Our Lineage
After many years in different Buddhist traditions, Lama Dorje was able to become the student of his root teacher, the great Kagyü master, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, under whom he completed the traditional 3-year retreat and also received monastic vows.
Thrangu Rinpoche later told him to begin teaching, with a focus on One Dharma – the shared wisdom of all Buddhist traditions. At the instruction of Rinpoche, his focus is on translating the seemingly complex practices and words of Buddhism into the simple, clear, life and meditation instructions they really are. As directed by his teachers, he is working on distilling some of this into book form.
About Lama Dorje
Before meeting his root teacher, he practiced Zen for over 25 years, first in Japan in the Rinzai tradition, and then in the United States in the tradition of Suzuki Roshi and Maezumi Roshi.
He first encountered Tibetan Buddhism at a profound 10-day drupchen (literally, “great or vast accomplishment“) of the Nyingma master, Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche and saw that his path would need to include the Vajrayana tradition.
Although Lama Dorje is primarily trained in the Vajrayana tradition, we don’t emphasise Tibetan practices on this website. Instead, the focus is on that which is common to all the Buddhist schools; the path of kindness and an open heart, living in the present, and freedom from the obstacles we habitually create. In person, whether the context is Tibetan or Zen or finding our way to a daily life of compassion, Lama Dorje aims to present the teachings of the Buddha in accessible, everyday language.
Lama Dorje’s understanding of the role that Buddhist methods can play in the West has been enhanced by Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village tradition and he often expresses thanks for the opportunity to spend time with the monks, nuns and lay practitioners there.
HH Sakya Trichen
Overall, Lama Dorje has been a follower of the Buddha’s dharma for over 45 years.
Currently, he is a student of the Sakya Trichen, the head of the Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism.
About the Stupa of Reconciliation
The Stupa project is both an outgrowth of the wisdom of all my teachers, especially Thrangu Rinpoche, and, in the future, a cause for the arising of great happiness and wisdom among multitudes.
May it be so.
Lama Dorje
