SHARON LUKERT​ is a retired Buddhist chaplain who served patients and families in hospice and hospital settings for more than two decades. She studied with Pema Chödrön for more than thirty years and is a student of the Venerable Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. A former Buddhist monastic for three years, Lukert took precepts with Her Eminence Mindrolling Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche and Venerable Thrangu Rinpoche. She is also a former director of Gampo Abbey Monastery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has facilitated workshops and study groups on Buddhism, meditation, death and dying, and bereavement support in various settings.

Elizabeth has studied and practiced Mahayana Buddhism, as well as the Vajrayana tradition of the Longchen Nyingthik, for over 30 years under the guidance of her teacher and husband, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. She has been intimately involved with Rinpoche’s work in bringing Buddhist wisdom to the West, in particular the development of Mangala Shri Bhuti, an organization dedicated to the study and practice of the Longchen Nyingthik lineage. She is also a founding member and teacher of the Wilderness Dharma Movement and on the advisory boards of Prison Mindfulness Network and the Buddhist Arts and Film Festival.

Elizabeth has an academic background in anthropology and Buddhist studies. After many years of solitary retreat, Rinpoche appointed Elizabeth as Retreat Master at Longchen Jigme Samten Ling, Mangala Shri Bhuti’s retreat center in southern Colorado. Elizabeth is the author of The Power of an Open Question and The Logic of Faith. She has edited Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche’s two books, It’s Up to You and Light Comes Through, and teaches the Buddhadharma throughout the United States and Europe. When she is not traveling, she enjoys riding her horse through the vast planes of the San Luis Valley in Crestone, Colorado.