ABOUT US
Welcome to The Vajra Path!
The Vajra Path is an initiative for bringing the practices of Tantric Buddhism, also known as Vajrayāna, into interdisciplinary dialogue with the contemporary world as well as with parallel traditions across time and geographies. In addition to online and in-person educational programming, the Vajra Path offers specially curated journeys and retreats in Asia, Europe, and beyond.
CO-FOUNDERS
Dr. Nida Chenagtsang
Dr. Nida Chenagtsang is a traditional Tibetan physician and lineage holder of the Yuthok Nyingthig, a tradition of yoga and spiritual healing connected. Born in Amdo, in Northeastern Tibet, he began his early medical studies at the local Tibetan Medicine hospital. Later he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Lhasa Tibetan Medical University, where he completed his medical education in 1996 with practical training at the Tibetan Medicine hospitals in Lhasa and Lhoka. Alongside his medical education, Dr. Nida trained in Vajrayāna with teachers from every school of Tibetan Buddhism, especially in the Longchen Nyingthig of the Nyingma school from his root teacher Ani Ngawang Gyaltsen and in the Dudjom Tersar lineage from Chönyid Rinpoche and Semo Dechen Yudron. He received complete teachings in the Yuthok Nyingthig lineage, the unique spiritual tradition of Tibetan Medicine, from his teachers Khenpo Tsultrim Gyaltsen and Khenchen Troru Tsenam, and was requested to continue the lineage by Jamyang Rinpoche of the Rebkong ngakpa/ma (non-monastic yogi and yoginī) tradition. He is the author of many articles and books on Sowa Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine) and the Yuthok Nyingthig tradition both in the Tibetan and English languages which have been translated into several languages. Dr. Nida is the Medical Director and principal teacher of Sorig Khang International and the Sowa Rigpa Institute: School of Traditional Tibetan Medicine; Co-Founder of the International Ngakmang Institute, established to preserve and maintain the Rebkong ngakpa non-monastic yogi/inī culture within modern Tibetan society; and Co-Founder of Pure Land Farms: Center for Tibetan Medicine, Meditation and Rejuvenation in Los Angeles, California. In addition to his work as a physician, he trains students in Sowa Rigpa and the Yuthok Nyingthig tradition in over forty countries around the world.
Ian Baker
Dr. Ian Baker holds a PhD in History from the University of Strathclyde and a MPhil in Medical Anthropology from University College London, following earlier graduate work in Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and English Literature at the University of Oxford. He is the author of seven critically acclaimed books on Himalayan and Tibetan cultural history, environment, art, and medicine including, Tibetan Yoga: Principles and Practices, The Heart of the World: A Journey to Tibet’s Lost Paradise, The Dalai Lama’s Secret Temple: Tantric Wall Paintings from Tibet, The Tibetan Art of Healing, Celestial Gallery, and Buddhas of the Celestial Gallery. His academic publications include chapters in Expanding Mindscapes: A Global History of Psychedelics, Yoga and the Traditional Physical Practices of India: Influence, Entanglement and Confrontation, Hidden Lands in Himalayan Myth and History, Yoga in Transformation: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, and Imagining Chinese Medicine. Ian was lead curator for an exhibition at London’s Wellcome Collection entitled ‘Tibet’s Secret Temple: Body, Mind, and Meditation in Tantric Buddhism’, and was co-curator at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum for a scheduled exhibition on the interface of art and science in esoteric traditions of yoga and Vajrayāna Buddhism. He is well known for his extensive field research in Tibet’s ‘hidden lands’ (beyul), resulting in National Geographic Society designating him as an ‘Explorer for the Millennium’. He also undertook prolonged meditation retreats in the Himalayas of Nepal under the guidance of the Tibetan Buddhist masters Chatral Sangye Dorje Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, and Kyabjé Dungse Thinley Norbu. He is also an initiate of the Yoginī Kaula tradition. He has led academic study tours in Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan for Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Expeditions, in addition to numerous Himalayan expeditions. As described in the foreword to his book, The Heart of the World: “Ian Baker’s journeys . . . inspire others not only to venture into unknown lands on a geographical level, but also to discover the inner realms within which our own deepest nature lies hidden.”
