Teachers
H.H. Dalai Lama
As followers of the Gelukpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism founded by Je Tsongkhapa, Lam Rim considers H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama as one of their guiding teachers and sources of inspiration. He visited the Centre in 1999.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk. He is the spiritual leader of Tibet. He was born on 6 July 1935, to a farming family, in a small hamlet located in Taktser, Amdo, northeastern Tibet. At the age of two, the child, then named Lhamo Dhondup, was recognized as the reincarnation of the previous 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.
The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and the patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are realized beings inspired by a wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, who have vowed to be reborn in the world to help humanity.
Geshe Tenzin Losel
A British monk and longtime student of Buddhism, Geshe Tenzin Losel is one of the very few Westerners trained in the traditional Tibetan way as a geshe. A graduate of the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, he has deep knowledge of the texts, skill in translating, and an ability to convey the subtleties of Buddhist thought in lucid English.
Geshe Tenzin Losel translated Tsongkhapa’s celebrated text ‘The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment’ and conveys for modern readers the teachings he received from his teacher, the late Venerable Losang Gyatso
Geshe Tenzin Losel lives at Nalanda Monastery, a branch of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, in the south of France.
Ben Griffin
Brought up in a family of Quakers and Buddhists, Ben was first exposed to the idea of Buddhahood and the path to enlightenment while still very young. Having an innatection for Tibet and Tibetans, Ben has been a loyal, and close student of Ven. Geshe Damchö Yonten since 1979.
Later, while resident at the Centre (and subsequently) Ben received many heart teachings on Lam Rim from Geshe-La, His Holiness 14th Dalai Lama, and several legendary visiting teachers.
Ben is completely invested in facilitating that we 'learn from', rather than 'learn about’. Being both western layman and a life-time practitioner, Ben offers himself, through the power of his teachers of this living lineage, as a bridge between the early 15th Century masterwork of Je Rinpoche and our modern, connected, industrial world, decorated with anecdotes and experiences that stretch over six hundred years.
Ben teaches in an accessible and natural style which, while not being particularly suitable for those who have only an academic interest in Buddhism, hopes to provide inspiration and encouragement to those of us that choose to engage in the path to Buddhahood.
Paul Seagrave
Paul is classically trained in the Tibetan Buddhist Gelugpa tradition, the lineage of the 14th Dalai Lama. He graduated from Nalanda Monastery in the summer of 2022 having completed the five year residential programme under the guidance of Geshe Jamphel Gyaltsen and Geshe Graham Woodhouse (Tenzin Losel) concluding ten years of study and over a year of solitary retreat.
