Teachers
Spiritual Director and Resident Teacher:
Choying Dorje (Gordon Ellis)
Gordon Ellis was born in 1948 and brought up as a member of Carrs Lane Congregational Church in Birmingham.
At the University of Leicester he studied Philosophy, as well as History and Phenomenology of Religion, and later
at the University of Manchester, Ancient Near Eastern and Indian Religions. He has been Senior Lecturer in
Communication Studies at the University of Salford and has lectured for the Extra-Mural Department of Manchester
University and the Open University.
He has studied and practiced Dharma for 30 years he has received teachings, transmissions, empowerments, and
practice instructions, from numerous masters in the Tibetan Nyingma, Kagyu and Gelug and Sakya traditions of
Buddhism, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, His Holiness Khordong Terchen Tulku, His Eminence the Tai Situpa,
Mahapandita Trangu Rinpoche, His Eminence Gyalsap Rinpoche, His Holiness Kalu Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Rinpoche,
Lama Zopa Rinpoche, His Holiness Serkong Rinpoche, Geshe Jhampa Tekchog, His Holiness Zong Rinpoche,
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Geshe Konchog Tsewang, Jamyang Rinpoche, Geshe Tamdring Gyatso, Geshe Sopa,
H.H. Khordong Terchen Tulku, Chhimmed Rigdzin Rinpoche, and he has also training in the Buddhist tradition of
the Southern Theravadin school.
He is also trained in western psychotherapy and counselling, so is very well placed to combine Eastern and Western
perspectives and approaches in a completely non-sectarian way.
Visiting Teachers:
James Low
James Low began studying and practicing Tibetan Buddhism in India in the 1960's. He received teachings from Kalu
Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche, Kanjur Rinpoche and Dudjom Rinpoche. Having met his root teacher, C R Lama, he lived
in his home in Bengal for many years, serving him as required and being taught many aspects of the tradition.
During this period in India James also did several retreats and pilgrimages in the Himalayas. In the 1970's and
1980's, on his return to Europe, he also had teachings and guidance from Namkhai Norbu.
James translated many tantric texts and sadhanas with C R Lama, who wanted texts from the Byangter and Khordong
lineages to be available in English. These were used as practice texts by C R Lama's disciples. Many have since
been translated by others into various European languages.
C. R. Lama asked James to teach in 1976 and later gave him the transmissions necessary to do this, together
with full lineage authority.
Currently James is regularly teaching the principles of dzogchen in Europe and publishes translations and
commentaries from time to time.
James also works as a Consultant Psychotherapist in a National Health Service teaching hospital in London and has a
private psychotherapy practice. He has taught on many psychotherapy trainings in Britain.
His recent publications are:
- The Seven Chapters of Prayer by Padmasambhava. trans. Chhimed Rigdzin Rinpoche & James Low (edition khordong, Berlin 2008)
- Being Right Here: The Mirror of Clear Meaning (Snow Lion Publications, 2004) Also available in German and Polish.
- Being Guru Rinpoche : A commentary on Nuden Dorje’s terma Vidyadhara Guru Sadhana. (edition khordong. Trafford Publications 2006.)
- Simply Being: Texts in the Dzogchen Tradition (Wisdom Books, 1998). Also available in German and French.
- The Yogins of Ladakh: A Pilgrimage Among the Hermits of the Buddhist Himalayas. With John Crook. (Motilal Banarsidass, 1997)
There are many transcripts of teachings given by James available on his website
www.simplybeing.co.uk
Lopon Ogyan Tanzin
Rinpoche is a Nyingma Vajrayana master and the spiritual director of Ogyan chokhor ling, the European Sangha
of his personal students. He is an inspiring teacher with extraordinary gifts of communication and a rare
subtelty of expression in English which allows fine detail of meaning to be nailed with great simplicty. He is a
Ngakpa and is keen to see this Tantric ordination flourish in the West as it has for over a thousand years in the
Himalayas and Tibet.
He is also the founder and director of the Lhundrup Topgye Ling School which provides the only education
available to a group of villages in the remote Arunachal Pradesh region of the North East of India. It is a
traditional 'drat-sang' committed to the continuation into future generations of the spiritual, academic,
artistic and cultural treasures of the Tibetan people.
Rinpoche was born into a family of ngakpas with an unbroken lineage of inherited spiritual gifts and
accomplishments descended from the Terton Pema Lingpa. He now lives in Arunachal Pradesh and Varanassi in India.
He aims to visit and teach in the United Kingdom annually.
Rinpoche has studied with many of the greatest Lamas of his generation. His Root Lama is HH Dudjom Rinpoche.
His retreat Master was Changchak Rinpoche. He holds the Nyingma lineages of Pema Lingpa, Chang Ter, Mindrol Ling,
Dudjom Tersar and Longchen Nyingthig. He received initiations from Minling Trichen Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse
Rinpoche, DoDrupchen Rinpoche, Padma Norbu Rinpoche, Khordong Tulku Chhimed Rigdzin Rinpoche and Taklung Tsetrul
Rinpoche. He holds Dung-se Thrin-le Norbu Rinpoche and Chatral Rinpoche as his highest living rôle models.
As well as being a realised practitioner and Lama, Rinpoche is a highly respected academic with a teaching career
of three decades in higher education.
Rinpoche visited Khandro Ling to give empowerments and teachings in 2006, 2007, and 2008
John Peacocke
John Peacocke is both an academic and a Buddhist practitioner of over thirty years. He initially trained in the
Tibetan Gelugpa tradition in monasteries in South India. Subsequently he spent time in Sri Lanka studying
Theravada and has lectured at Peradiniya University on the outskirts of Kandy. He has been teaching meditation
for nearly twenty years. He has been lecturer in Indian thought at the University of Bristol and Director of
Sharpham Centre for Contemporary Buddhist Enquiry. He has trained in Kum Nye with adepts in India and takes
training courses in Kum Nye at Khandro Ling, where he is a frequent visitor. His recent book is,
‘Buddhism: A Complete Introduction’ October 2009
Jomo Gudrun
Gudrun Knausenberger has been a pupil of H.H. Chimmed Rigdzin Rinpoche since 1989. She is a teacher by profession,
and has been instated as Rinpoche's representative in Germany. Jomo Gudrun has accompanied Rinpoche on many of
his journeys, on which many of the presently available ritual texts were published and translated. Since 1997,
when Rinpoche made this request of her, she has been teaching, and she is empowered to give certain initiations.
Because of her open and accessible nature, she gives conveys Dharma directly, and free of cultural and language
barriers.
Martin Boord
As one of Rinpoche's senior students, Martin Boord will be known to many people already within the Khordong
sangha. Having met with the lama whilst on pilgrimage in India in 1973, Martin invited Rinpoche to Great Britain
a few years later in order to initiate the transmission to Europe of the Byangter Phurpa (Northern Treasures
Vajrakila). Although he has carefully looked over the entire Buddhist Tripitaka, the particular teaching that he
requested and received from Rinpoche was the Byangter Phurba. So he translated a big Vajrakila Sadhana Volume.
Taking this as his theme to the university to London, Martin was awarded a BA in Religious Studies (Buddhism),
followed by the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for this work by "School of oriental and african study" of the
University of London in 1992 (The Cult of the Deity Vajrakila, Tring, 1993).
One other important teacher from which he received many important teachings was H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche, the head
of the Nyingma School of the Tibetan Buddhism.
Martin met H.H. Chhimed Rigdzin for the first time, while he was on Pilgrimage with Lama Khandrul Yeshe Dorje
in 1973 in Sarnath. Back in England in 1974 Martin settled in Cornwall and founded with his wife a small dharma
centre and invited Chhimed Rigdzin Rinpoche to England in 1979/80, the first time Rinpoche visited England.
After this Martin followed Rinpoche to India, to the university in Shantiniketan well known through Rabindrad
Tagore where Martin joined the translation team around Rinpoche for some time.
Again back in England and after a loose three year retreat in Scotland he continued his study of Buddhism on
the university of London and moved after his PhD to Oxford.
He now studies in Oxford. During the years since then he has completed a translation of the most illustrious
commentary on Phurba practice, the Black 100,000 Words (Phur 'grel 'bum nag) by Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra and
Silamanju. It is a report of a retreat that was hold by Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra and Silamanju in Nepal in the
8th century. It was transmitted to Yeshe Tsogyal by Padmasambhava. This text is now published with edition
khordong, 2002.
Martin Boords daughter Tara was discovered by H.H. Chhimed Rigdzin Rinpoche as the reincarnation of a Tibetan yogini.