Ringu Tulku Rinpoche
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.
Since 1990 he has been traveling and teaching Buddhism and meditation at more than 50 Universities, Institutes and Buddhist Centres in Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and Asia. He also participates in various interfaith dialogues. He authored several books on Buddhism as well as some children’s books both in Tibetan and European languages.
He founded Bodhicharya (www.bodhicharya.org ), an international organization that coordinates the worldwide activities to preserve and transmit Buddhist teachings, to promote inter-cultural dialogues and educational & social projects. He also founded Rigul Trust which supports his projects in his birthplace, Rigul, Tibet (www.rigultrust.org ).
Rinpoche is the Official Representative of His Holiness the 17th Karmapa for Europe and the Founder of Karmapa Foundation Europe (www.karmapafoundation.eu).
Ian Ives
Senior Teacher
Ian Ives grew up in the US and has been a student of Sogyal Rinpoche since he was a teenager. He studied at the Rigpa Shedra East in Pharping, Nepal under the guidance of Khenchen Namdrol from 2007 to 2012, and before that at Rigpa Shedra West, from 2003 to 2006.
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. Since this time, and with the encouragement of Rinpoche, he has been guiding study sessions and teaching on topics connected to the foundational and Mahayana levels.
Ian helps design and guide Rigpa’s international study programme and the programme for Lerab Ling, Rigpa’s retreat centre in southern France. He has a family with two young children and lives near Lerab Ling.