travels widely throughout the world teaching and furthering his own education. His most well-known student in the Western world is Pema Chödrön, who took him as her primary teacher in 1994, years after the death of her root guru, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Mangala Shri Bhuti, Rinpoche's organization, has a total of five centers. Three are study and practice centers – Phuntsok Choling in Boulder, Colorado, Pema Osel Do Ngak Choling in Vershire, Vermont, and the Guna Institute in Bir, India. The remaining two are retreat centers – Longchen Jigme Samten Ling in Crestone, Colorado, seat of the Sangdo Palri Temple, and Guna Norling in Salvador, Bahia – Brazil. Artistic pursuits Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche is also an abstract expressionist painter. Kongtrul Rinpoche views creativity as "something very large – the essence of everything". His training in the arts began at an early age with the practice of calligraphy, music, ritual dance and other traditional Tibetan arts. After his introduction to Western culture, Rinpoche became increasingly interested in modern art, particularly abstract painting and the work of Pablo Picasso and Wassily Kandinsky. He began painting under the guidance of his teacher, Yahne Le Toumelin in the mid-1990s. Mrs. Le Toumelin, who is based in Dordogne, France, is herself a renowned abstract expressionist painter who was introduced by André Breton in the 1960 as one of the few women painters to make a mark in her generation. Mrs. Le Toumelin teaches a unique style of oil paint mixed with glue applied with special palettes. She regards Rinpoche as her most significant student and an artist whose fearlessness and brilliance are incomparable. Integrating art and wisdom In his book Natural Vitality, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche speaks about how the creative process and meditation can merge. The outcome is not only profound works of art, but an added dimension for our spiritual growth. The essential practice of meditation is to allow the mind to express itself freely without fear or judgment. In each moment of awareness we encounter impressions of the outer world through our sense perception as well as our inner world of thoughts, feelings and emotions. When, through the process of meditation, we are able to let this incredible array of experience be, without trying to reject what we fear or pull in what we feel attracted to – when we relax into experience without trying to manipulate it in any way – we