OUR TEACHERS

The Pristine Awareness Sangha is led by Jamyang Tenphel and Pema Düddul as the source of living transmission. Pema and Jamyang have been authorized by their principal teachers to guide others in the view, meditation, conduct and realization of the path according to the unique practices transmitted to them. The practice lineage we follow at Pristine Awareness: Foundation for Buddhist Practice stems from our principal teachers -  Kyabje Togden Amtrin (Drukpa Kagyu) and Kyabje Dudjom  Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (Dudjom Nyingma), who were masters of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. We also draw on the teachings of the Early Sutras and the Chan tradition. Furthermore, we are inspired by the approach to practice of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, whose influence on our methods has been significant. We focus on the path of simple meditation and the awakening of joy, love, compassion and evenness that is emphasized in the Mahamudra, Dzogchen, Chan and Early Buddhist traditions rather than the path of scholarly study or elaborate ceremonies or rituals. The Path of Joy and Ease is our unique practice approach. Our teachers and instructors teach meditation, mindfulness and the core of the Buddha's message in an authentic and accessible way that is appropriate to our modern world. With decades of experience, practice and study behind them, they are well-versed in how to apply the Buddhist teachings in daily life. 

Pema Düddul and Jamyang Tenphel (2005)

Dr. Pema Düddul  is the Buddhist Chaplain in the University of Southern Queensland’s Multi-Faith Service and the Co-Director of Pristine Awareness: Foundation for Buddhist Practice. Pema has been a Buddhist for forty years, discovering at the age of eleven that his personal worldview and the tenets of Buddhism were in perfect accordance. Pema began practicing in the Chan tradition in 1979. From the late 1980s he started practicing in the Vajrayana, or Tibetan Buddhist, tradition. He now practices a form of simple, universal Buddhism that draws on the essence of all traditions. Pema considers Dudjom Rinpoche, Jigdral Yeshe Dorje (1904-1987) to be his Heart Lama. Over the years Pema has received teachings from masters in all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and is completely non-sectarian, but the teachers who influenced him most are Dudjom Rinpoche, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and Holiness the Dalai Lama. From 2000 to 2005 Pema held genyen vows with celibacy and undertook a series of retreats of varying durations. In 2005 he received the tantric vows of a white-robe wearer (ngakpa) in the Dudjom tradition, the Tibetan Buddhist equivalent of a non-monastic religious minister. He received these vows from one of his principle teachers, Ngakpa Karma Lhundup Rinpoche. It was around this time that he was given the Dharma name Pema Düddul. In 2019, Dungse Namgyal Dawa Rinpoche, one of Dudjom Rinpoche's grandchildren and Dharma heirs, kindly agreed to be Pema's Dudjom lineage guru. Pema has decades of experience as a Buddhist practitioner and has taught mindfulness and meditation in Buddhist, educational and other settings since 2007. Pema is also a transpersonal counsellor and certified practitioner of Hypnotherapy, Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT or tapping). To book an online consultation go HERE. Pema also has a doctorate (PhD) in creative writing and is an Associate Professor of writing, editing and publishing at an Australian university. Pema describes himself as 'a completely run of the mill Buddhist, an extremely ordinary person. By no means a Buddhist scholar, certainly not a great meditator, not in any way masterful, just trying like every other Buddhist to integrate the path of Dharma into everyday life with all its routine challenges'. Pema is the author of multiple books and articles on Buddhism, including Luminous Awareness: A Guidebook to Natural Awakening in Life and in Death.

Pema Düddul (2005)

Jamyang Tenphel is an Australian-born Buddhist practitioner and founding Co-Director at Pristine Awareness: Foundation for Buddhist Practice. He stumbled on the Dharma in 1995 at the age of 19 and then studied and practiced in Australia and India for the next decade, primarily in the Tibetan tradition. Jamyang took monastic ordination in 2001. He handed back his monastic robes in 2005 and in the same year took white robe ordination in the Dudjom tradition with Ngakpa Karma Lhundup Rinpoche. Since 2005 his focus has been on practice rather than study. His Guru is the late Kyabje Togden Amtrin, a highly revered yogi of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage from Khampagar Monastery in Eastern Tibet. Jamyang is committed to non-sectarianism and has received teachings from masters in various schools of Buddhism, though practices in the Drukpa tradition. Jamyang’s heart practice is Guru Yoga. Despite a debilitating and sometimes life-threatening chronic illness of over 20 years duration, Jamyang has maintained his meditation practice, using his sick bed as his retreat place. He went into retreat at the beginning of 2019, and has no fixed end date. While he is in retreat Jamyang is not involved in the foundation's activities. However, he does occasionally reach out to support fellow practitioners using modern technology such as social media as permitted by his retreat master. He also has a degree in Social Welfare and is deeply committed to social justice. Jamyang is co-author, along with Pema Düddul, of Resting in Stillness, a book about meditation, compassion and the nature of the mind. A review of Resting in Stillness can be found HERE.

Jamyang Tenphel with his Guru Kyabje Togden Amtrin (2003)

Pema and Jamyang were given blessing to teach dharma at the same time (2006) by Ngakpa Karma Lhundup Rinpoche, their dear spiritual friend. Since then this blessing has been extended to them by a number of other masters. As Co-Directors, Pema and Jamyang collaborate on everything presented under the auspices of Pristine Awareness.

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