Our Teachers
ANNE KLEIN
 Anne Carolyn Klein (Rigzin Drolma) founding director and resident teacher at
Dawn Mountain, has practiced, studied and translated extensively in three of
the five Tibetan traditions; her main practice and transmission lineages are
through Ketsun Sangpo Rinpoche of Nepal, and Adzom Paylo Rinpoche of Sichuan;
under their direction she has completed a variety of personal retreats in the
US and Asia.
She is Professor of Religious Studies at Rice University in Houston Texas, and
the author of four books and numerous articles.
She has been a practicing Buddhist and student of Buddhist thought since 1971,
when she studied with Kensur Ngawang Lekden, then 70 years old, the last Abbot
of the Tantric College of Lower Lhasa. She has been a student of Khetsun Sangpo
Rinpoche since 1973 and received teaching authorization from him in 1995. She
conceived and led a women's pilgrimage to Tibet in 1996, at which time she met
Adzom Rinpoche at Samye Chimphug where she received her dharma name. (see story
www.? ). The meeting was so compelling that Dawn Mountain invited Adzom Rinpoche
to visit the West for the first time in 1999, and Anne has been the central coordinator
of his work in the US since that time, accompanying him on his travels and translating
for him, as well as teaching from his tradition.
She has also studied extensively with a number of prominent Geluk and Dzogchen
teachers in India, Nepal and the U.S including (in chronological order) Geshe
Wangyal, Lati Rinpoche, Geshe Rabten, Denma Locho Rinpoche, Loling Kensur Yeshey
Thupten, Lama Gompo Tsayden, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, Tulkku Thondup, Lobon Tenzin
Namdak, and Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
After graduating from Harpur College (now Binghamton University) cum laude with
Highest Honors in English, she earned her M.A. in Buddhist Studies from the University
of Wisconsin and her PhD. In Religious/Tibetan Studies from the University of
Virginia. Following this she was awarded a Teaching and Research post-doc at
Harvard Divinity School as a Research Associate in Women's Studies and the History
of Religion. Her books include Meeting the Great Bliss Queen, Path to the Middle
and Knowledge and Liberation.
In her dharma teaching she emphasizes the need for embodiment in meditation practice
and for an awareness that encompasses cultural as well as personal insights.
She has since 1998 been developing and leading Buddhism in the Body workshops
with Phyllis Pay. These have been offered in Berkeley, Houston, Esalen Institute,
and Arizona.
Anne is married to Harvey Aronson and they have been traveling the path together
since 1970.
Contact Info: Anne may be reached by email.
HARVEY ARONSON
 Harvey Aronson is a licensed therapist in private practice, meditation teacher
and translator with many years of involvement in Buddhist studies and meditation
and is a founding director of Dawn Mountain.
He has been a student of Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche since 1973 and received teaching
authorization from him in 1995 and has also studied extensively with a number
of prominent Geluk and Dzogchen teachers in India, Nepal and the U.S. He has
also studied extensively with Theravada teachers, especially Sri Satya Narain
Goenka.
He received his PhD. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Wisconsin and
an MSW from Boston University.
Harvey is the author of Love and Sympathy in Theravada Buddhism.
Harvey is married to Anne Klein and they have been traveling the path together
since 1970.
Our Guiding Teachers
KHETSUN SANGPO RINPOCHE
 Khetsun
Sangpo Rinpoche is among the most senior Lamas and Dzogchen masters in the Ancient
(Nyingma) Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and perhaps the most eminent Nyingma historian
alive today.
He was born in 1920 in central Tibet and
came to India in 1959. Soon thereafter he was asked by His Holiness the Dalai
Lama to represent Dudjom Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma school, in Japan. Khetsun
Rinpoche spent ten years in this capacity from 1960-1970, teaching in Tokyo and
Kyoto Universities and becoming fluent in Japanese.
In 1971 he returned to India and founded
a school to educate Tibetan monks in his tradition. Over the last twenty five
years he has accepted numerous invitations to teach in Japanese and U.S. universities
and to teach students in retreats in Dordogne, France.
In Tibet, Khetsun Rinpoche received teachings
on the Very Essence of the Great Expanse tradition from the famous Lady Master
Jetsun Shugseb Rinpoche (d.1953) of Shugseb Nunnery, Tibet's main institution
for women practitioners of Dzogchen. Other teachers include Dudjom Rinpoche,
Kangyur Rinpoche, and Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche.
Khetsun Rinpoche's writings feature a 13
volume history of all the Tibetan Buddhist traditions. He is also the author
of Tantric Practice in Nyingma, used by thousands of Western students as a guide
to the foundational practices.
PARANIRVANA OF KHETSUN SANGPO RINPOCHE
ADZOM RINPOCHE
 Born
in 1971 near Chamdo, Adzom Rinpoche was soon named a Tulku or incarnation of
the great scholar Gyalse Pema Wangyal by the abbot of his monastery and is widely
regarded as an incarnation of Jigmey Lingpa (see below)
Clearly an extraordinary prodigy Adzom Rinpoche began his studies at the age
of 5 and undertook full time retreat at 11. At his teacher's request, Rinpoche
began teaching Dzogchen in 1984 when he was 13. Today he teaches regularly at
his monastery and seeks to better the lives of monks, nuns, and lay schoolchildren.
Students travel from far distances to hear him discourse on texts and practices
from one of the major liturgical traditions within Nyingma, The Very Essence
of the Great Expanse (kLong chen snying thig). This tradition was first codified
by Jigmey Lingpa in the 18th century. Adzom Rinpoche is regarded as a Tulku of
Jigmey Lingpa himself. (He is also said to be the 30th incarnation proceeding
from Manjusri, Trisrong Deytsen, and Ngari Panchan).
ANI SHERAB RINPOCHE
 Ani Rinpoche, also known as Jetsunma Sherab Cho Tso, is one of two women in
Tibet with the status to give initiations. She is Adzom Paylo Rinpoche’s sister,
as she was in their last life when they were the children of the great Adzom
Drukpa (1842-1924). At that time she was known as Chimey Wangmo, a physician
and accomplished yogini.
Recognized by many Lamas in Tibet as an incarnation of Samantabadri, Tara,
Yeshey Tsogyal, Macig Lapdron and others, she left her home in eastern Tibet
for a monastic college when she was 7. She began a rigorous study of Buddhism’s
texts, an education rarely available to women in that area at that time. At 13,
she took vows and officially became a nun. At 27, she has nearly attained the
highly respected degree of Khenpo, and is deeply committed to making nun’s training
available as widely as possible.
Since her early childhood, Ani Sherab Rinpoche has had visions of Green Tara,
a Bodhisattva and important female representation of enlightenment and compassion
in Tibetan Buddhism. “It does not change,” she has said. “It just gets stronger.
It brings forth a lot of joy and a lot of bliss. The hope is that the student
will have the same joy and the same bliss.”
In her three visists to the US so far, Ani Rinpoche has given Green Tara initiations,
led many practice sessions in retreats, taught liturgies, given public concerts
of sacred music and dance, and recorded her divine voice. Her CD “Songs from
the Heart’s Expanse” is available on our store pages.
In Tibet, she is called upon to sing at important moments in monastic rituals
and initiaions, when hundreds and often thousands of monks and nuns sit by in
prayer. Those who have been graced by the sound of her voice never forget its
radiant purity. Her presence shines in the same way, which is why everyone loves
her.
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