"Excellent instruction by enthusiastic, kind, patient and knowledgeable instructors. I liked the availability of all the teachers."
- Summer Program Student
Nitartha Faculty
At Nitartha Institute, Western faculty, translators, and students from around the world closely study core texts and commentaries with Tibetan masters. Joining the wisdom and scholarship of the East with Western scholarship and ways of inquiry, the quality of awakening intelligence is advanced.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche founded Nitartha Institute under the guidance of Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche and Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, two of the leading contemporary teachers of the Karma Kagyü and Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen share the primary leadership and teaching responsibilities at Nitartha by designing the curriculum and by teaching the principal courses at the Summer Institute. Rinpoche and Acharya graduated with high honors from the nine-year training program at Karma Shri Nalanda Institute at Rumtek, Sikkim, India (an affiliate of the Sanskrit University of Varanassi).
Visiting Acharyas, also graduates of Karma Shri Nalanda Institute, often teach in the foundation, intermediate, and advanced programs at the Summer Institute. Visiting Acharayas have included Acharya Kelsang Wangdi, Acharya Sherab Gyaltsen Negi, and Acharya Tashi Wangchuk. The principal faculty are assisted by Western faculty, senior students, and translators. The faculty vary at any particular session of Nitartha Institute (summer or regional).
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Nitartha's President and spiritual director, is acknowledged to be one of the foremost scholars of his generation in the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the founder of Nitartha International, a non-profit educational corporation dedicated to preserving the literary and artistic heritage of the dharma in the East, particularly that of Tibet, and bringing it to the world community. He is a graduate of the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute at Rumtek and has completed courses of study in English and comparative religions at Columbia University. Rinpoche is an accomplished meditation master, calligrapher, visual artist, and poet. He travels and teaches widely and is well-versed in Western culture and technology. He is known for his warmth, humor, and lucid presentation of Buddhist teachings in a manner relevant to contemporary life.
Recent Publications
- Wild Awakening: The Heart of Mahamudra and Dzogchen
- Penetrating Wisdom: The Aspiration of Samantabhadra
- Mind Beyond Death
- Rebel Buddha
Other Organizations
Further Information
Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen Gyaltsen excelled in his studies at Karma Shri Nalanda Institute under some of the greatest living masters in the Kagyü lineage. Acharya lives in Boulder, Colorado and serves as a faculty member of the Religious Studies Department of Naropa University, especially teaching Tibetan tradition Nitartha Institute-based graduate courses. Acharya works closely with Ponlop Rinpoche in all aspects of leadership for the Institute, particularly in the design of our curriculum, and, after Ponlop Rinpoche, is the Institute's most revered teacher. Acharya is currently teaching Advanced courses in the Nitartha curriculum that are based in Boulder, Colorado and are broadcast to students around the world through online streaming video.
Western Teachers
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche is committed to training Western teachers as an essential key to establish the living Buddhadharma in the West. He has authorized several senior western translators and students to teach the foundation, intermediate, and advanced Nitartha curricula. Committed to training Western teachers, Nitartha Institute has a teachers-in-training path of study and practice.
Dr. Karl Brunnholzl has been a translator, oral interpreter, and teacher at Nitartha Institute since 1999. He is a principal resource for the content in the Nitartha Core Curriculum as well as in debate. Karl has received the traditional “dharma tutor” degree from Khenpo Lama Thubten at Germany’s Kamalashila Institute, and works in his daily life as a full time Tibetan to English translator. He is the author of several texts published by Snow Lion Publications: the Madhyamaka compendium, “The Center of the Sunlit Sky,” “In Praise of Dharmadhatu by Nagarjuna with a commentary by the Third Karmapa,” “Straight From the Heart: Buddhist Pith Instructions,” and “Luminous Heart: The Third Karmapa on Consciousness, Wisdom, and Buddha Nature.”
June Crow has been involved with Nitartha Institute since its founding in 1996 and began to serve in the leadership on the Executive Council in 2000. She has been a practitioner for over 30 years, and has been teaching dharma since 1979. She is currently active as a volunteer for the Practice & Study department at the Halifax Shambhala Centre.
Tyler Dewar has been serving as a translator and oral interpreter at Nitartha Institute since 2000. He has enjoyed opportunities to debate intensively in the original Tibetan-language format, and has a passionate interest in the evolution of English-language dharma. A book of his translations, "Trainings in Compassion, Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara" is published by Snow Lion Publications.
Jirka Hladiš has studied under the guidance of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche since 1997. He joined Nitartha Institute in 2002, and was authorized as a faculty member in 2007. Jirka's interest is in approaching study, analytical meditation and debate as a unified tool for spiritual transformation. Jirka holds graduate degrees both in engineering from Prague Technical University and in Buddhist studies from Naropa University.
Stuart Horn has been a student of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche since 2002. He holds a PhD in History with a focus on the History of Ideas. He is Distinguished Professor of Humanities at NSU in Fort Lauderdale, FL, where he teaches courses on Asian Philosophy and Death and Dying. He served as the Chair of the Board of Nitartha Institute , has been teaching at Nitartha Institute since 2008 and was authorized as a full faculty member in 2010. Stuart also serves as Director of Study for the Mitra Council of Nalandabodhi. His passion is the study and teaching of Buddhist philosophical systems and practice.
Stephanie Johnston has been a Tibetan Buddhist practitioner since 1985 and a student of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche's since 1996—the first year of Nitartha. She is a graphic designer and has served the Institute as faculty and board member since 1998. She resides at Nalanda West, a center for American vajrayana buddhism in Seattle, where she also volunteers her time as a Nalandabodhi sangha director
Israel Lifshitz holds degrees in Physics and Mathematics from the National University of Mexico. He is involved with Tibetan Buddhism since 1992 and has studied under Kagyu, Gelug and Nygma teachers. His teaching activities include courses and retreats in more than 35 cities throughout North, Central and South America and has served as translator into Spanish to more than 25 Tibetan and Western teachers. After meeting DPR, he joined Nitartha Institute in 2005, started teaching there in 2008, and was authorized as a full faculty member in 2010. He is currently Director of the non-sectarian Tibetan Buddhist Center in Morelia, Mexico.
Harrison Miller has been involved with Nitartha Institute since its founding in 1996 and has been on the faculty since 2002. Harrison has been a student of dharma for over 20 years and is currently the Curriculum Developer and Senior Teacher at the Cleveland Shambhala Meditation Center.
Prof. Linda Patrik is a Karma Kagyu practitioner with Karma Triyana Dharmachakra and Albany Karma Tegsum Choling. She has taught philosophy for 25 years at Union College in Schenectady, NY. Her academic teaching and research focus on cross-cultural humanistic questions in philosophy. She is currently working on a synopsis of Madhyamaka for college students.
Carmen Rumbaut joined the faculty of the Institute in 2003. She has been actively involved with Nitartha, both the North American and European programs, for several years, as a student, a teacher, and an editor. Born in Cuba, Carmen holds graduate degrees in both social work and law from the University of Texas at Austin.
Steve Seely has been involved with Nitartha Institute since its founding in 1996. In 1998 he was appointed Co-director, and from 2003-2008 he served as the Managing Director for the Institute. Steve has taught dharma for over 20 years and completed the traditional Tibetan three year retreat at Gampo Abbey in 1996.
Mark Seibold joined the Nitartha faculty in 2005. A member of the Nalanda Translation Committee, he is working on a translation of Mikyö Dorje’s Chariot of the Dakpo Kagyü Siddhas, an extensive commentary on Madhyamaka. He also serves as co-coordinator of the New Haven Shambhala® Meditation Group.
Prof. Phil Stanley is head of the Nitartha curriculum department, and has particular responsibility for teaching Tibetan-style debate in English. He has been involved with the Institute since its founding in 1996 and was appointed Co-director in 2000. He is Chair of the Religious Studies Department of Naropa University, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on Tibetan language and Buddhism.
Dr. Phil Weber has taught on the Buddhist approach to healing at Naropa University for 15 years. He has been a practitioner of Buddhism and medicine for 30 years. Currently, he is a family physician in private practice in Boulder with a particular interest in the integration of Western and Buddhist healing methods.
Scott Wellenbach has been part of the leadership of Nitartha Institute since its founding in 1996. In 1998, he was appointed Co-director and serves as head of the Translation and Publication Department. A translator of the buddha-dharma from Sanskrit and Tibetan for more than twenty years, and a long-time member of the Nalanda Translation Committee, he served as co-translator and co-editor of the Rain of Wisdom.
