in Tibetan Buddhism unique. As a dancer, Chinese Chi Gung practitioner, healer, singer, student of psychology, ecology, she brings all these elements into the understanding of the whole person and how tantra works in this greater context. She has spent the last 33 years practicing full time -- 23 years preparing for and completing long retreats -- under the guidance of her inspiring kind teachers: Lama Thubten Yeshe, Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche and Kyabje Ribur Rinpoche. She has also studied with teachers from all 4 schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Her goal in life has been steady since childhood: to realize Mahamudra and do all she can to bring peace to our world.
Andy Wistreich
Andy Wistreich has been a practising buddhist for 35 years. He is the project co-ordinator of the Land of Joy project. He teaches and leads retreats at FPMT centres in different parts of the world. He is retired from paid employment. He used to teach in further education. He is married with four grown-up sons, and lives in Somerset in England. His retreats are characterised by his extraordinary kindness, depth and clarity.
Andy Wistreich has been a practising buddhist for 35 years. He is the project co-ordinator of the Land of Joy project. He teaches and leads retreats at FPMT centres in different parts of the world. He is retired from paid employment. He used to teach in further education. He is married with four grown-up sons, and lives in Somerset in England. His retreats are characterised by his extraordinary kindness, depth and clarity.
Glen Svenson
Originally from Australia, Glen has been a student and practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism since 1995 and graduated from the seven-year Masters Program in Advanced Buddhist Studies of Sutra and Tantra at the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute (Pomaia, Italy) in 2004.
Since 2005 he has taught and led meditation retreats in India, Europe, North America and Australia with a teaching style emphasizing clarity and stressing the integration of philosophical view, meditation and daily life conduct. Check his website on
www.glensvensson.org
Originally from Australia, Glen has been a student and practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism since 1995 and graduated from the seven-year Masters Program in Advanced Buddhist Studies of Sutra and Tantra at the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute (Pomaia, Italy) in 2004.
Since 2005 he has taught and led meditation retreats in India, Europe, North America and Australia with a teaching style emphasizing clarity and stressing the integration of philosophical view, meditation and daily life conduct. Check his website on
www.glensvensson.org
Don Handrick:
For six months each year, Don Handrick serves as the resident teacher at Thubten Norbu Ling, in Santa Fe, NM, a center affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). During that time, he also teaches at Ksitigarbha Tibetan Buddhist Center in Taos, NM, and volunteers for the Liberation Prison Project, teaching Buddhism once a month at a local prison. Since 2012 he has been an active member of the Interfaith Leadership Alliance of Santa Fe.
Don spends the other half of each year as a touring teacher for the FPMT, visiting centers around the world. In 2015, Don had the honor of being selected to lead the renowned November Course, a one month teaching and meditation retreat held annually at Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal.
For six months each year, Don Handrick serves as the resident teacher at Thubten Norbu Ling, in Santa Fe, NM, a center affiliated with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). During that time, he also teaches at Ksitigarbha Tibetan Buddhist Center in Taos, NM, and volunteers for the Liberation Prison Project, teaching Buddhism once a month at a local prison. Since 2012 he has been an active member of the Interfaith Leadership Alliance of Santa Fe.
Don spends the other half of each year as a touring teacher for the FPMT, visiting centers around the world. In 2015, Don had the honor of being selected to lead the renowned November Course, a one month teaching and meditation retreat held annually at Kopan Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal.
A British monk, Graham Woodhouse is one of the very few Westerners trained in the traditional Tibetan way as a geshe. A graduate of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, he has deep knowledge of the texts, skill in translating, and an ability to convey the subtleties of Buddhist thought in lucid English. Geshe Graham Woodhouse lives in London, United Kingdom.
Sheffield man Geshe Graham, has spent a mammoth 16 years in studying in India, at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, with exiled monks, completing the “Geshe ,” program, which is the monks equivalent of four PhD’s. And strikingly he is only one of only six western people to have ever completed this ancient course.
The makeup of the Geshe program is the study of five key topics, which help the student understand how to reach “enlightenment”; it is a guide to understanding the path to enlightenment, which can aid the student to realise it.
Sheffield man Geshe Graham, has spent a mammoth 16 years in studying in India, at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, with exiled monks, completing the “Geshe ,” program, which is the monks equivalent of four PhD’s. And strikingly he is only one of only six western people to have ever completed this ancient course.
The makeup of the Geshe program is the study of five key topics, which help the student understand how to reach “enlightenment”; it is a guide to understanding the path to enlightenment, which can aid the student to realise it.
Margo van Greta
Margo van Greta is a pioneer of holistic spirituality, who brings in-depth Buddhist practices into our western culture.
Involved with the Dharma since 1987, Margo has studied and practised both in the East and the West. She received teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khadrola and many more, and attended Foundations of Buddhist Thought. She is an FPMT registered teacher for Discovering Buddhis. She spends one month a year in retreat in southern Spain or Shetland. She is the founder of Togme Sangpo Buddhist Group, which she started in 2012 with the blessing of her main teacher Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
Margo van Greta is a pioneer of holistic spirituality, who brings in-depth Buddhist practices into our western culture.
Involved with the Dharma since 1987, Margo has studied and practised both in the East and the West. She received teachings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Khadrola and many more, and attended Foundations of Buddhist Thought. She is an FPMT registered teacher for Discovering Buddhis. She spends one month a year in retreat in southern Spain or Shetland. She is the founder of Togme Sangpo Buddhist Group, which she started in 2012 with the blessing of her main teacher Lama Zopa Rinpoche.
