Khenchen Lama Rinpoche

Khenchen Lama Rinpoche comes from Kham (Eastern Tibet). Since very early childhood he displayed unusual compassion and inclination towards meditation. At the age of three, the head of Nyigma lineage - His Holiness Sera Yangtul Rinpoche recognized Khenchen Rinpoche as a reincarnation of Padma Dagnag Lingpa - a high Rinpoche of Nyigma lineage. Padma Dagnag Lingpa was a reincarnation of Nupchen Sangye Yeshe, one of the five closest disciples of Padmasambhava and the founder of the yogi lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. H.H. Sera Yantul Rinpoche also prophesized, that Khenchen Rinpoche would especially benefit students in Europe and the USA in this lifetime. Despite the pressures to take over abbot responsibilities at four monasteries at an early age, Khenchen Lama Rinpoche was encouraged by his mother to undergo rigorous study and practice. For 25 years he studied and practiced primarily Buddhist philosophy and meditation, but also logic, medicine, astrology, languages, grammar, lexiocography, dance, and drama. During this time his root teacher His Holiness Jigmed Phuntsok Rinpoche provided him with teachings and instructions over a period of ten years at Larung Buddhist University. While studying, Rinpoche spent two to three months each year in silent solitary retreat summing up to about four years of retreat in total. After receiving his khenpo and khenchen titles, Khenchen Lama taught debate, astrology, sutra and tantra at many different monasteries and centers in Tibet, Nepal, India, Malaysia, Singapore, China and the United States. The main focus of his teachings is on Dzogchen and the Six Bardos - especially dream yoga. Besides teaching, his main efforts have concentrated on building and sustaining an orphanage in Tibet that currently provides accommodation, food, clothing and education to 150 children (see www.awamfoundation.org). He would also like to build a retreat center for yogis in Tibet in the future. He authored three books on sutra and tantra, and wrote a book of songs.

Dusana Dorjee, Ph.D.

Dr. Dusana Dorjee has been practicing Tibetan Buddhist meditation for 10 years, primarily under the guidance of Khenchen Lama Rinpoche. Since 2005 she has been leading group meditation sessions and teaching Tibetan Buddhism. She is a board member and teaching faculty of a non-profit Buddhist college based in Tucson, Arizona, and is a board member of AWAM Foundation launched to support Khenchen Rinpoche's orphanage in Tibet.
Dusana holds a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Arizona, and is currently a research officer in cognitive neuroscience at Bangor University in Wales, UK. She has also gained a graduate degree in clinical psychology and completed Ph.D. studies in philosophy of mind and science. Throughout her studies she has been interested in fundamental questions about the nature of our mind and its relationship to the brain.
Dusana has long-term interest in scientific research on meditation. She attended the first public meeting between scientists and H.H. The Dalai Lama at MIT in Boston, and was a research fellow at the first Mind and Life Summer Research Institute in June 2004. To actively contribute to research on meditation, she has recently started her first neuroscientific research project examining brain changes in attention and emotions as a result of mindfulness meditation. Dusana has also authored and co-authored several scientific and popular scientific articles on meditation and neuroscience. Dusana believes that Tibetan Buddhist meditation tradition, as well as practices of other contemplative traditions, possess a wealth of knowledge that can be of great benefit to human well-being and can enhance our understanding of the deepest questions about the nature of mind.
In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, based on a ‘terma’ (hidden treasure) revelation by His Holiness Do Khyentse Rinpoche, Dusana is an incarnation of Saraswati. Dusana has deep respect for this revelation and approaches it with responsibility and motivation for further practice, but makes no claims about her accomplishments. She believes that we all need to strive in every moment to accomplish our purest potential through sincere practice and service to sentient beings.