Faculty, Staff, and Board of Directors

Faculty of Namgyal Ithaca

Venerable Tenzin Gephel

Resident Namgyal monk
Cornell University Buddhist Chaplain

Venerable Tenzin Gephel was born in exile in Northern India after his parents escaped from Tibet in 1959. He received his primary education at a Tibetan school in Dharamsala, India, and at the age of 13, he became a monk at Namgyal Monastery in India, the personal Monastery of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. There he studied the liturgy of meditation deities, and the Buddhist sciences, including epistemology, philosophy, ethics, and the esoteric tantric systems. He also trained in the traditional Tibetan sacred arts such as ritual music, sand mandala construction, and the making of tormas (butter sculptures.) In 1992, after completing the thirteen-year Namgyal Tantric College curriculum, he earned the degree of "Master of Buddhist Sutra and Tantra."

Venerable Gephel has been a resident monk of Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies in Ithaca, NY since 1997, where he teaches a variety of courses on subjects in Tibetan Buddhism. He engages the local community in activities through Namgyal Institute, serves as a volunteer for Hospice, and has created sand mandalas at many museums and universities, as well as for the yearly ritual ceremonies at Namgyal Monastery, India. In the fall of 2000 Ven. Gephel was appointed as the first Buddhist Chaplain at Cornell United Religious Works at Cornell University; he spends half his time serving as the chaplain and half his time working at Namgyal Monastery. His duties as Cornell University Chaplain include leading a regularly scheduled Buddhist meditation group, teaching not-for-credit courses through CURW, providing counseling for students and staff as needed, and participating in interfaith activities in the CURW community. In his free time, Venerable Gephel writes on different topics relating to Tibetan culture and religion. He enjoys improving his English, and taking long walks around the city of Ithaca.

Venerable Tenzin Thutop

Resident Namgyal monk

Venerable Tenzin Thutop was born in India in 1968, and entered the Dalai Lama's personal monastery in Dharamsala when he was 13 years-old. He earned the title of novice monk at 18, and at 27 became fully ordained as a monk and obtained the degree of "Master Of Buddhist Sutra and Tantra." Ven. Thutop has lived at several of the Namgyal Monastery branches, including those at Kushinagar and Bodhgaya, India. He served in the entourage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama during the Kalachakra teachings in Barcelona, Spain, and Mongolia, and on other occasions throughout His Holiness's travels in India. Ven. Thutop has participated in exhibitions of the Kalachakra Mandala in Italy, Finland and other countries, and his interest in comparative religion lead to time spent at a Catholic Monastery in Missouri in 1996.

Venerable Tenzin Thutop arrived at the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies in Ithaca, NY in May of 1999, where he currently resides and teaches classes in Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan language. He is a wonderful teacher, and during his time in Ithaca, NY, he has given several presentations about Buddhism at churches, synagogues, schools, and universities, and in the summer of 2002 he taught a month-long course on mandala studies at Cornell University. Ven. Thutop has many highly specialized skills in the traditional tantric monastic practices, such as Mandala construction, butter sculpture, and ritual performances. He continues to travel throughout the world creating sand Mandalas and sharing his knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism with its rich history of traditional ritual arts and practices.

Venerable Lobsang Tashi

Resident Namgyal monk

Born in Gyaltse in Tibet on August 13, 1956, Lobsang Tashi became a refugee in Bhutan in 1960 as a result of the 1959 Chinese invasion of Tibet. Becoming a monk at the age of 9, he studied reading, writing, and memorization of Buddhist texts. In 1979 Lobsang Tashi relocated to Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India, where he enrolled in the thirteen-year Namgyal Tantric College curriculum, earning the degree of Master of Buddhist Sutra and Tantra. This curriculum requires extensive study of academic subjects (Buddhist epistemology, logic, debate, ethics, and meditation) and ritual arts (music and chanting, dance, esoteric, and tantric practices).

For fourteen years Lobsang Tashi served as Secretary at Namgyal-India, traveling at times to Japan and Europe to create sand mandalas. He then worked at the Namgyal branch in Bodhgaya, India for three years, after which, from 2004-2007, he cared for the elderly in Shimla, India.

In October 2007 Venerable Lobsang Tashi arrived in Ithaca as part of a contingency of monks who created the sand mandala at Cornell University's Johnson Museum of Art and chanted at events during His Holiness the Dalai Lama's visit. He continues as a Namgyal Institute resident monk and as a teacher of Buddhist philosophy and texts, roles which draw upon his earlier Namgyal-India training.

Venerable Thupten Woser

Resident Namgyal monk

Thupten Woser was born in 1963 in Gyaltse in Tibet. In 1970 he began his education in Bhutan, where, in 1975, he joined a monastery to pursue his studies as a monk. In 1980 he entered the thirteen-year Tantric College curriculum at Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India, earning the degree of Master of Buddhist Sutra and Tantra. His course of studies focused in two extensive fields, one academic (including Buddhist philosophy, psychology, debate, and meditation) and the other artistic (involving ritual music, movement, tantra, and art).

Having completed his study, from 1993-1998 Thupten Woser served as a teacher in the Namgyal Ritual School. He then undertook Namgyal-India administrative offices, as Inventory Steward for two years, Secretary for two years, and as Namgyal Librarian for one year. His duties during this time also included travels to Italy and Spain for the creation of sand mandalas.

Since arriving as resident monk at Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca in July 2007, Venerable Thupten Woser has taught courses in Tibetan language and philosophy. His introduction to Ithaca came during the preparation for His Holiness the Dalai Lama's visit, when he participated in a myriad of arrangements to ensure the beauty and authenticity of the events. As a Namgyal Institute resident monk he serves the Tibetan and wider communities in educational, ceremonial, and spiritual observances.

Palden Choedek Oshoe

Namgyal teacher and translator

Palden Choedek Oshoe was educated at an early age at the Tibetan Children's Village (TCV) in Dharamsala, India, under the direction of Jetsuen Pema la, the younger sister of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After completing the 10th grade, Palden took vows as a monk at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, where he remained and studied for seven years under the spiritual direction of the late Venerable Lobsang Gyatso and Geshe Damchoe Gyaltsen la. He left the institute in 1991 to study thangka painting from his brothers, and also to assist them in their projects. Palden was then asked by the Administrative Committee of Namgyal Monastery in India to go to Ithaca to become the official translator for Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies. Palden arrived in Ithaca in 1994, and since that time he has been the formal translator for the resident Namgyal monks and visiting Tibetan Lamas and scholars. He is also the primary instructor of Tibetan Language and Tibetan Traditional Art Classes at the Namgyal Institute. Palden is a wonderful teacher who offers an understanding of western philosophical sciences, and great insight into the Buddhist teachings.

Adjunct Faculty

The adjunct faculty consists of scholars located at University's and other institutions throughout the United States who periodically visit Namgyal to teach or offer weekend intensive teachings and seminars.

Alex Berzin

Harvard PhD in Far Eastern languages and Indian Studies, renowned translator, author, and world-wide lecturer

Thubten Chodron

American born Tibetan nun and resident teacher at Dharma Friendship Center in Seattle Washington

Daniel Cozart

Professor in the Department of Religion, Dickinson College

Anne Klein

Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Rice University, Houston Texas

Daniel Perdue

Instructor, Department of Religion, University of North Carolina

Sidney Piburn

Scholar in Tibetan Buddhism, co-founder of Snow Lion Publications and the North American Branch of Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, NY

Craig Preston

Author, translator and founder of the Nagarjuna Language Institute in Ithaca, NY

Jhado Tulku Rinpoche

Former abbot of Namgyal Monastery, Dharamsala, India, 1997-2004; one of the most highly esteemed lamas in the Geluk lineage of Tibetan Buddhism

Geshe Tenzin Sherap

Lharampa Geshe degree, Ganden Jangtse Monastery, India; resident teacher at Land of Compassion Buddha in West Covina, California

Geshe Lobsang Tenzin

Lharampa Geshe degree, Drepung Loseling Monastery, India; PhD, Emory University; founder and director of Drepung Loseling Institute in Atlanta, Georgia, the North American seat of Drepung Loseling Monastery; senior lecturer, Department of Religion, Emory University

Robert Thurman

Professor, Department of Religion, Indo-Tibetan Studies at Columbia University

Lama Pema Wangdak

Resident teacher and founder of the Vikramasila Foundation; founder of the Pema Ts'al Monastic Institute in Pokara, Nepal, and the Pema Ts'al School in Mundgod, India; creator of "Bur Yig" system of Tibetan Braille

Staff

• Jeanine Rose Mollica, Administrator
• Ngawang Dhondup, Assistant Administrator

Board of Directors

• M. Sue Crowley, President
• Ven. Tenzin Thutop, Vice President
• Ven. Tenzin Gephel
• Urgyen Khetsatsang
• Inez Alfors
• Lane Chambliss
• Mary Gilliland
• Kathryn S. March