Voices of Awakening

Is it possible that our faults, afflictions, and deepest struggles are not obstacles, but doorways to wisdom? How can we work with the guru principle and other powerful methods that are so commonly misunderstood? In this webinar, we will learn about Tergar’s 2025–26 transmission, Blueprints of Awakening: a series of courses and retreats in which, for the first time, Mingyur Rinpoche will personally guide us through the transformative system of the five wisdom energies. This powerful and inspiring Buddhist framework reveals how the very traits we often wish to eliminate are, in fact, expressions of our enlightened nature.

Robert Thurman is a renowned scholar and translator of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1965, he became the first American ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk by the 14th Dalai Lama. After returning to lay life, he earned a PhD from Harvard and taught at Amherst and Columbia, where he held the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West. He cofounded Tibet House US and has authored numerous influential works, including his latest book Wisdom Is Bliss.

If we are inherently awake and possess innate basic goodness, why do we often feel lost and incomplete? Mingyur Rinpoche and Tergar invite you to embark on a year-long exploration of this fundamental question, delving into the transformative wisdom of the Vajrayana. This special webinar begins the Blueprints of Awakening transmission.

Mingyur Rinpoche was born in 1975 in the border region between Tibet and Nepal. He was attracted to a life of contemplation from an early age and spent many years of his childhood in retreat. Mingyur Rinpoche studied with some of the greatest meditation masters in living memory. Nowadays, he heads the Tergar Meditation Community and takes care of the monasteries under his responsibility. He supports students in more than thirty countries.

Lama Shenpen Hookham has trained for over fifty years in the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions. Ordained by the 16th Karmapa in the 1970s, she studied under masters including Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. She earned a doctorate from Oxford University for her work on buddha nature and is the author of The Guru Principle. She is the founder of the Awakened Heart Sangha, guiding students worldwide from her retreat center in Wales.

Lama Drupgyu Tenzin (Anthony Chapman) began studying with Kalu Rinpoche in 1972 and completed the first traditional three-year retreat for Westerners in France. He later served as lama of Kalu Rinpoche’s Paris center and became the first Westerner appointed as Drupön (Retreat Master) in Canada. He translated Jamgön Kongtrul’s Treasury of Knowledge and now serves as Vice President of the Tsadra Foundation.

Tim Olmsted began Buddhist studies in 1977 with Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He lived in Nepal for twelve years, studying with Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and many renowned teachers while working as a psychotherapist. A founding instructor of Tergar International, Tim shares meditation with warmth and humor. He lives in Colorado with his wife, Glenna, leading a community following Mingyur Rinpoche's teachings.

Antonia Dorthea Sumbundu is a dharma teacher, clinical psychologist, and mental health specialist. She has been practicing meditation for over thirty-five years and has studied with the 3rd Jamgön Kongtrul Rinpoche, Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, Chokling Rinpoche, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and Mingyur Rinpoche. She holds an MA from the University of Copenhagen and an MSt in MBCT from Oxford.