Who We Are

Senior Advisor

Khenpo Kunga Sherab Saljay Rinpoche
Vajra Master of Jonang Jamdha Monastery and Jonang Tsinang Monastery
Chief Director of the Jonang Standing Council, Tibet [China]

Board of Advisors

Tulku Jigme Dorje
Vajra Master of Dzamthang Tsangwa Monastery
Director of the Jonang Standing Council, Tibet [China]

Tulku Jamyang Lodro
Lama from Dzamthang Tsangwa Monastery; Director of the Jonang Shedra Project
Representative of the Jonang Standing Council, Tibet [China]

Khenpo Ngodrup Pal
Director of Yarthang Monastery’s Buddhist Studies College
Jonang Khenpo with a Geshe degree from Drepung Monastery
Representative of the Jonang Standing Council, Tibet [China]

Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Tibetan Buddhist Studies, University of Virginia, U.S.A.

Board of Directors

Cyrus R. Stearns, Ph.D.
Independent Scholar of Buddhism; Translator of the Tibetan Language, U.S.A.

Matthew T. Kapstein, Ph.D.
Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School; Directeur d’etudes, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris

Steven D. Goodman, Ph.D.
Program and Research Director, Asian Philosophies and Cultures at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS); Professor of Buddhist Studies, U.S.A.

Lama Sungyan
Former Secretary of Jonang Takten Phuntsok Ling Monastery, Shimla; Secretary of the Jonang Standing Council, Tibet [China]

Emeritus

E. Gene Smith
Founder, the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (TBRC), U.S.A.
Khenpo Droggi Palden
Director of Droggi Monastery’s Buddhist Studies College
Tulku Sangye Odzer
Lama from Dzamthang Tsangwa Monastery; Abbot of Takar Monastery

Executive Committee

Tulku Kunga Tsultrim Zangpo
Director of Field Operations

Tulku Kunga Zangpo is a recognized reincarnate lama of the Jonang tradition. Born and educated in the Golok region of far eastern Tibet, Tulku Zangpo studied and lived in meditation retreat for many years at Jamdha Monastery and in Dzamthang. He later spent 6 years studying English and visiting the sacred places of the Buddha’s life in India. For the past several years, he has lived throughout China where he teaches and works to direct programs hosted by Jonang Foundation. Tibet [China]

Founder and Executive Director

Dr. Sheehy lived and studied with Jonang scholars and masters in the Dzamthang, Ngawa and Golok regions of Amdo. His doctoral work concentrated on the history and thought of the Jonang tradition, and his dissertation was on the zhentong writings of the modern Jonang scholar, Khenpo Lodro Drakpa (1920-1975). For eight years, Dr. Sheehy directed research at the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (TBRC), a digital library of Tibetan literature. Since 2005, he has acted as a representative of the Jonang Standing Council.