Acharya

Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown

Acharya Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of Contemplative and Religious Studies at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she has taught since 1978.  She has been a Shambhala Acharya since 2000, and teaches internationally. Her teaching specialties are meditation practice, compassion, Shambhala teachings, Buddhist philosophy, tantric Buddhism, and contemplative higher education.  Her book, Dakini’s Warm Breath (Shambhala 2001), […]

Acharya Eve Rosenthal

Eve Rosenthal became a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, founder of Shambhala and Naropa University, in 1973. In the mid-eighties, she began to teach the dharma in New York City. She was empowered by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche as an acharya (senior teacher) in 2005. She travels widely to teach on meditation and Shambhala and Buddhist principles, leading […]

Charlene Leung

Acharya Charlene Leung has served as Chairperson of the Shambhala International Diversity Working Group since 2009. She was appointed by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche as a Shastri in 2010 and an Acharya in 2018. She first became a student of the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1983. Over the years, Charlene has led Way of Shambhala and […]

Dan Hessey

Daniel Hessey discovered the dharma in 1973 through Trungpa Rinpoche’s book Meditation in Action and moved to Tail of the Tiger (now Karmê Chöling) the following year. He has lived in Shambhala communities — Karmê Chöling, Shambhala Mountain Center, and Marpa House -­- for the majority of his adult life. He served as co-director of […]

Susan Gillis Chapman

Susan Gillis Chapman is an elder who has been practicing in our lineage since 1974. After the parinirvana of Trungpa Rinpoche, she made a deep dive into mahamudra practice and studied with Thrangu Rinpoche for 20 years, including 9 years at Gampo Abbey. She completed the traditional three-year retreat and went on to serve as […]

Richard John

An early student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Richard also served as acharya for Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche for 20 years. He completed the first three-year retreat at Gampo Abbey, and leads meditation retreats throughout North America. Richard emphasizes that he is a beginning student of Dzogchen, and his role is to facilitate this retreat through the […]

Knowing The Nature of Mind - 10-Day Mahamudra & Trekcho Retreat,

Gaylon Ferguson

Soon after reading Meditation in Action, Gaylon heard the Vidyadhara teach several summer seminars in Vermont. In 1973, after giving a “particularly panic-stricken and disorganized ” open house talk, Gaylon joined Tail of the Tiger Buddhist Community (now Karme Choling) where he worked in the garden, set the tractor on fire, and took people into retreat. […]

Arawana Hayashi

Arawana Hayashi first saw Vidyadhara Chogyam Rinpoche in the summer of 1974 when her improvisational dance company auspiciously toured through Boulder. She did not remember anything he said, but she had never seen anyone move through the space as he did. That inspired her to stop and sit down on a cushion. In 1976 he […]

Emily Bower

Acharya Emily Bower started practicing in the Shambhala community in 1987, in Berkeley, CA. She began studying with Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche when he came to teach in Berkeley in 1991. She served as his editor for various projects, including his first book, Turning the Mind into an Ally. She has studied kyudo with Kanjuro Shibata Sensei and […]

Acharya Dale Asrael

Dale Asrael, growing up in a suburb of Washington, DC, studied music and dance and, even as a young child, ruthlessly searched for answers. Through her Jewish ancestry, she learned to celebrate the sacredness of life and, simultaneously be aware of the depth of human suffering. After completing university studies in film and Eastern religions, […]