Foundations for Freedom: The Hinayana, Courses I-V

Dale Asrael became a student of Trungpa Rinpoche in 1973, and has trained in both the Tibetan Buddhist and Zen traditions. She teaches programs, and leads meditation retreats internationally, and is an authorized teacher of traditional Daoist Qigong. She is a Professor at Naropa University, where she founded and leads the Naropa Mindfulness Instructor Training, a year-long program. Her writing is published in three anthologies: “Love of Wisdom Puts You on the Spot” in Meditation in the Classroom; “No Hidden Corners” in Shadows and Light; and “Compassionate Abiding” in Brilliant Sanity.

Marianne Bots lives in The Netherlands and joined the Shambhala community in 1977. She is a psychologist and psychotherapist who has worked for more than 30 years in a clinic for young adolescents. She teaches throughout Europe.

Susan Chapman has been a student of Shambhala since 1974. She has an MA in Buddhist and Western Psychology from Naropa University, worked with victims and perpetrators of domestic violence, and is a licensed Marital and Family Therapist. With her husband Jerry she founded the Juneau Shambhala Center and later completed Gampo Abbey’s three-year retreat, where she went on to serve as druppon “retreat leader” for six more years. She is the author of the book The Five Keys to Mindful Communication.

Suzann Duquette has been a student of Shambhala for more than 40 years, beginning with the first summer of The Naropa Institute. She is a core faculty member of the Shambhala Ritual Academy, which focuses on strengthening and furthering sacred ceremonial and liturgical forms of Shambhala. She is also a Daoist-Qigong instructor in the lineages of Dr. Eva Wong and a Mudra Space Awareness teacher. A resident teacher at Karmê Chöling, she teaches, inspires community practice and study, and is lead core faculty of the Mukpo Institute, a residential program for deep practice and study. With her husband Jan Enthoven, she also owns and operates Blue Skies, a bed and breakfast near Karmê Chöling.

Daniel Hessey has been a student of Shambhala Buddhism since 1973 and has taught extensively throughout the U.S. and South America. He was the resident Acharya at Drala Mountain Center and currently lives at Karmê Chöling.

Fleet Maull has been a Shambhala practitioner for more than 40 years. He leads Shambhala programs and retreats throughout North America, Europe and Latin America. Fleet is also a Roshi (senior lineage teacher) in the Zen Peacemaker and Soto Zen lineages. He is a consultant, executive coach, an internationally renowned social activist and founder of numerous engaged organizations including Prison Mindfulness Institute, Engaged Mindfulness Institute, Center for Mindfulness in Public Safety, and the National Prison Hospice Association.

John Rockwell read Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism in 1975, and was amazed by the clearest description of confusion he had ever read. He met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche shortly after and became his student. As a member of the Nalanda Translation Committee, he worked closely Trungpa Rinpoche on translations of The Rain of Wisdom, The Life of Marpa, and other texts. He received a M.A. in Buddhist Studies from Naropa University and began teaching there, eventually as a core faculty member in Buddhist Studies. He also taught at the Ngedön School in Boulder for many years, and he travels internationally to teach.

Judith Simmer-Brown, PhD, is Distinguished Professor Emeritx of Contemplative and Religious Studies at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, where she has taught since 1978. A Buddhist practitioner since the early 1970s, she became a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1974. Her teaching specialties are meditation practice, Shambhala teachings, Buddhist philosophy, tantric Buddhism, and contemplative higher education. Her book, Dakini’s Warm Breath (Shambhala, 2001), explores the feminine principle as it reveals itself in meditation practice and everyday life for women and men. She has also edited Meditation and the Classroom: Contemplative Pedagogy for Religious Studies (SUNY 2011). She and her husband, Richard, have two adult children and three grandchildren.

Eric Spiegel has been a student and teacher in the Shambhala tradition since his teens. He was an early member of the Boulder community, deepened his practice at Karmê Chöling, and was the resident acharya for the New York sangha for many years. He lives in the Hudson Valley, New York State.