Larry Mermelstein

Larry Mermelstein began his study of Buddhism while completing a B.A. in religion at the University of Michigan, where he concentrated on Sanskrit and Buddhist studies. Dabbling in yoga and meditation practice led him to spend a month in 1971 at Samye Ling in Scotland, his first encounter with Buddhist practice. Having just missed Trungpa Rinpoche there, Tail of the Tiger was the obvious next step, where Larry attended seminars during school holidays.

After college, Larry moved to Boulder in 1973, worked at an offset printer in Denver and assisted Jonathan Eric, who was acting director of Karma Dzong. That fall, Larry was among the fated first staff ($72/week) at the emerging Naropa Institute, serving as faculty administrator and assistant to the director for the first two years.

Rinpoche asked Larry to begin teaching Dharma there in 1975. Tibetan-language studies began then, too, though in a rather haphazard, part-time fashion, says Larry. Rinpoche himself taught a few language classes after which he seemed to favor more the dive-in, on-the-job training method that had become so successful in every corner of his rapidly expanding universe.

Larry moved to Karmê Chöling after teaching at the 1975 Seminary, but after a year he was appointed co-director or RMDC. He and Robin Kornman asked to bring Lama Ugyen Shenpen with them, which would greatly enhance the eventual translation activity. Life there was not kind to scholarly pursuits, so Rinpoche moved the translation focus to Boulder.

Larry became an editor at Shambhala Publications in 1978, and has continued to serve as a consulting editor ever since. He also became executive director of the Nalanda Translation Committee in 1978.

Full-time work with the Nalanda Translation Committee began just before moving to Halifax in 1986 where he currently resides with his wife, Gina, and daughter, Julia, now nine Since the early 1980s, Larry participated in meetings of the Vajradhatu/Nalanda board of directors, and in 1990 he was appointed as a member of the newly formed Shambhala International board.

Larry is also a member of the Shambhala Practice and Study Committee and the International Affairs Committee.