Gen Sherab was born in Amdo, Tibet in 1966. Since a very young age he heard from his grandmother: "once the chinese communists go back to China, you should join the Ditsa Monastery". The optimisitic old lady repeated these words in Sherab's ear again and again, although Sherab did not understand nor paid attention to it, a seed was planted in his mind.At the age of seven, Sherab started to attend school. in his teens he began to feel strongly the wish to become monk and even escaped to the monastery few times. his family did not let him go since they hoped for him to continue to study till university. Sherab's grandmother passed away when he was 13.
In 1985, after graduating from high school, Sherab managed to escape and joined the Ditsa Monastery where he studied Dudra (Collected Topics) and Takrig (Signs and Reasoning) and other subjects like grammar.
Genla arrived in India in 1988 and joined the Drepung-Gomang monastery where he continued his Buddhist education with Loring (Mind and mental factors) and Dzoe (Abhidhrama) classes. Vinaya is the only subject he did not study in the classic Buddhist curriculum in the great monastic universities.
He moved to Dharamsala in 1998 where he connected with Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche and studied tantra with him. Since then he has focused on this subject which is not taught in the three 'great seats'. Gen Sherab Dhargye lived in the USA from 2000 until 2004, when he moved back to India.
In Gomang, Genla taught Tibetan grammar and poetry to many monks. In McLeod Ganj, he taught debate in Gaden Choeling Nunnery and also did a lot of tutoring in Tibetan grammar and poetry. Genla joined the second LRZTP as a conversation partner first and later as the teacher of the second class. In 2003 Genla came back from the States and taught a first six months Tibetan Language course organized in Thosamling Nunnery. Back definitively from the States in 2004, he taught two Tibetan language courses for two years in Thosamling. Genla also taught LZRTP5 between 2008-2010.
Many of Genla’s articles have been published in Tibetan magazines and newspapers. While in the states, he wrote three books in tibetan that have been published in India and Tibet (booksellers in Tibet published his books twice without permission !). In Ditsa gompa (Tibet) Gen Sherab was one of the three monks who received the first prize during a special examination on general education conducted amongst all the monks residing there, irrespective of their class.
While studying in south India, Gen Sherab has always achieved the first or second position in the yearly examinations conducted in each class and accordingly received the assigned prizes. Genla also got the first prize during a competition on literary composition organized by the regional administration of the Tibetan government among selected monks from the four colleges of Gaden and Drepung monasteries. In 1995, Amye Machen organized the first writers conference in Dharamsala and called only four monks from the three big monasteries and Gen Sherab was one of them. Gen Sherab Dhargye is currently concluding his monumental work on the explanatory transmission of the Kalachakra Tantra as found in Buton Rinpoche's Collected Works. This particular transmission of explanations blends together seven texts: The Abbreviated Tantraand Buton's annotations; the Vimalaprabha (Stainless Light) commentary with Buton's annotations; the "Outlines", "Dispelling misconceptions" and "Origination of the Kalachakra Tantra" composed by Buton Rinpoche himself.
Whenever genla has time, he likes to transcribe His Holiness’ teachings elucidating obscure points and in this way he continues his education by writing annotations clarifying difficult texts. Through his efforts he is preserving His Holiness' precious insights that will be transmitted, in this way, to the future generations.
Gen Teresa BiancaGen Teresa Bianca was born in Italy in 1960. After graduating from high school in Venice, Italy she worked in the tourism field for few years. Gen Teresa traveled to India for the first time in January 1986. On that first trip, without realizing it, she planned a buddhist pilgrimage on the base of a guide book and ended up in Bodhgaya a few weeks after His Holiness the 14th Dalaï Lama had conferred the Kalachakra initiation. There she met for the first time Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche who was giving teachings at the Burmese vihar and the first Italian monks and nuns she had ever seen, who told her about the buddhist centers in Italy, one of those being only 10 miles away from her home!!
She lived in the US between 2000 and mid 2004, and has been living in Dharamasala since then. Genla has interpreted for many lamas in Dharamsala between 1996 and 1999, particularly for Ven. Ribur Rinpoche. Genla was Assistant Director during the LRZTP2 and has taught the second year Tibetan language course in Thosamling Nunnery for two years whilst also interpreting for visiting lamas there.
Genla taught two classes a week during the second year of LZRTP5 between 2009-2010.
Gen Tica Broch
Gen Tica Broch was born in New York, went to primary school in Havana (bilingual english-spanish) and did her secondary schooling in Geneva and Grenoble, France, where she obtained her “Bac Philo”. Afterwards she received degrees from Geneva University as "traductrice" (translator) and later as “interprete parlementaire" (parliamentary interpreter). Genla joined the United Nations in Geneva in 1970; she traveled extensively with the United Nations and other missions interpreting in simultaneous and consecutive modes from and into english-french-spanish for 39 years. Genla was Kofi Annan's interpreter for years. Genla left the United Nations headquarters in 2009.
From 1987 to 1997, Gen Tica interpreted for His Holiness the Dalaï Lama on several visits to France (Paris, Bordeaux, Grenoble, and for dharma centers including in Dordogne and Toulouse) and Spain (Madrid, Navarra, Barcelona, Bilbao, Vitoria, San Sebastian, Madrid, Mallorca). She interpreted for the “Prix de la Memoire” and on French and Spanish television for interviews with His Holiness the Dalaï Lama.Gen Tica has beed studying buddhism since 1977 and now lives in Dharamsala.
