Liz Monson

Dharma Lopon and Spiritual Co-Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship

Managing Teacher of Wonderwell Mountain Refuge

Elizabeth Monson, PhD, is the Spiritual Co-Director of Natural Dharma Fellowship and the Managing Teacher at Wonderwell Mountain Refuge. She has been studying, practicing and teaching Tibetan Buddhism in the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages for over twenty-five years. She has studied with Pema Chodron, Tulku Orgyen Rinpoche, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, Trungpa Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Gyalse Tendzin Rabgye and others. 

Elizabeth is interested in accessing the energy and open awareness found in the natural world for awakening in everyday life. She also focuses her teaching on developing practical methods for incorporating the Buddhist teachings into this human life through the practices of kindness and compassion and on recognizing the natural state in every moment of our lives. These days she derives inspiration from the teachings of Anam Thupten, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and Lama John Makransky.

Elizabeth holds a PhD in the Study of Religion from Harvard University with foci in Buddhist Studies, Tibetan Buddhism, and ethics. Her research interests include the ways in which Himalayan Buddhist biographical, autobiographical, narrative, poetic, and meditative literature work to provide a space for meditation on what it means to live a good human life. Elizabeth has lectured at the Harvard Divinity School and is the co-translator of More Than a Madman: The Divine Words of Drukpa Kunley (2014), a translation of the autobiography of Drukpa Kunley. She is currently working on a biography of Drukpa Kunley for a series being published by Shambhala, called “Lives of the Masters.”