Join us on September 21 for this free Trauma colloquium - Register online now!

Trauma Colloquium:
Perspectives on the Relief of Suffering:
Tibetan Buddhism and Psychoanalysis

presented by
Geshe Pema Dorjee

September 21, 2011
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Free and open to the public, but pre-registration is required
Register online now!

This event will focus on helping traumatized people, cultivating compassion, and the impact on the helper.

Geshe Pema Dorjee was born in 1951 into a nomadic family in Tibet. After he escaped Tibet with his family, he attended Tibetan schools in India, including the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics founded in Dharamsala by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. There, from 1973 to 1981, he completed the equivalent of two Masters Degrees, one in Prajnaparamita Philosophy (The Perfection of Wisdom) and the other in Madhyamika Philosophy (The Middle Way). He then dedicated himself to the Tibetan Children's Village School located in Dharamsala, where he taught Tibetan Buddhism, language, and culture for nine years. In 1990 he was appointed as principal of the school, and from 1993 to 1997 he served as its director. Throughout his career, he continued advanced studies in Buddhist philosophy, and in 1995 he earned the Geshe degree from Drepung Loseling monastery (In Tibetan Buddhist education, Geshe is the highest degree that can be earned and is roughly equivalent to a PhD with post-doctoral studies as a scholar). Geshe Pema Dorjee is one of the few Buddhists with a Geshe degree who is fluent in English. He was then appointed as principal of the Tibetan Teachers Training Center. Two years later he became the first principal of the College for Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarah, remaining in charge of the college from 1997 to 2002. Recognizing that an important branch of Tibetan Buddhism had fallen into desuetude, His Holiness the Dalai Lama asked Geshe Pema Dorjee to lead a revival of the Bodong tradition. Accordingly, in 2003, Geshe Pema Dorjee founded and became director of the Bodong Research and Publication Center in Dharamsala. His work in that capacity has included unearthing, translating, and publishing the lost writings of that tradition as well as founding and directing a Bodong monastery and school in Kathmandu.

Register online now!