His Eminence Chöden Rinpoché was born in eastern Tibet in 1930 and was recognized as a young boy as the reincarnation of the previous Chöden Rinpoché. When he was fifteen, he enrolled at Sera Jé monastic college, where he excelled; he completed all the study necessary for the highest degree of geshé lharampa, was renowned as one of the great Tibetan teacher-yogis of our modern era, and was chosen as a debate partner for the Fourteenth Dalai Lama when His Holiness was taking his geshe exams. After the Chinese takeover of Tibet, Rinpoché entered solitary retreat, in which he stayed for nineteen years. In 1985 the Dalai Lama asked him to leave Tibet to teach in India and Nepal. He taught students in the geshé program at Sera Jé for many years, as well as offering teachings all over the world. He passed away in 2015.

Ian James Coghlan (Jampa Yigyen) trained as a monk at Sera Jé Monastic University, completing his studies in 1995, and holds a PhD in Asian studies from La Trobe University. Currently he is a research associate at the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University, and a translator for the Institute of Tibetan Classics, the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, Wisdom Publications, the Khenpo Appey Foundation, and the Juniper Foundation.

Voula Zarpani holds a double master’s degree from the Agricultural University of Athens and graduated from the first Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program in Dharamsala, India, in 1995. She continues to translate for various Tibetan lamas.