Teachers

Brendan Kennedy

Brendan has been practicing Tibetan Buddhism for over 30 years. His main teachers are His Holiness The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche, Sokste Rinpoche, and Lama Surya Das. Drawing on his deep study of Ramana Maharishi and Nisagardatta Maharaji, Brendan illuminates the complementary similarities between Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta in his teachings. Brendan offers a few intensive retreats each year but primarily focuses on synthesizing theory and practice at his desert hermitage in California.

Christina Monson

It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Christina Monson on November 19, 2023 at 12:30 pm Pacific time.  Chhoje Rinpoche would like us to reiterate that Christina was a great practitioner and an example of an exceptional student of the Vajrayana tradition. Rinpoche requests that we please continue to recite Vajrasattava, Chenrezig, Guru Yoga and whatever practice you do and dedicate it to Christina‘s full enlightenment. 

Here is a link to an interview with Christina Monson that is published on YouTube 

Christina has been practicing and studying Buddhism since 1987. Her interest in the wisdom traditions of Asia began in high school and led her to devote her first two years of college to immersive study of the Zen and Chan Buddhist traditions of Japan and China. She first traveled to Nepal in 1989 and immediately met her root guru, Chatral Sangye Dorje Rinpoche, under whose guidance she studied and practiced for the next twenty- seven years. Her practice has focused on the treasure lineage of Sera Khandro Dewai Dorje, the great Tibetan female mystic and treasure-revealer whose collected writings Christina continues to translate. Extensive periods of solitary retreat in the sacred land of Yolmo, Helambu, where Chatral Rinpoche bestowed his heart teachings, brought a deepening of experience in the richness of the pith instructions of his practice lineage. Christina has also studied with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Soktse Rinpoche, Katok Getse Rinpoche, Tengboche Rinpoche, Chhoje Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Sogan Rinpoche, Khenpo Namdrol Rinpoche, Yatse Khenpo, Khenpo Yeshe Gyaltsen, Khenpo Choying Dorje, and Khenpo Tashi Tseten.