Speakers

Dr Ritu Verma

Presentation Topic: Between Karma and Social Engagement: Interdependence, Compassion, and Human-Environmental Relations in Bhutan

Biographical Profile

Ritu Verma is a senior researcher and strategic advisor at the Tarayana Centre for Social Research and Development, associate professor and coordinator of the Institutional Development Grant funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation at the College of Language and Culture Studies – Royal University of Bhutan, founder/director of Out of the Box Research and Action, and board member of the Land Portal Foundation. She previously served as expert member International Expert Working for the Secretariat for a New Development Paradigm – the Royal Government of Bhutan, senior researcher at the Centre for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research, lead organizer of the Bhutan+10 conference organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests and the National Commission for Women and Children, and associate professor at Royal Thimphu College – Royal University of Bhutan where she taught Socially Engaged Buddhism/Buddhist Social Theory, Anthropology of Development and Capstone Research.

Dr Nida Chenagtsang

Presentation Topic: Tantra & Medicine

Biographical Profile

Dr Nida is a renowned Sowa Rigpa doctor, spiritual master, yoga and meditation teacher, Vajrayāna scholar, and a poet. He was born in Amdo, in North Eastern Tibet, and completed his education on Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine) from Lhasa Tibetan Medical University. Alongside his medical education, Dr Nida received complete Vajrayāna Buddhist training in the Longchen Nyingthing and Dudjom Tersar traditions and trained in the Yuthok Nyingthig lineage, spiritual counterpart to Sowa Rigpa, with his teachers Khenchen Troru Tsenam and Khenpo Tsultrim Gyaltsen. Dr Nida has published many articles and books on Sowa Rigpa and Yuthok Nyingthig tradition. Dr Nida is the co-founder and Medical Director of Sorig Khang International and co-founder of the International Ngakmang Institute, established to – 27 – preserve and maintain the Rebkong Ngakpa yogic culture within modern Tibetan society. Some of his publications include Life is the Guru: Autobiography of a Nomad Doctor, Sache: The Tibetan Art of Geomancy, Kunye: Tibetan Healing Massage, Chudlen: The Tibetan Art of Rejuvenation, Nejang: Tibetan Self-Healing Yoga, Karmamudra: The Yoga of Bliss, The Tibetan Book of Health: Sowa Rigpa, the Science of Healing, Mirror of Light: A Commentary on Yuthok’s Ati Yoga, Introduction to Yutok Nyingthig, The Tibetan Art of Good Karma, Weapon of Light: Introduction to Ati Yoga Meditation, The Tibetan Art of Dream Analysis, Sowa Rigpa Points: Point Study in Traditional Tibetan Medicine, Massage Ku Nye and Therapies from Tibet: Manual for Professional and Domestic Benefit, Healing from 1000 Diseases: Rejuvenation Without Any Pharmacy, and Yuthok’s Healing Activities: A Spiritual Healing Practice from the Yuthok Nyingthig

Timotheus Adrianus Bodt

Presentation Topic: Buddhist Values from the Epic of Gesar of Ling – Insights from a version from Arunachal Pradesh

Biographical Profile

Timotheus (Tim) Bodt is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has a lifelong fascination for the Himalayan region, worked in Tibet and Bhutan, and conducted research in Nepal and in Arunachal Pradesh, India. He is a field, descriptive and historical linguist who published his doctoral dissertation Grammar of Duhumbi in 2020, and the accompanying Duhumbi Storybook in 2018 and Duhumbi Dictionary in 2020. In addition, he has published numerous works on the languages and ethnolinguistic history of the region. Through his linguistic skills and close contacts with people of a variety of backgrounds, he has been able to gain a sound understanding of the practices and the meaning of Buddhism in the daily lives of ordinary people.

Shar Khentrul Jamphel Lodrö Rinpoche

Presentation Topic: Path of Desire: Practicing Vajrayāna in the Modern World

Biographical Profile

Shar Khentrul Jamphel Lodrö Rinpoche is a Rimé and Jonang Kalachakra Master of Tibetan Buddhism. Inspired by the Kalki Kings of Shambhala, through his organisation, Dzokden, Khentrul Rinpoche works towards the second Golden Age of peace on our earth by transmitting the Kalachakra teachings in every area of the globe. He has authored over 20 books on Shambhala, Kalachakra and Vajrayana Buddhism. His most recent book, published by Shambhala Publications, is titled The Realm of Shambhala. His forthcoming book, The Path of Desire, is currently available in Tibetan and will be published in more languages next year.

Michele Gwynn Loew & Robert A. F. Thurman

 

 

 

                      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Presentation Topic: Vajra Yoga, a Global Adaptation and Evolving Form of Vajrayāna Buddhism in the West

Biographical Profile

Robert A. F. Thurman is a recognised worldwide authority in mind science and spirituality, Asian history, philosophy, Tibetan Buddhism, and HH the Dalai Lama. He was awarded the Padma Shri Award, the President of India’s fourth highest civilian honour for achievement in enriching Indian education and literature. He is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor Emeritus of Indo-Tibetan Buddhology at Columbia University and the founder of Tibet House US. His many books on Tibetan Buddhism, including Inner Revolution, a ground-breaking history of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism and a call for an enlightened ethics and politics; The Central Philosophy of Tibet, on Buddhist science; Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, on Buddhist art; Essential Tibetan Buddhism, an anthology of key works of Tibetan authors; Infinite Life, a yogic commentary on Shantideva’s Bodhisattva Career; and The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a study of the Tibetan science and art of dying and navigating the rebirth process; Why the Dalai Lama Matters, a win-win plan to solve China’s Tibet catastrophe; Man of Peace, a 300 page fully-illustrated graphic novel of the XIV Dalai Lama’s life and the true story of the invasion of Tibet; The Brilliantly Illuminating Lamp, a study and translation of Tsong Khapa’s masterwork on the most advanced yogas for mastering the process of conscious evolution; and his latest, forthcoming, The Esoteric Community Tantra with its Illuminating Lamp Commentary, an introduction with translations to the unexcelled yoga tantras; and Buddha Bliss, a study of the eightfold path as an evolutionary core curriculum. Working with the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, an international network of universities, and Indian Buddhist partners, he is currently engaged in establishing the Dharmachakra Buddhist Classics Translation Center in Andhra Pradesh to complete the multi-generational task of translating from the Tibetan Tengyur the 5000+ originally Sanskrit works from India’s long lost “Library of Alexandria,” the Ratnodadhi Library of Nalanda University, into English and other languages, creating a necessary database for the 21st-century collaboration of the Indian and Tibetan Inner Sciences (adhyatmavidya) with modern, “outer,” materialist sciences.

Michele Loew is an international yoga teacher and practitioner of Hatha & Buddhist Yogas. She co-founded the Vajra Yoga School of Comparative Buddhist & Indic studies with Robert A. F. Thurman. She has been the director of The Yoga Space US since 1998 and has been educating teachers in Hatha Yoga for Yoga Alliance worldwide since 2002. She has studied Hatha Yoga within the lineages of Krishnamacharya, Sri Vidya, and Kashmir Shivism, and received Buddhist yoga empowerments and ongoing dharma instructions from the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Sakya Trizin, along with clarifications and tutelage from Tenzin Robert Thurman. She teaches internationally and directs the Vajra Yoga School for Menla and Tibet House the US to educate yogis worldwide within a framework to seek enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

Prof. Dibyesh Anand

Presentation Topic: The Geo-Politics of Reincarnation: Tibetan Buddhism in a Modern Contested World

Biographical Profile

Professor Dibyesh Anand is the Head of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Westminster, UK. He is also the co-chair of the University’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee and the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Network. In addition, he was elected as the nominee for Staff Governor for the University’s Court of Governors. He has authored monographs “Geopolitical Exotica: Tibet in Western Imagination”, – 38 – “Tibet: A Victim of Geopolitics”, and “Hindu Nationalism in India and the Politics of Fear” and published several chapters in edited collections and articles in journals on varied topics including Tibet, China-India border dispute, Hindu nationalism, and postcolonial international relations. He is also a Visiting Professor in Politics and International Relations at the New College of the Humanities in London. He is active on Twitter @dibyeshanand.

Simone Giuliani

Presentation Topic: Music and Buddhism: Sound as a Form of Direct Transmission in Modern Time

Biographical Profile

Simone Giuliani is a music producer, Film & TV composer and educator born in Florence, Italy and based in New York and Los Angeles. Simone has worked for the past two decades with an array of international artists: Beyoncé, Andrea Bocelli, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, DJ Logic, Wu-Tang Clan, Cibo Matto, Elisa, Drukmo Gyal, Jovanotti, Giovanni Caccamo, Monday Michiru, Tenzin – 61 – Choegyal, Miho Hatori & New Optimism, Carly Paoli, Groove Collective, Nels Cline (Wilco), Louie Vega (Masters At Work), Jamie Catto (Faithless, 1 Giant Leap), Suzie Katayama (Prince, Madonna), Natalie Williams (Incognito), Lévon Minassian (Peter Gabriel) and many more. He wrote the soundtrack of ‘Deep into Shambhala’ the film by Yan Dazhong (CCTV/CGTN China) that won the Best Music Award at the 8th China Academy Awards for Documentary Film (CAADF) in Beijing. Simone wrote and produced original music for several TV films and series: The Handmaid’s Tale (HULU), What We do in the Shadows (HULU), Spike Lee’s Humanity Project, Blindspot (NBC), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS), True Blood (HBO), CBS News Theme (VH1) and more. As a Music Director, he has been managing and supervising several music projects, most recently the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios. He has arranged for and performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the O2 Arena in London to a sold-out audience of 20,000 for Andrea Bocelli’s concert during his “Cinema” tour. Simone is the Artistic Director of Yangchenma Arts & Music, a community organisation celebrating the richness and diversity of human cultures through their artistic and musical traditions. Since 2008 he has been joining forces with Grammy Award-winner producer Jason Olaine releasing rare live recordings of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan and more jazz legends for Monterey Jazz Festival Records (Concord Music Group).

Ann Shaftel

Presentation Topic: Digital Continuity: Conservation and Recreation

Biographical Profile

Ann Shaftel has worked in conserving Buddhist art within monasteries, dharma centres, museums, universities and communities: continuously since 1970. She is a Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation, American Institute for Conservation, and a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Conservators, ICOM and ICOMOS. In addition, she is affiliated with Dalhousie University. International scholars reference Ann’s work, which is advised, supported, and blessed by – 49 – Buddhist teachers. Ann’s conservation work in Bhutan began in 2005, continued in 2008 with Thangka Conservation for Nuns, and taught a UNESCO/Bhutan session for monks and nuns at Taktse College, the Royal University of Bhutan, in 2015.

Dr Imma Ramos-Taggart

Presentation Topic: Reimagining Female Tantric Mystics in South Asia and the West: A Curatorial Perspective

Biographical Profile

Dr Imma Ramos (PhD) is the curator of the medieval to modern South Asian and Himalayan collections at the British Museum. She curated the major exhibition, Tantra: Enlightenment to Revolution (24 September 2020 – 24 January 2021) and is the author of its accompanying book, which presents the first historical exploration of Tantric visual culture from its origins in India to its reimagining in the West. Her research interests revolve around the relationship between religion, politics and gender in South Asian visual culture.

Adele Tomlin

Presentation Topic: Returning to Vajrayāna Roots: Female Lineages and Teachers, the Sacredness of Women’s Bodies and Minds, and the Male Monastic ‘Takeover/Domination’ of Vajrayāna Practice: Is it Time for Some New Growth?

Biographical profile

Adele Tomlin is a practitioner and independent scholar-translator of Tibetan Buddhist texts with a background in law and European philosophy. She has an MA in Tibetan Buddhist Studies from the University of Hamburg and an MA in Western Philosophy from King’s College, London. She has also spent several years studying the Tibetan language and Buddhist philosophy in India and Nepal. Publications include Aesthetic Experience (Routledge, 2007), Tāranātha’s Commentary on the Heart Sūtra (LTWA, 2017) and The Chariot that Transports to the Four Kāyas by Bamda Gelek Gyatso (LTWA, 2019). Recently, the Khyentse Foundation awarded her Ashoka Grants for two consecutive years for translating Buddhist texts.

Katarina Stanisavljevic

Presentation Topic: Contemporary Discussions on Yeshé Tsogyal

Biographical Profile

Since 2010, Katarina Stanisavljevic has been a practitioner of Zen Shiatsu Therapy, a Japanese holistic healing art that utilises the Chinese Medicine meridian and point system. She currently treats clients and offers classes and workshops at Heartwood Center for Integrative Health and Healing; studying and practising the 5 Elements is foundational to her work with clients. Katarina also teaches yoga and meditation to teens in a non-profit program serving Chicago’s inner city youth. In addition, she is completing her undergraduate studies at Northwestern University, focusing on researching the historiography and hagiography of Tibetan Buddhist women.

Prof. George van Driem

Presentation Topic: Buddhism and Tea – History, Cognition, and Biochemistry

Biographical Profile

George van Driem is a Professor emeritus at the University of Bern and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology at – 118 – Guwahati. He has written several grammars of previously undocumented languages and published the two-volume handbook Languages of the Himalayas (2001). His comprehensive history of tea, titled The Tale of Tea (2019), has been translated into Chinese and is being translated into Japanese. In addition to his articles on population prehistory, his monograph Ethnolinguistic Prehistory (2021) provides an account of the peopling of the world from the perspective of language, genes and material culture. He is a leading proponent of Symbiosism, the Darwinian theory of language as a semiotic organism living in a mutualist relationship inside the brain of a hominin host. His forthcoming book The Language Organism treats language evolution, semiotics, belief systems and consciousness.

Dr Caroline Van Damme

Presentation Topic: Dharma practice and mental health– A Psychiatrist’s Perspective

Biographical Profile

Dr Caroline Van Damme is an adult psychiatrist and family and systemic psychotherapist. In 1995, she started to study neuroscience at Brandeis University, USA, where she discovered a passion for the human mind – 32 – and its relationship to the brain. She transferred to the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium to get a medical degree. She became a psychiatrist in 2008. Since then, she has been working at the “Brussels Night Hospital”, specialising in psychosocial rehabilitation for patients suffering from chronic psychotic disorders. She shares the vision that human beings should be regarded in all their dimensions (biological, psychosocial, spiritual and ecological), rather than a purely medical dimension. In her quest to better understand mental illness and the human mind, she met Dr Nida Chenagstang in 2019. She became very inspired by his teachings in Sowa Rigpa but in the Yuthok Nyingtig and decided to learn those with him. She hopes to include traditional, nature-based and spiritual knowledge on mental health in modern-day medical practice.

Dr Lye Ket Yong

Presentation Topic: Buddhism in the Digital Age & Metaverse: Challenges and Opportunities

Biographical Profile

Dr Lye Ket Yong is a research scholar in Buddhist Philosophy, Buddhist cultural heritage, and Asian Buddhist scriptures. He holds PhD in Buddhist Philosophy from the International Buddhist Education – 45 – Institute of India, a Doctorate in Political Science (PDC)- European International University, France, and an Honorary Doctorate (Honoris Causa) from ITMUT, Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has contributed numerous academic papers on Buddhist philosophy, the relevance of Buddhism in peace, moral education, and interfaith collaborations research to many international academic platforms. Dr Lye Ket Yong is a retired Senior Aviation Engineer by Profession, holding Degrees in Aviation Engineering and Maintenance Engineer’s License from UK-CAA, European EASA, Malaysia DCA and the GCAA of United Arab Emirates. As a humanitarian and peace activist, he is the Chairman of “Hands that Help Humanity” in the United Arab Emirates, Deputy President of the United Peacekeepers Federal Council (UNPKFC), United Nations Human Rights Goodwill Ambassador (UN Register No: 2364732) and the Secretary General of the World Alliance of Buddhists (WAB) with memberships from over 80 Buddhist Organisations in 30 countries. He is also a multi-award recipient which, includes the Stockholm UN World Peace Awards 2019 in Sweden, the Outstanding Buddhist Leaders Award 2015 by World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth-WFBY in Bangkok, the “Awakening Buddhist Leadership Award”, Budhajayanti 2014 by the Late Acting Sangharaja of Thailand, Phra Somdek Buddhajahn, among many other global awards. He is a renowned humanitarian who was actively involved in organising Humanitarian and Food Aid to poor and impacted communities during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates and ASEAN countries, aids for victims of severe flooding in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand and providing humanitarian support and assistance to other victims of natural disasters. Dr Lye Ket Yong is also the Co-Founder of Tam Ha, Vietnam Ambulance & Health Support Humanitarian Services, Vinh Long Province of Vietnam in collaboration with “Heal the World Organization” to provide free Medical Support Services, including Ambulance and Nursing for the poor and vulnerable communities.

Dr Maya Joshi

Presentation Topic: Buddhism and Modernity: Forgotten Threads in the Indian Tapestry

Biographical Profile

Dr Maya Joshi is an Associate Professor at Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi. Her doctoral work explored cross-cultural encounters at the beginning of the twentieth century in India. Meanwhile, her post-doctoral project as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, was an intellectual history of the polymath Mahapandita Rahul Sankrityayayan, known for his pioneering work towards Buddhist revival in India. In addition, she has edited the autobiography of Kushok Bakula Rinpoche (My Life, My Times, World Buddhist Culture Trust, Delhi, 2007). From 2000-2014, she worked with Tibet House Delhi and is co-editor, with Lama Doboom Tulku, of Pramana: Dharmakirti and the Indian Philosophical Debate, New Delhi: Manohar Publishers, 2010. Her other publications include “Rahula Sankrityayan and Buddhism: A Complex Engagement,” in On the Trail of Buddhism in Asia: Reflections on Tradition and Practice, Eds. S. Chatterjee and S. Bhattacharya, Kolkata: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies/Pentagon Press. 2016, and ‘Rahul Sankrityayan and Ambedkar as Contrapuntal Contemporaries: Unpacking their ‘Metaphysics and Politics’,’ in India and Civilizational Futures (Backwaters Collective on Metaphysics and Politics) Ed. Vinay Lal, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2019. Most recently, she has translated Sankrityayan’s utopian Buddhist-socialist narrative for the first time, Baisvin Sadi, 1923 (The Twenty-Second Century), The Gollancz Book of – 40 – South Asian Science Fiction, Ed. Tarun Saint, London: Gollancz (Hachettee UK), 2021.

Khenchen Kinzang Thinley

President, Dordhen Tashithang Buddhist University

Biographical Profile

Khenchen Kinzang Thinley is the President of the Dordhen Tashithang Buddhist University, Bhutan’s apex institution for learning Drukpa Kagyu teachings. He holds an Acharya Degree (master’s degree) in Buddhist Philosophy and has many accomplishments to his name. He has completed the three-year retreat, studied Rigney (language and literature) and served as a principal as well as faculty for different shedras (monastic schools). Khenchen also received numerous empowerments and oral transmissions from revered teachers, including the 68th Je-Khenpo (Bhutan’s Chief Abbot) Jetsun Tenzin Doendrup.

Dr Dorji Wangchuk

Presentation Topic: In deities we unite – social media affordances, discourse analysis and Vajrayāna practices in Bhutan

Biographical Profile

Dr Dorji Wangchuk (PhD) is the director of Chokshey – an experiential learning academy project affiliated with the Contentment Foundation, focusing on wellbeing research, education, and training. He has an advanced laurea degree from the University of Bologna (Italy) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Communication from the University of Macau. His research areas are social media, sociolinguistics, ethnography, and cultural studies. He is also affiliated with the University of Macau. He has published book chapters and academic articles in international journals, some of which have received the best paper awards at the National Communication Association conferences in the US.

H. E. Tshogki Lopön Sangay Khandu (Keynote Speaker)

Biographical Profile

His Eminence Tshogki Lopön Khenchen Sangay Khandu is one of the five Lopön Lhengyes of the Zhung Dratshang (Central Monastic Body of Bhutan). He will grace the opening of the conference as the keynote speaker. He served as the principal of the Institute of Science of Mind under the aegis of the Royal Buddhist University of Bhutan. He was ordained as a monk from a young age and engaged in the practice of Gar-Thig-Yang Sum (Mask dancing, Mandala drawing & metrics, Chanting) and Thoe-Sam-Gom Sum (Listening, Contemplating, and Practising) extensively.  

Dolpo Tulku Sherab Zangpo Rinpoche

Presentation Topic: Tsalung Trulkhor in Contemporary Vajrayāna Buddhist Practice: An Experiential Introduction to Mind and Body Exercises from the Namchö(Sky Dharma) Tradition

Biographical Profile

Dolpo Tulku Rinpoche, also known as Tulku Sherab Zangpo, was born in Dho Tarap, Dolpo, in 1982. He became a monk at Kanying Shedrub Ling Monastery, Nepal, at the age of nine, in 1991 and was recognised by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche as the reincarnation of the third Dolpo Nyingchung Drubthob. He was then sent to Namdroling Monastery, India, to receive his monastic education under the guidance of Penor Rinpoche. In 1997, at the age of fifteen, he entered the prestigious monastic college of Namdroling Monastery, where he studied, debated, and researched the Sutra and Tantra teachings of the Buddha for ten years. Completing his advanced Buddhist studies in 2007, he was appointed as a head teacher at Ngagyur Nyingma Institute. His Holiness Penor Rinpoche instructed Dolpo Tulku in the practices of the Namchö Cycle, which combines the practices of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. Dolpo Tulku now transmits these teachings to a growing international sangha in Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and the United States. Dolpo Tulku also runs several humanitarian projects in his home province of Dolpo, Nepal. The Dolpo Tulku Charitable Foundation promotes the improvement of health care, protection of the environment, and an effective combination of modern and traditional education for the Dolpo population.

Dr Ian Baker

Presentation Topic: The Geography of Enlightenment: Revisiting Pure Realms (zhing khams), Power Places (gnas), and Hidden Lands (sbas yul) in Vajrayāna Buddhism

Biographical Profile

Dr Ian Baker (PhD) is an anthropologist and cultural historian and the author of seven critically acclaimed books on Himalayan and Tibetan cultural history, environment, art, and medicine, including The Heart of the World: A Journey to Tibet’s Lost Paradise, Tibetan Yoga: Principles and Practices, Celestial Gallery, The Tibetan of Art of Healing, and The Dalai Lama’s Secret Temple: Tantric Wall Paintings from Tibet, which illustrates Dzogchen teachings revealed by the Bhutanese treasure revealer Orgyen Pema Lingpa. Baker’s academic publications include chapters in Hidden Lands in Himalayan Myth and History: Transformations of sbas yul through Time (Brill 2020), Yoga in Transformation: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (Vienna University Press, 2018), and Expanding Mindscapes: A Global History of Psychedelics (MIT Press, 2022). He was lead curator of the Welcome – 64 – Trust’s 2015-2016 exhibition Tibet’s Secret Temple: Body, Mind and Meditation in Tantric Buddhism, which featured art and artefacts from Bhutan and was honoured by the National Geographic Society as one of seven ‘Explorers for the Millennium’ for his ethnographic and geographical field research in Beyul Pemakö, the ‘hidden land arrayed like lotuses’ in Tibet’s Tsangpo Gorge region. His current research interests concern the ecology of body-mind practices in Tantric Buddhism and their adaptations across cultures and traditions.

Kalu Rinpoche

 

Presentation Topic: Niguma Yoga: Tsalung Trulkhor in the Shangpa Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism

Biographical Profile

His Eminence Kalu Rinpoche is the lineage holder of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in 1990 and recognized by H. H. the Dalai Lama and H. H. the 12th Chamgon Kenting Tai Situpa as the tulku, or rebirth, of Kalu Rinpoche (1905 – 1989), a renowned Buddhist meditation master and scholar who was one of the first Tibetan lamas to teach in the West. The current Kalu Rinpoche completed his traditional three-year retreat between 2004 and 2008, supported energetically by the practices of the Niguma Trulkhor cycle. Rinpoche now teaches Niguma Yoga around the world to cultivate awareness of the psychophysical basis of effective spiritual practice and to promote physical and mental wellbeing.

Dr Nitasha Kaul

Presentation Topic: Buddhism and Artificial Intelligence: Body, Speech, and Mind

Biographical Profile

Dr Nitasha Kaul (PhD, MSc, BA Hons) is a multidisciplinary academic, novelist, poet, artist, and economist. She holds a joint doctorate in Economics and Philosophy (2003) and an MSc in Economics with a specialisation in public policy (1998) from the University of Hull and a BA (Honours) in Economics from SRCC, University of Delhi. She is an Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster. She has previously been an Associate Professor in Creative Writing in Bhutan and an Assistant Professor in Economics at the Bristol Business School. Over the last two decades, she has published on themes concerning international relations, democracy, political economy, technology/AI, identity, rise of right-wing nationalism, feminist and postcolonial – 76 – critiques, Bhutan, India and Kashmir. The Himalayas, small states, and Bhutan have been important focus areas in her work since 2006. She is a recipient of multiple research grants and awards. She is the author of over 140 publications, including seven single-authored or edited scholarly and literary books, book chapters in numerous critical and groundbreaking edited collections, and peer-reviewed original research articles in multiple journals across humanities and social science disciplines. She has wide recognition as a public intellectual. She has delivered invited lectures and keynotes at universities, institutions, and policy-making bodies worldwide, addressing diverse audiences within and outside academia.

Ellen Johanssen

Presentation Topic: From Stress to Flow: Examining the Efficacy of Breath-Movement Practices in Haṭha Yoga and Vajrayāna Buddhism

Biographical Profile

Ellen Johanssen is a co-founder of Onyoga, a company that runs interdisciplinary retreats and in-depth courses in Buddhism and Yoga, and teaches yoga for special needs, corporate businesses and regular students. Ellen holds an MA degree in Buddhist studies and Himalayan languages from Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Kathmandu. She spent three years in Namdroling Monastery, receiving training in Tsalung Trulkhor and other Buddhist practices. She has translated for Samye Institute’s Ritual Sadhana course and is currently assisting Dolpo Tulku Rinpoche on his Longchen Shedra program. She first trained as a contemporary dancer and worked professionally for two decades. She is a level 2 authorised Ashtanga teacher by KPJAYI, Mysore and one of Norway´s leading Ashtanga Yoga teachers. Ellen also pursues an interest in scientific research into the benefits of contemplative practices. In this context, she has undergone courses in positive psychology, embodiment practices and sustainable compassion. She currently lives in Oslo and teaches workshops and retreats throughout Norway and internationally.