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Mukpo Institute Faculty

Ashe Acharya John Rockwell has been a student of Buddhism and the Shambhala teachings for 30 years. He was professor of Buddhist Studies at the Naropa Institute for 12 years, co-director of Karmê Chöling Meditation Center for 4 years, and Director of Shambhala International for 5 years. He is a member of the Nalanda Translation Committee, which translates Buddhist texts and liturgies into English. In 1996, he was appointed by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche to be an acharya or senior teacher for the Shambhala community, and in 2001, he became the Ashe Acharya, in charge of the International Office of Practice and Education. Currently, he lives at Karmê Chöling as the Resident Acharya.

Acharya Michael Greenleaf began his dharma practice as a teenager after meeting a senior student from Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche's sangha in 1974. He attended the 1978 Shambhala Vajrayana seminary with Trungpa Rinpoche and has twice served as residential staff at Karmê Chöling Shambhala Meditation Center. For the past several years, he has studied and taught at the Vajrayana Seminaries led by Trungpa Rinpoche's dharma heir, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

A long-time student of Buddhism and the Shambhala teachings, Acharya Arawana Hayashi is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher, with roots in Asian and Western arts. She has been on the faculty of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School and Naropa University. Acharya Hayashi teaches meditation and creative process at the Shambhala Institute for Authentic Leadership in Halifax and innovative leadership workshops. She has also served as teacher-in-residence at Karmê Chöling.

Acharya Suzann Duquette: A student in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage for more than thirty years, Suzann Duquette is a senior meditation instructor and teaches widely in the United States and Canada, including introductory weekend and week-long meditation programs, dathuns, and retreats for Vajrayana practitioners. Ms. Duquette is a former co-director of Karmê Chöling and is a member of the Denma Translation Group, which published Sun Tzu's Art of War, A New Translation.

Acharya Adam Lobel: Acharya Adam Lobel has lived and studied Buddhism in monasteries in Tibet, Nepal and India. A close student of the Sakyong, he traveled with Rinpoche on his 2001 trip to Tibet. Acharya Lobel was one of the co-editors of Turning the Mind into an Ally, and has been responsible for creating meditation programs based on this book. He is a recent father and lives with his family in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Acharya Lobel is currently pursuing graduate studies in Buddhism at the Harvard Divinity School.

Guest Faculty

Henry Chapin: Henry Chapin is a senior student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He has taught extensively in Canada, the United States and South America, including all levels of Shambhala Training, Vajrayana Seminary, Ngöndro Retreats and Meditation Instructor Training for shamatha-vipashyana and ngöndro practice. Henry lives in Ottawa where he is active in prison outreach and hospital chaplaincy work and volunteers at a group home for people with HIV/AIDS.

Irini Rockwell, MA: Irini Rockwell is director of the Five Wisdoms Institute and founder of Five Wisdoms @ Work, a professional development training for health caregivers, educators, organizational leaders, and individuals. She is author of The Five Wisdom Energies, a Buddhist Way of Understanding Personalities, Emotions and Relationships. She is a long time student of Trungpa Rinpoche, a senior teacher in the Shambhala International community, and a founding member of Maitri Council International. To read her full bio, please click here.

Robert Lamprey: Graduated from Shambhala (Vajradhatu) Seminary in 1984 and studied a complete cycle of Ngedon School in the early 1990s at Karmê Chöling. For the past five years, Mr. Lamprey has taught an expanded version of Ngedon School to a group of senior students at the Burlington, Vermont Shambhala Center. Mr. Lamprey is a Shambhala Training Director, a student of ikebana, and a teacher of the Japanese martial art of aikido. He lives and works in northern Vermont.

Jenny Bondurant: Jenny Bondurant has been a meditation practitioner and student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche since 1980, and she has completed the traditional Three-Year Retreat under the direction of Thrangu Rinpoche. A senior teacher with Shambhala, she has taught widely and led meditation retreats, including month-long Maitri Space Awareness retreats for Naropa University.

Tom Semmes has been a member of the Shambhala community since 1987 and currently serves as the Nalanda Chair at the Washington DC Center. He has been teaching from the Shambhala Art curriculum for the past eight years. He is a website designer and also a visual artist. For more information, visit tomsemmes.com.