Ringu Tulku Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist Master of the Kagyu Order. He was trained in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism under many great masters such as HH the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa and HH Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He took his formal education at Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtok and Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Varanasi, India and has served as Professor of Tibetology in Sikkim for 17 years. His doctoral thesis was on the Ecumenical Movement in Tibet.

Ian Ives grew up in the US and has been a student of Sogyal Rinpoche since he was a teenager. He attended the seven-month teaching periods of Rigpa’s 2006–2009 Three Year Retreat, and served as a teaching assistant to Rinpoche from 2007 to 2017; travelling with him extensively from 2012 onward. Ian is a senior Rigpa teacher, helps design and guide Rigpa’s international study program and the program for Lerab Ling, Rigpa’s retreat centre in southern France.