The teachers of the Institute
Guéshé Tènzin Lodèn
The Institute resident teacher was born in Bylakuppe, South India, in 1961. He entered Sera Dje Monastery at the age of 9 years old and pursued his studies until he obtained the title of Geshe in 1994. He then spent over six years in strict retreat.
From 2003 to 2006, he held the position of chant master (umze) in Sera Je Monastery, which he agreed to leave at the end of 2007, to take over from Geshe Tenzin Dorje as the principal teacher in Vajra Yogini Institute.
He teaches the Basic Program.
Venerable Charles
After serving as a resident at Vajra Yogini Institute, Charles took ordination in 1989. Since then he has spent several years on solitary retreat in the Pyrenees and in California and regularly guides 108 Nyoung-Nè retreats.
A fully ordained monk, he resides at the Vajra Yogini Institute.
Christian Charrier
Christian was a resident at the Institute from 1982 to 1988. After a three-year retreat, Christian translated the fundamental texts of Buddhism and taught at the Institute.
The Éditions Mahayana have notably published his translation of the Sanghata Sutra, the Golden Light Sutra and the Wheel of Sharp Weapons. Other works he has translated are published by Claire Lumière and Padmakara (“Tsadra series”).
He currently teaches the Discovery of Buddhism modules at the Institute and is also the PEBA Program Assistant and Spiritual Program Coordinator.
Anila Thubten Lhamo
Anila Thubten Lhamo is a nun who took refuge with Lama Yeshe in 1979 in Kopan and was ordained by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 2019.
She studied PEBA from 2003 to 2010 at the Institute, then went on numerous retreats.
She contributed to the creation of Education Universelle France by setting up workshops on ’16 attitudes for better living’.
Vénérable LOBSANG DÉTCHÈN
Ven. Lobsang Détchèn encountered the Dharma in Nepal in 2002. She was ordained a nun in 2006, has taken part in numerous retreats guided by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and is a Peba graduate.
She has taught Discovery of Buddhism, guided retreats and was assistant to the Péba (Kalachakra Center). She has also taught at the Thubten Kunga Ling Centre (USA) and guided revisions during the Lamrim Tchènmo cycle at Nalanda Monastery (Tarn).
From 2009 Ven. Détchèn studied Tibetan to become a translator. Since 2019, she has been Director of Éditions Mahayana.
Nicolas Brun
Nicolas worked for 15 years in the French National Education system. He was a student in the first PEBA curriculum from 2005 to 2012.
He is a certified facilitator of several training cycles for lay approaches to Buddhist teachings and regularly leads the Institute’s Introduction to Meditation courses.
He is currently the director of the Institute since June 2020.
Marcel Jolinon
Marcel Jolinon has been studying the Dharma since 1984. He has successfully completed the full cycle of the Advanced Buddhist Studies Program (ABSP) at the Institute and has become a certified teacher of the FPMT.
He has been teaching theIntroduction to Buddhism and Introduction to Meditation programs for the past ten years.
He is also the president of our association and as such is very active for the Institute.
Visiting teachers
His Holiness the Ganden Tripa
Lobsang Tenzin Palsangpo, born in 1934 in Lhate, Tibet, is a Tibetan lama of the Gelugpa school, and the 104th Ganden Tripa. He was ordained a monk at the age of seven. After the exile of the 14th Dalai Lama in 1959, he entered the monastery of Sera Je where he was enrolled in Tsangpa Khangtsen at the age of seventeen. There he met Geshe Lobsang Tengye, also from Lhatse. In 1985, His Holiness the Dalai Lama appointed him abbot of the tantric university of Gyumé, function that he ensures during 6 years.
In 2017, the Dalai Lama appointed Jangtse Cheudje Kyabje Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin Palsangpo 104th Ganden Tripa, the head of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Yangsi Rinpoche
Born in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1968, Yangsi Rinpoche was recognized at the age of six as the reincarnation of Geshe Ngawang Gendune, one of Lama Geshe’s masters. He studied at Kopan Monastery and then at Sera Je Monastery in India where he obtained the title of Geshe Lharampa in 1995.
He is currently the Director of the Maitripa Institute, a university he founded in Portland, USA.
He agreed to come each year to the Institute to guide retreats for his French students.
Khensour Jhado Tulku Rinpoche
Rinpoche was born in 1954 north of Lhasa in Tibet. He took novice vows with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1964 and received full ordination in 1973 from Ling Rinpoche. From 1972 to 1990, Rinpoche studied at Sera Je monastery and obtained the title of Lharampa Geshe in 1991.
From 1992 to 1996, Rinpoche taught at Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, then became its abbot from 1997 to 2004.
Jhado Rinpoche is one of the most esteemed lamas of the Gelugpa tradition. In addition to his excellent monastic education, Rinpoche received many oral transmissions and initiations from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, his two tutors, as well as great masters from other traditions, such as Troulshik Rinpoche.
Known for his keen intellect and dynamic teaching style, as well as his ability to personally touch Western students, Rinpoche is also appreciated for his gentleness and kindness.
Venerable Robina Courtin
Robina Courtin was raised as a Catholic, and during her youth considered becoming a Carmelite. In the 1960s, she trained as a classical singer in London, where she lived. In the early 1970s, she became a feminist activist and worked on prisoners’ rights. In 1972, she returned to Melbourne. In 1974, she started to study martial arts, went to New York and returned to Melbourne.
In 1976, she attended Buddhist teachings given by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa in Queensland. In November 1977, Robina Courtin traveled to Kathmandu, Nepal to study at Kopan Monastery, where she was ordained as a Buddhist nun. She became director of the Buddhist publishing house Wisdom Publications until 1987, then editor of the magazine “The Mandala” until 2000. She leaves “The Mandala” to teach and develop the: “Liberation Prison Project.”
She has been coming to the Institute every year for over 10 years to teach.
Venerable Chantal Tenzin Dekyi
Ven. Chantal Tenzin Dekyi took the ordination of nun with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1986. She studied Buddhist philosophy at Nalanda Monastery with Khensur Jampa Techok, and since 1994 has traveled and taught in many countries, including the United States, South Africa, India, Mongolia and Spain.
She resided at the Institute for many years before dedicating herself to the organization of the new monastery of Dorje Pamo in Fiac in the Tarn, in 2018.
She teaches “Heart Advice for Dying and End of Life” at the Institute and also assists Geshe Loden during Shiné retreats.
Venerable Losang Gendun
Buddhist teacher Ven. Losang Gendun is a Dutch monk. After practicing mainly Theravada Buddhism for twenty years, he became a monk in the Tibetan tradition in 2006.
At the Nalanda monastery in France, he studied Buddhist philosophy for nine years. In all, the Venerable Gendun spent more than four years in retirement.
He specializes in the Tibetan Lojong and Mahamudra methods, as well as Vipassana-shamatha meditation as taught in the Theravada forest tradition.
Sixte Vinçotte
Sixte Vinçotte returned to the monastery of Nalanda in the Tarn in 1995 where he received the ordination of Getsul from his master Geshe Jampa Gyatso. The following year, he took the ordination of Gelong from Lati Rinpoche and was a monk for 9 years.
From 1995 until 1999 he studied and practiced at Nalanda monastery and then left in July 1999 to join his master Geshe Jampa Gyatso at the Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Italy. He studied the “Masters’ Program”, a 7-year Buddhist sutra and tantra study program to train Western teachers, then the “Basic Program” until 2007.
Today he continues to teach and lead retreats in France, Reunion Island, Tahiti and Switzerland.
