An opportunity to have a one-to-one session with Khenpo Phuntshok Tashi, who, with his warm personality brings with him over 17 years’ of experience of teaching both Buddhism and meditation. What makes interactions with him so pleasant and knowledge-giving is his warmth and humour, very typically Bhutanese in character. Little wonder that endears him to his students and guest audiences. Khenpo is a champion of Bhutan’s policy of Gross National Happiness, finding it congruent with Buddha’s Dharma teachings. His work, ‘The Role of Buddhism in Achieving Gross National Happiness’, is considered a landmark, acclaimed work.
What better way to touch the mystic soul of Bhutan than a one-on-one conversation with the master himself! A personal conversation while sipping hot tea with Khenpo brushes off the dust from some of the intricate ideologies of Bhutanese culture. His warmth, his calmness and his clarity of thought are beguiling and completely immersive. A very clear and articulate Master Khenpo Phuntshok Tashi has been teaching meditation and Buddhism for over 17 years. The author of “Mindful Living in Bhutan”, wears another hat, that of Director of the National Museum of Bhutan, which comes as no surprise about this highly learned mentor.
He has also been a guest lecturer on Buddhism and Gross National Happiness in Japanese Universities, meditation retreats in Denmark, Europe, and East Asia. His work on ‘The Origin of Happiness’, brings together his keen research interests in poetry, philosophy, physics, environmental philosophy, culture, and the Middle View. Khenpo speaks seven languages and was Executive member of the 42nd Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C., as well as a curatorial team member for ‘The Dragon’s Gift: Sacred Arts of Bhutan Exhibition’, travelling throughout the U.S. and Europe. Khenpo was born in Eastern Bhutan and later studied under various enlightened masters both within and outside the Kingdom. He has earned a Master’s degree in Buddhist Philosophy and a Diploma in International Communication from the City University, London.