About Us

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche is a student of important Tibetan Buddhist lamas including Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Kyabje Sakya Trizin, Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche, and the16th Karmapa. He is the head of the renowned Dzongsar Monastery and Dzongsar College. Rinpoche is currently responsible for the care and education of over 2,000 monks distributed between six monasteries and institutes in Asia.

In addition, Rinpoche oversees Siddhartha’s Intent and contemporary teaching and practice centers established in several continents as well as the non-profit organizations Khyentse Foundation, 84000, and Lotus Outreach. Also, Rinpoche has authored several books on following the Buddhist path in the contemporary world.

Daniel is CEO/Publisher of Wisdom Publications and is an experienced business executive with decades of insights gathered from corporate and consumer marketing executive roles working for multinationals such as Canon, and large financial firms such as Westpac.

While pursuing his business career, Daniel continued to foster his life long interest in Tibetan Buddhism, the Tibetan language, and its literature. This has taken him across Australia, America, India, Nepal, and Tibet to pursue a deeper understanding of Buddhist theory and practice with masters from the living tradition. Daniel also has a PhD in Buddhist Philosophy.

Erik Pema Kunsang is a dharma teacher and translator of tantric texts and pith instructions of the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages. Early in life, a deep curiosity about the nature of reality led him to connect with the tradition of Buddha Shakyamuni, and of Padmasambhava, which he has studied, practiced and served ever since. Under the guidance of his main teachers, the dzogchen master Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche and Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, Erik has translated numerous dharma texts in simple language. He is the co-founder of Rangjung Yeshe Publications, Rangjung Yeshe Institute (Nepal), and several Gomde retreat centers across Europe. Appointed to teach the dharma by Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, he now guides retreats on simplicity, naturalness, love, and insight.

In 2016 Erik founded Bodhi Training in Denmark, a two-year education initiative that explores all levels of insight into the Buddha’s teachings, giving participants an opportunity to connect with the dharma in a gradual, experiential, and interactive way.

These days he enjoys a quiet life with his wife Tara, singing mantras and buddhist songs, and doing no-dig gardening. It brings him deep happiness to make the original poetry of dharma possible to chant in English, especially the sadhana texts of Padmasambhava.

Sara L. McClintock, PhD, is Associate Professor of Religion at Emory University in Atlanta where she teaches courses in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and narrative traditions. Her published work includes a monograph, Omniscience and the Rhetoric of Reason (2010), and a co-authored volume with Georges Dreyfus, The Svātantrika-Prāsaṅgika Distinction (2003).

Her doctorate is from Harvard University (2002), and she has conducted research at the Central University for Tibetan Studies in Sarnath, India; the University of Lausanne, Switzerland; and the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia at the Austrian Academy of Science in Vienna, Austria.

She is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, and a Research Fellow at the Mind and Life Institute. She is a recent (2019) recipient of a Robert H. N. Ho foundation Buddhist Studies Research Fellowship for work she is conducting on a new book project entitled Transactional Reality, Transactional Truth.

Her dharma practice includes instruction from a wide range of teachers in diverse lineages. Sara joined the Board of 84000 in 2011.

Ivy Ang has over 30 years of extensive experience in international business and organizational development. Her professional background includes VP Human Resources roles in the fields of high technology, biotechnology, branding, consulting and finance. She held VP HR positions for global industry leaders such as Genentech, AIG, Madge Networks and Landor Associates. She also has extensive experience consulting with for-profit and non-profit organizations. Ivy is the founder of Visionlinc, a consulting agency dedicated to linking vision, people and strategies. She is a strategic planner and executive coach to CEOs and their teams.

Her areas of expertise include strategic visioning and planning, leadership and management, executive coaching and team building with emphasis on creating high performing teams and innovative cultures to achieve organizational mission.

At the request of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Ivy facilitated the 5-day Translating the Words of the Buddha conference in March, 2009 in Bir, India. The conference culminated in the birth of the historic 84000 project, with the 100-year goal of translating the words of the Buddha into modern languages, making it accessible to all: “Working with Rinpoche’s mandala has been the single most inspirational and fulfilling experience in my life”

Nonprofit organizations include: Khyentse Foundation, 84000, The Gross National Happiness Project in Bhutan, BDRC, MBA project, Gap coaching and other community projects.

Huang Jing Rui has been the appointed Executive Director since 84000 began as the Buddhist Literary Heritage Project in 2009. Prior to that, Jing Rui worked in the non-profit sector as a social worker in a community-based family service center in Singapore.

In part to seek alternative answers to the ills of urban living and in part to pursue her childhood dreams, she gave up her career to volunteer in a remote village named Bir in the Indian Himalayas. It was in these hills that she, most unexpectedly, stumbled upon the opportunity to take part in 84000—a hundred-year undertaking that will last beyond her lifetime.

Khenpo Choying Dorjee is assisted in this role by Sonam Jamtsho.

Khenpo Choying Dorjee is a Tibetan Buddhist scholar known for his fresh and engaging way of presenting Buddhist philosophy. He was a devoted student of the late Khen Rinpoche Kunga Wangchuk. Khenpo Choying Dorjee joined the Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro Institute (DKCLI) in 1992, receiving his Khenpo title in 2002, and his Khenpo degree (the monastic education equivalent to a PhD in Buddhism) in 2004. He then spent many years in various teaching and leadership roles at DKCLI, and in 2010, was appointed as a teacher to Sakya Dungsay Avikrita Rinpoche.

In 2011 Khenpo was sent to UC Berkeley (USA) as a visiting scholar by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, and was also appointed by Rinpoche as the head principal of DCKLI for the 2013-2016 term. Since then Khenpo has been directed by Khyentse Rinpoche to give teachings and to lead practices around Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas. His rich knowledge and deep understanding of Buddhism have benefited the many students who have attended his teachings.

Ivy Ang has over 30 years of extensive experience in international business and organizational development. Her professional background includes VP Human Resources roles in the fields of high technology, biotechnology, branding, consulting and finance. She held VP HR positions for global industry leaders such as Genentech, AIG, Madge Networks and Landor Associates. She also has extensive experience consulting with for-profit and non-profit organizations. Ivy is the founder of Visionlinc, a consulting agency dedicated to linking vision, people and strategies. She is a strategic planner and executive coach to CEOs and their teams.

Her areas of expertise include strategic visioning and planning, leadership and management, executive coaching and team building with emphasis on creating high performing teams and innovative cultures to achieve organizational mission.

At the request of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Ivy facilitated the 5-day Translating the Words of the Buddha conference in March, 2009 in Bir, India. The conference culminated in the birth of the historic 84000 project, with the 100-year goal of translating the words of the Buddha into modern languages, making it accessible to all: “Working with Rinpoche’s mandala has been the single most inspirational and fulfilling experience in my life”

Nonprofit organizations include: Khyentse Foundation, 84000, The Gross National Happiness Project in Bhutan, BDRC, MBA project, Gap coaching and other community projects.

Huang Jing Rui has been the appointed Executive Director since 84000 began as the Buddhist Literary Heritage Project in 2009. Prior to that, Jing Rui worked in the non-profit sector as a social worker in a community-based family service center in Singapore.

In part to seek alternative answers to the ills of urban living and in part to pursue her childhood dreams, she gave up her career to volunteer in a remote village named Bir in the Indian Himalayas. It was in these hills that she, most unexpectedly, stumbled upon the opportunity to take part in 84000—a hundred-year undertaking that will last beyond her lifetime.

John Canti studied medicine and anthropology at Cambridge University (UK) and qualified as a doctor in 1975. While still a medical student he met and began to study with some of the great Tibetan Buddhist masters of the older generation, especially Kangyur Rinpoche, Dudjom Rinpoche, and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. After some years of medical work in northeastern Nepal in the late 1970s he went to the Dordogne, France, to complete two three-year retreats at Chanteloube, and has remained primarily based there ever since.

John is a founding member of the Padmakara Translation Group, was a Tsadra Foundation Fellow from 2001-2012, and was awarded the 2016 Khyentse Foundation Fellowship. In 2009, when 84000 first started, he was appointed editorial chair of 84000, and in 2023 has become senior editor.

His interest in the Kangyur and Tengyur has continued to grow as the project has taken shape, and he feels more and more fascinated by their origins and history, their range of content, and above all by the significance of the extraordinary body of literature the two collections have preserved.

Andreas Doctor (PhD 2004, University of Calgary) lives with his family in a small village in Denmark. He has been involved in translating and editing for 84000 since the very early days and is currently serving as editorial director.

For a number of years, Andreas has studied Buddhist history and philosophy under the guidance of Tibetan monks and lamas, mostly in Nepal at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery. As a founding member of Rangjung Yeshe Institute (www.ryi.org), he spent fifteen years teaching at the Institute and for most of this period he served as Director of Studies at Kathmandu University’s Centre for Buddhist Studies, located at Rangjung Yeshe Institute.

Andreas is Director of Dharmachakra Translation Committee (www.dharmachakra.net) where he has participated in numerous translation projects, most recently in the translation of sutras and tantras from the Tibetan canon. He is also a founding member of Rangjung Yeshe Gomde Denmark (www.gomde.dk).

Dominic Latham grew up in the beautiful countryside of Warwickshire in the UK. His father was a green grocer and his mother a florist who battled with a chronic lung disease. Together, these are some of the conditions that led to Dominic’s early appreciation of family, order, beauty and hard work.

After finishing school, he moved to London and gained degrees in Fine Art, Cultural Studies and Digital Media and began working as a programmer and software designer. He co-founded a company pioneering the use of the internet to make online bookings which grew to become a leading service provider. This experience gave him the opportunity to work closely with a large and diverse group of talented people.

He now has 25 years experience building technical solutions for organisations. As Technical Lead for 84000, he particularly likes to engage with readers, editors and translators and then develop elegant tools to suit their respective needs. He still likes to draw, mostly as a way to practice seeing things as they are – an ambition closely linked to his Buddhism. Dominic lives in Berlin with his German wife and their three children.

With a decade of varied experience across South and Southeast Asia as a development professional and as a cultural heritage advocate, Pema was recently awarded a major project grant by The British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme to lead a local team in preserving and making available 100,000+ pages of the history of the former Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim.

Previously, Pema had been working on systemic rights and post-conflict issues in South Asia with Human Rights Watch (New York; New Delhi); The Asia Foundation (Nepal); and International Crisis Group (London). Prior to this, in New York, she worked in the arts at the International Center of Photography, among other galleries and publications.

Pema holds an MSc Conflict Studies, specializing in International Human Rights Law, from London School of Economics; and BAs in History and Art History from NYU, where she focused on cultural shifts in Central and South Asia.

Now based in Thailand, she is on the board of the Neilson Hays Library (Bangkok), but mostly considers herself fortunate to have entered the dharma as a child under the kindness of Thinley Norbu Rinpoche – who among other things, piqued her interest in Monday night boxing and blueberry pancakes.

Dominic Latham grew up in the beautiful countryside of Warwickshire in the UK. His father was a green grocer and his mother a florist who battled with a chronic lung disease. Together, these are some of the conditions that led to Dominic’s early appreciation of family, order, beauty and hard work.

After finishing school, he moved to London and gained degrees in Fine Art, Cultural Studies and Digital Media and began working as a programmer and software designer. He co-founded a company pioneering the use of the internet to make online bookings which grew to become a leading service provider. This experience gave him the opportunity to work closely with a large and diverse group of talented people.

He now has 25 years experience building technical solutions for organisations. As Technical Lead for 84000, he particularly likes to engage with readers, editors and translators and then develop elegant tools to suit their respective needs. He still likes to draw, mostly as a way to practice seeing things as they are – an ambition closely linked to his Buddhism. Dominic lives in Berlin with his German wife and their three children.

Jeff has 20+ years of experience leading cultural heritage organizations, with a keen focus on strategic technology planning and implementation. In 2001, after quitting his corporate engineering job to attend a month-long silent meditation retreat, he met Gene Smith in Cambridge, MA. He worked closely with Gene during the formation of Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center building technical and organizational capacity, and establishing TBRC’s first digital library in 2006. In 2009, Jeff became Executive Director at Gene’s request. During his tenure he established foundational programs that significantly advanced the organizational mission. He established the Harvard University Repository for the Long-Term Preservation of Tibetan Texts, and the massive digital preservation program for Tibetan culture in China funded by the United States Agency for International Development. In 2015, he led the formal expansion of TBRC, funded by the American Council of Learned Societies, into all Buddhist languages. He founded the Buddhist Universal Digital Archives (BUDA) as a linked-data fueled hub of Buddhist texts, funded by the Robert H.N Ho Family Foundation, and the preservation and access of the National Library of Mongolia. In 2018, Jeff stepped down in a planned transition and led the search committee to hire his successor Jann Ronis. In the last few years, Jeff has worked to advance technology in a variety of cultural initiatives, including Asian Legacy Library, Khyentse Foundation, the Hip-Hop Education Center, Tolani Lake Enterprises (Navajo Nation), and the Owl Bonnet Cultural Preservation Organization (Lakota Nation). Jeff is thrilled to return to 84000 to advance its important mission.

Jeff met his teacher Tai Situ Rinpoche at the introduction of Gene Smith and under Rinpoche’s direction, completed the 8-year Mahamudra transmission at Sherab Ling, Bir, India. Jeff is a Sundancer in the Sicangu Lakota Oyate tradition of Yuwipi Medicine Man Chief Keith Horse Looking, Sr. He lives with his family in Western Massachusetts and their four dogs, who notoriously hijack Zoom meetings. He has a BA in Philosophy and an MS in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics.

After working for ten years in advertising in Italy, in 2009 Andrea moved to Nepal to embark on a spiritual journey. There, she founded Street Dog Care, an NGO that aims to improve the health and living conditions of street dogs in Kathmandu. That same year, she met Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche at a teaching and a year later joined 84000 as a volunteer team member working with the outreach and communications team. Between 2010 and 2014 she also worked at Rangjung Yeshe Institute as a communications coordinator to rebuild their brand identity. In 2016, Andrea moved back to her home city of Berlin and continued to work with 84000, helping to organize outreach events and to support those wishing to donate. Andrea holds degrees in photography and business administration.

André Rodrigues first trained and worked as an architect, in Lisbon, where he grew up, and also in Venice and London. But, having found Buddhism in his early teens, all that merely served to quench his curiosity about saṃsāric life. In any case, the broad scope of an architect’s training, learning to structure ideas and creative problem solving have proven to be very useful in all fields.

In his mid-twenties, he started to devote himself solely to Buddhist studies and practice, completing an extended three-year retreat in Chanteloube, in 2012. With the encouragement of his teachers, he studied (and continues to study) Tibetan and, currently, he is translating Dharma texts from Tibetan into Portuguese, and is the coordinator of the Portuguese language branch of the Padmakara Translation Group.

He started working part-time for 84000 in January 2017, taking the texts through the publication stages, making sure that the online glossaries show the right terms and so on. He feels privileged to be part of this incredible endeavor and to have the chance to read and learn from these precious texts.

Celso Wilkinson is a graduate of Naropa University where he studied Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan Language. After graduating he continued his language studies abroad in Eastern Tibet and Northern India while intermittently working as a curriculum coordinator for the Nitartha Institute.

Now as a translator and TEI markup editor for 84000, in addition to translation his work has focused on developing various data projects for 84000. He is currently exploring ways in which this vast knowledge developed under the 84000 project can be utilized with computer technology as a resource for translators and researchers. This includes developing a translation memory project as well as exploring the current state of translation software, applications, and data projects and how they can be of benefit through this valuable data.

He lives in Binghamton, NY, with his partner Laura (who is also on the 84000 editorial team) and their two cats. While not working for 84000, Celso is also a painter and writes graphic novels.

Martina began her career in marketing but began to pivot as her interest in Dharma studies developed. She delved into the study of Buddhist Philosophy and later into classical and colloquial Tibetan, first for several years in Pharping and Boudhanath in Nepal, and subsequently in Dharamsala in India. In 2017, Martina graduated with a master’s degree in Buddhist Philosophy from Rangjung Yeshe Institute (Kathmandu, Nepal). Prior to joining 84000 as a TEI markup editor, Martina worked as marketing manager for Rangjung Yeshe Institute. She is also involved in the Khyentse Vision Project’s Translator Training Program.

Martina was born and raised in Ireland, and currently lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with her husband,Gonzalo. In her spare time, she likes nothing more than to walk in nature getting in touch with the elements. She feels honored to be a part of 84000’s vision for translating the words of the Buddha and is happy to be part of something which resonates with her own spiritual outlook and values.

Sameer’s interest in Buddhism started in 2015, while he was traveling through India. He visited the ancient Buddhist caves at Ajanta, and started learning to meditate in Dharamshala. In 2017, he enrolled in a summer course at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Nepal. What started off as a two-month trip ended up in a four-year stay, at which point Sameer graduated from Rangjung Yeshe Institute with a BA in Buddhist Studies with Himalayan Languages. He now lives in Goa, where he enjoys going to the beach and feeding stray cats. He hopes to make his life meaningful by dedicating it to the Buddhadharma for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Since the 1990s, David has followed a dual career path in information technology and religion. In addition to training and certifications in computer science, he has a master’s degree in theology, specializing in contemplative spirituality and community ministry. He has been a Dharma student for thirty years, practicing Mahāmudrā, Dzogchen, Zen, and other meditation traditions. When he’s not working on his cloud-computing duties, he can be found in the “cloud of unknowing,” meditating and teaching.

David has lived in far-flung locations ranging from Indiana to Iran, New York to Seattle, and Austin to Chicago. Now headquartered in Las Vegas, he is often away, living part-time in Berlin, or leading interfaith meditation gatherings at churches and retreat centers.

With a decade of varied experience across South and Southeast Asia as a development professional and as a cultural heritage advocate, Pema was recently awarded a major project grant by The British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme to lead a local team in preserving and making available 100,000+ pages of the history of the former Himalayan kingdom of Sikkim.

Previously, Pema had been working on systemic rights and post-conflict issues in South Asia with Human Rights Watch (New York; New Delhi); The Asia Foundation (Nepal); and International Crisis Group (London). Prior to this, in New York, she worked in the arts at the International Center of Photography, among other galleries and publications.

Pema holds an MSc Conflict Studies, specializing in International Human Rights Law, from London School of Economics; and BAs in History and Art History from NYU, where she focused on cultural shifts in Central and South Asia.

Now based in Thailand, she is on the board of the Neilson Hays Library (Bangkok), but mostly considers herself fortunate to have entered the dharma as a child under the kindness of Thinley Norbu Rinpoche – who among other things, piqued her interest in Monday night boxing and blueberry pancakes.

In 2010, Ushnisha joined 84000, then known as the Buddhist Literary Heritage Project, and left her job in healthcare the following year to take on the full-time role of Executive Assistant. Ushnisha was involved in setting up an administrative system for the organization, and took on a range of responsibilities from events management to communications to volunteer recruitment.

Ushnisha is now the Communications Manager with a focus on outreach, social media, community engagement, and production. She is based in Singapore.

Devlen is a professional translator and interpreter specializing in Chinese-English translation for organizations including: Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia, Ka-Nying Ling KL, and TedX (Petaling Street). In addition, Devlen is the marketing assistant for Rangjung Yeshe Institute’s Chinese Programs.

Previously, Devlen acted as Chinese and Malay translator, press assistant, and Chinese media liaison for the Embassy of the United States of America in Malaysia, translating the Ambassador’s speeches and press releases; and was the technical project lead for legal publisher, LexisNexis. He is a certified Cantonese interpreter with LanguageLine Solutions US.

A film history enthusiast, Devlen has published a print biography for a veteran Chinese actress and is currently assisting some senior film historians (UC Berkeley and Peking University) with their upcoming publications.

A natural people-person, Cabie loves to serve the community and is deeply interested in preserving the natural environment. But as a teenager she began to question life and death, and in 2013 while still searching for answers, she read, What Makes You Not a Buddhist, by Khyentse Norbu. Her life was transformed, and she is now especially committed to serving the Dharma, and her guru.

Cabie began as an 84000 volunteer in 2017, becoming a team member the following year helping to represent 84000 at teaching events across Asia which she loves for the ability to help those interested become more familiar with the work and vision of the organization. She officially joined the team in June 2020.

Born and raised in Malaysia, Cabie has called Singapore home for the past twenty-four years, working initially in the beauty and fashion industries; followed by sixteen years as a curator in a fine art gallery that specializes in Modern Chinese art.

Cabie is always trying to work through her never-ending reading list of books, and loves art and traveling. But for now, much of her days are spent serving her dog and dreaming about trekking up mountains—and the summits from which she can read the sūtras aloud.

Huang Jing Rui has been the appointed Executive Director since 84000 began as the Buddhist Literary Heritage Project in 2009. Prior to that, Jing Rui worked in the non-profit sector as a social worker in a community-based family service center in Singapore.

In part to seek alternative answers to the ills of urban living and in part to pursue her childhood dreams, she gave up her career to volunteer in a remote village named Bir in the Indian Himalayas. It was in these hills that she, most unexpectedly, stumbled upon the opportunity to take part in 84000—a hundred-year undertaking that will last beyond her lifetime.

Originally from Indonesia, Michelle is an experienced project manager that serves as Chief-of-Staff to the CEO of a Singaporean home wellness product company, executing strategic plans and driving improvements to internal operations and company culture.

Greatly affected by her recent experience with Vipassana, Michelle finds her priorities in life shifting. She first came to Singapore to study Chemistry and Business at Nanyang Technological University. While there, she joined NTU’s Buddhist Society, serving as its President from 2018-19. During her tenure, she directed, nurtured, and empowered a team of 14 main committees and 45 sub-committees, identified and set the direction for how the management committee could promote Buddhism in more relatable and relevant ways, and implemented new frameworks increasing the participation rate of members and committees by 100% in weekly events.

In her free time, Michelle enjoys reading books and eating well!

Originally from northern Minnesota, Marco graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston IL with a major in Economics. Few people know that Marco helped establish a number of food co-operatives in Wisconsin, and that over the years he has lived on various goat farms throughout the midwest and northwestern United States. Marco met Choygam Trungpa Rinpoche in 1972 and soon thereafter moved to Boulder, Colorado, where he helped with the start-up of Naropa Institute. He attended the 1975 Vajradhatu Seminary, where the second of his three sons was born.

He moved to Karme Choling in Vermont in the early 1980s, where he became the business manager and eventually the controller. Later he moved back to Chicago and worked at a CPA firm for 10 years, eventually becoming a CPA. He met Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche at the cremation of Trungpa Rinpoche in 1987 and became a dedicated student of Rinpoche’s in 1992. Marco now lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife Penny and their son Mila. He is also a devoted grandpa to his granddaughter, Lucy.

Marco is an accountant in the National Payroll Services division of the Financial Services Organization of Kaiser Permanente, a nonprofit health care organization with 165,000 employees.

In addition to his role as Treasurer, Marco advises the finance team at 84000.

Born and raised in Malaysia, Amy first met Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in Singapore in 2012 and thereafter started her journey into Tibetan Buddhism. In 2013, inspired by 84000’s mission, Amy began helping 84000 as their Grants Administrator. Her role eventually started to expand into other areas, and she is now 84000’s Finance Manager and Grants Coordinator. As a core member of the operations team, Amy manages the finances, grants, and databases for 84000.

Amy graduated with an MBA from INSEAD in France, and has ten years of professional experience in management consulting and finance, previously working as an auditor with Ernst & Young (Malaysia), and as a management consultant at Bain & Company (South East Asia). Currently, Amy is based in Malaysia and works as a corporate trainer leading workshops in leadership, strategy and emotional intelligence.