John Makransky is a professor of Buddhism at Boston College and the founder and guiding teacher of the Foundation for Active Compassion, which provides meditation workshops and retreats both in Buddhist contemplative settings and also in secular settings for peace and social justice activists, ministers, social workers, teachers, therapists, counselors, health care and other helping professionals.  He combines an academic career as associate professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology at Boston College with his role as a meditation teacher within the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.   John has studied and practiced Tibetan Buddhism since 1978 under the guidance of Tibetan lamas and scholars in the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug traditions. In 2000 he was installed as a lama in the lineage of his first root teacher, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, by Lama Surya Das. Two years later he met his other root teacher, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche. John now serves as a senior faculty advisor and lecturer for Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Centre for Buddhist Studies in Bodhnath, Nepal, affiliated with Kathmandu University and Rangjung Yeshe Institute.  John lives outside of Boston with his wife and two sons.