The Group

Inspired by the work of the late Khenchen Appey Rinpoche, the Chödung Karmo Translation Group was founded in 2010 at the International Buddhist Academy in Kathmandu by Khenpo Ngawang Jorden, Lama Rinchen Gyaltsen, and Christian Bernert.

Its current members are: Khenpo Ngawang Jorden, Khenpo Jamyang Tenzin, Lama Rinchen Gyaltsen, Christian Bernert, Boyce Teoh, Julia Stenzel, Ekaterina Afonina, Vivian Paganuzzi, Anne Deriaz, and Rory Lindsay.

Khenpo Ngawang Jorden (PhD) studied the five branches of Buddhist philosophy at Sakya College in India under Khenchen Appey Rinpoche. Khenpo Jorden later taught at Sakya College before going to America to study at Harvard University where he completed his PhD in Buddhist Studies. Khenpo Jorden has retired from his teaching post at the University of Chicago and is now the Director of IBA in Kathmandu. He is also a founding member of the Chödung Karmo Translation Group. 

Khenpo Jamyang Tenzin is the abbot of Tsechen Dongag Choeling in Mundgod, South India. He studied under the late Khenchen Appey Rinpoche at Sakya College where he also taught for several years, and completed a three year retreat under the guidance of HE Chogye Trichen Rinpoche. Since 2001 Khenpo Jamyang Tenzin has been teaching philosophy and meditation at the International Buddhist Academy. He is currently translating an Abhisamayālaṃkāra commentary by Rongtön Chenpo with Boyce Teoh.

Lama Rinchen Gyaltsen was born in Uruguay. In 1994 he began his Buddhist studies with Khenpo Pema Wangdak in New York. In 2003 Lama Rinchen Gyaltsen was ordained as a monk by His Eminence Chogye Trichen Rinpoche. He has been studying at IBA since 2005, and completed a number of important meditation retreats. He designed and participated in the IBA 2-year translation program, which he completed in 2011. Lama Rinchen Gyaltsen is a founding member of the Chödung Karmo Translation Group.   

Christian Bernert (MA) comes from Austria where he studied Tibetology at the University of Vienna until 2009. He embarked on the Buddhist path in 1999 under the guidance of Khenchen Amipa Rinpoche. Since 2001 he has been studying at IBA, where he currently works as language program coordinator and translator. Christian is a founding member of the Chödung Karmo Translation Group. He is currently translating a commentary on Maitreya’s Madhyāntavibhāga by Rongtön. (read more: CV and publications) 

Julia Stenzel (MA) was born in the USA of German parents. She received her Buddhist education in the AHET Karma Kagyu monastic institute in France, completed her M.A. in Buddhist studies at the University of the West, California, and is currently a PhD student at McGill University in Canada. Julia joined the IBA in October 2009 to participate in the translator training course before joining the Chödung Karmo translation group. She is currently works on a translation of Rinchen Pal’s Manjuśrī’s Advice, a commentary on Śāntideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicaryāvatāra).

Boyce Teoh is a Malaysian born Chinese and was educated in England as an engineer. He took refuge in 2003 and has been practising under the guidance of several lamas, especially Khenpo Sangpo Rinpoche. Boyce studied Tibetan at the Rangjung Yeshe Institute, Kathmandu and completed the 2-year translator training program at IBA. He has worked in close collaboration with Khenpo Jamyang Tenzin, with whom he currently translates one of Rongtön Chenpo’s commentaries on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra.

Rory Lindsay (MA) is currently a PhD student in Tibetan Studies in the Department of South Asian Studies at Harvard University. His research focuses on early Sakya literature, in particular the writings of the third Sakya patriarch Jetsun Drakpa Gyeltsen. He has studied classical Tibetan and Sanskrit since 2005, and is currently working on a translation of the Sakya master Rendawa's Light of Reason, a commentary on Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamamakakārikā, as part of Chödung Karmo.

Vivian Paganuzzi studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Wales, Cardiff, and applied English linguistics at Birmingham University. Until his retirement in early 2012 he was senior lecturer in academic writing at the University of Eastern Finland. Vivian worked as author’s editor with researchers for 25 years. He came to IBA in 2011 as a student and joined Chödung Karmo in 2012. 

Anne Deriaz comes from Switzerland. She studied French, German, English, philosophy, psychology, and history of art in Geneva. Anne has been a school teacher and director, an NGO manager, and has been writing and translating for most of her life. Her publications include translations of teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and by Khenchen Sherab Amipa Rinpoche. Anne currently lives in a cabin in the Swiss alps, dividing her time between her Buddhist practice and the translation of Khenchen Appey Rinpoche's teachings on the 'Sage's Intent' by Sakya Pandita.