Heartwood’s Founding Teachers
Venerable Pannavati, Maha Theri
Venerable Pannavati, Maha Theri is a former Christian pastor, uniquely ordained in both Theravada and Mahayana traditions. She is also a Vajrayana teacher. Particularly inspired by her final lineage master, she offered authorized esoteric lineage teachings, empowerments and activities using skillful means. She co-founded Heartwood Refuge, an intentional monastic and lay residential community; Correct Cultivation Learning from Buddha Academy, and Embracing Simplicity Hermitage monastic order. Venerable also served on Buddhist and inter-spiritual leadership boards, internationally, having retired from decades of active work in humanitarian projects advocating and serving women’s advancement, education for Dalits (India’s Untouchables) and full ordination for female monks.
Venerable Pannadipa, Maha Thero
Venerable Pannadipa was Founding Co-Abbot of Embracing Simplicity Hermitage and ordained in the Theravada and Mahayana (Chan) traditions. A former Taoist monk and an initiated yogi, he taught Tien Shen Pai Kung Fu, qigong, Tai Chi and Fitness for more than 26 years. Powerfully present with penetrating awareness, he guided meditators towards jhanic attainment, teaching them how to use this empowerment in all circumstances of practical life. In addition, he had extensive experience assisting in the transition from this life to the next for both humans and animals. Venerable Pannadipa left his body in May 2022.
Lineage Teacher
Master Zhaxi Zhouma Rinpoche
Master Zhaxi Zhuoma Rinpoche is the abbess of Holy Vajrasana Temple and Retreat Center in California and the founder of the Xuanfa Institute. She was a close disciple of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III for over twenty years. She leads classes on the English translations (sometimes preliminary) of the writings and Dharma discourses of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III and various Buddhist Matriarchs and Patriarchs of different traditions at the Learning from Buddha Seminary, and is the author of Thus Have I Seen: The Marvelous True Buddha Dharma and Its Power to Transform. Master Zhaxi Zhouma has personally transmitted numerous Dharma discourses, teachings, retreat Dharmas, and Dharma practices to students of Heartwood Mandala.
