I was fortunate to encounter the iconoclastic Buddhist teacher, Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, when I was only 19, and to be able to study and practice under his guidance until his death in 1987. I have also been a close student of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.
During my life as a student of the Shambhala and Buddhist teachings I had a career as a finance executive, first on Wall Street and later in technology. My teachers, including Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and the late Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin, encouraged my journey in the world of business which led to a life exploring the intersection between the spiritual and the worldly wisdoms.
In addition, as a gay man living in New York during the age of AIDS, I have had unusual opportunity to delve deeply into the Bardo
teachings the traditional For 20 years I served as an “Acharya”, a senior teacher, in the Shambhala community, including as senior teacher of the New York Shambhala Community. These days I no longer teach formally, but I do continue to meet with people looking for guidance on their spiritual path. I am available for online and in person teaching and personal meditation instruction meetings.
This website is dedicated to all the great teachers I’ve encountered, and to students with whom I have connected. It is a way for people to reach me and the teachings to deepen and expand.
My own journey is very personal, and it is difficult to share it and open my heart in the public square, but I have had a unique journey in American-Tibetan Buddhism
I was fortunate to meet the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in February, 1971 when I had just turned 19, and I grew up under his expansive umbrella. Perhaps the most significant transmission occurred in our first meeting, in 1971: I had a million questions whirling in my head but the one that I managed to express out loud was, basically “I’m gay, is that okay?” His answer was profound: “I don’t see any problem.”
During his life I received some of the most precious teachings of the ancient lineages of Tibet. Long after his death in 1987 I continued to feel that he resided deep in my heart and was with me always.
Later, in the summer of 2003 I was invited to be on faculty at a month-long retreat in France. I had been serving the Sakyong in various leadership roles since he assumed the lineage mantle in 1990, but I still considered his father my teacher.
In that summer of 2003, something new happened: Until that time the Sakyong had still been very immersed in his studies in India. There were a lot of expectations for him, a lot of pressure, but it was not clear what he would do to make his name. Then, at Dechen Choling, I heard him teach with a new voice; for the first time with his own voice. He taught on a text by the first Mipham with clarity and profundity. He presented his own writings, a short, beautiful and powerful sadhana he had written. He appeared, unexpectedly, as my teacher. As I returned home to New York I discovered that he had taken his seat in my heart along with his father.
Later he gradually and painstakingly unfolded the Scorpion Seal teachings (the terma revealed but never taught by his father) over many years. My eyes and heart were opened to a depth of wisdom I did not expect to discover in this lifetime.
My relationship with my teachers has been tied to the unfolding transformation as I practice their teachings. It has never been a cult of personality— they have shown me how to go deeper into my own wisdom and compassion.
When I was young the Vidyadhara accepted me – a completely introverted queer boy, and took me in. He and his son, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche have raised me, given me my life. I serve them both with complete faith in their wisdom, compassion and mastery of the dharma.
In recent years Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and the Shambhala organization parted ways. I remain a devoted student of the Sakyong and continue to study under his guidance.
It is said that there are 84,000 paths that people can follow and there are many great living teachers. The evolution of the dharma in the west continues to unfold. I encourage anyone reading this to try to find an authentic teacher raised in a genuine lineage.
May all beings everywhere be free and well-favored.
