Dr. Ed Bastian holds a PhD in Buddhist Studies and lived for years in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India. Classically trained by renowned teachers, he translated Buddhist texts from Tibetan and Sanskrit and produced several films on Tibetan Buddhism. A former program director and teacher of Buddhism and world religions for the Smithsonian Institution, Fulbright Fellow, internet entrepreneur, environmentalist, and adjunct professor at Antioch University, Ed has taught at leading centers throughout the United States and Canada.

Ed is an award-winning author of Living Fully Dying Well, InterSpiritual Meditation, Creating Your Spiritual Path and publisher of Meditations for InterSpiritual Wisdom, and has produced acclaimed documentaries on religion for the BBC and PBS. Ed is founder of the Spiritual Paths Foundation and has worked closely with over thirty Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Taoist, and Native American contemplative teachers.

José Ignacio Cabezón is Dalai Lama Professor Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor of Religious Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He is also President Emeritus of the American Academy of Religion, and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has published almost twenty books and dozens of articles on various aspects of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies. His most recent books include Sera Monastery (with Penpa Dorjee) and Sexuality in Classical South Asian Buddhism, both published by Wisdom Publications.

Roger R. Jackson is professor emeritus of Asian studies and religion at Carleton College. His most recent books are Saraha: Poet of Blissful Awareness and Rebirth: A Guide to Mind, Karma, and Cosmos in the Buddhist World.

Vesna A. Wallace is a Distinguished Professor of South Asian and Inner Asian Buddhist Traditions in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara, where she teaches courses on Indian Buddhism, Mongolian Buddhism, and advanced Sanskrit. She has authored over 90 publications, including eight books and numerous articles and book chapters on diverse aspects of Indian and Mongolian Buddhist traditions. She is also an Affiliate Faculty in Translation Studies Program and in Medical Humanities and Disabilities Program at UCSB. She serves on many international editorial and advisory boards and is currently the Executive Director of Mongolia Foundation in the U.S. Since 2000, she has worked on the promotion and development of Buddhism in Mongolia for which she received a friendship medal from the President of Mongolia.