Pema Desel

A Vajrayāna woman practitioner.

Teacher Pema, whose dharma name Pema Desel was given personally by the venerable Urgyen Tenzin Rinpoche, has for many years attended upon Urgyen Topden Rinpoche, serving as his secretary for more than thirteen years, and takes Urgyen Topden Rinpoche as her root guru, long relying on him to study Vajrayāna Buddhism. She has also received teachings on Tibetan Buddhism and yoga from Urgyen Tenzin Rinpoche and Vajra Master Pema Gyalpo; various empowerments and oral transmissions from His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche; and teachings from Jinpa Gyatso Rinpoche, and enjoys a good friendship with the Shakya people of Patan, Nepal. She has also studied the wisdom of the Dharma under Khenpo Tsering Tashi, chairman of the Taiwan International Tibetan Buddhism Research Association and founder of the Rongsong Buddhist Channel.

In 2019, with the assent of the venerable Urgyen Tenzin Rinpoche of Nepal, she co-founded the Urgyen Fahsilin Buddhist Association, and now serves as its founder and President, devoted to spreading Mahāyāna Vajrayāna Buddhism and to establishing a lama school in the Himalayas to support education and cultural continuity.

In 2017 she took part in the "Ascending-Ladder Ordination Puja" held by the United Association of Taoist Schools of Taiwan, successfully passing the test of the nail-ladder (blade-ladder) — over thirty metres high and set with sharp heavenly blades — and formally attained the qualification of an orthodox Taiwanese priestess, reported in an interview by the Central News Agency. Her teachers were President Lu Kun-yong and Taoist Master Chuan-xi.

In teaching, she has served as lecturer and teaching assistant in the I Ching program at Chungyu University of Science and Technology, and has taught I Ching and Bazi at the classroom of the I-Mei Foods eco-factory, offering many classes in I Ching and Bazi. She has long studied Vajrayāna Buddhism, as well as Bazi, the I Ching, Zi Wei Dou Shu, date selection and name study, and other traditional Eastern arts.

Teacher Pema comes from a family of religious service, a third-generation heir, raised from childhood at the Weiying Altar — founded by her grandfather in the Longshan Temple area of Wanhua and over sixty years old — inheriting the family's faith and vocation, with a deep background in religious culture and a foundation in practice.

For many years she has relied on Urgyen Topden Rinpoche to study the Dharma and has taken up the mission of spreading it for the benefit of beings. Over the years she has helped the Rinpoche organize his teachings and taken part in editing, producing and distributing dharma books, devoted to preserving and widely spreading the precious wisdom of the Dharma. She now focuses on gathering and organizing the Dharma wisdom and precious teachings the lineage master has given over more than a decade, hoping to preserve them completely and circulate them widely for the benefit of all beings.

As current President of the Urgyen Fahsilin Buddhist Association, she is responsible for advancing the association's dharma work, leading pujas, group practice and Vajrayāna practice courses, and helping students realize the Dharma in life and practice.

In the future she will continue to promote Dharma education and the transmission of practice, and plans to establish a retreat centre in Taiwan to provide practitioners a place for long, deep practice — hoping to cultivate more practitioners of right view and true realization, to spread the true Dharma together and benefit all beings.