Review of identifying persons
128 Middle-Length Lamrim
Venerable Thubten Tarpa 
Stages of the Path 
Sep 17, 2026 Venerables Thubten Tarpa and Gyalten Palmo lead a meditation and review. Part of a series of weekly teachings on Lama Tsongkhapa's Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.
Refer to the slides for the teaching.
- Guided analytical meditation on investigating the if the “I” is permanent
- Identifying persons
- The analogy of the chariot and the person
- Persons don’t exist ultimately, they exist conventionally
- The person is imputed in relation to a set of aggregates
- The person is neither the same nor different from the aggregates
- How the four major Buddhist tenet systems and their subsystems designate the person
- Understanding the different meanings of self and related terms
- Questions and comments
Venerable Thubten Tarpa
Venerable Thubten Tarpa is an American practicing in the Tibetan tradition since 2000 when she took formal refuge. She has lived at Sravasti Abbey under the guidance of Venerable Thubten Chodron since May of 2005. She was the first person to ordain at Sravasti Abbey, taking her sramanerika and sikasamana ordinations with Venerable Chodron as her preceptor in 2006. See pictures of her ordination. Her other main teachers are H.H. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya and H.E. Dagmo Kusho. She has had the good fortune to receive teachings from some of Venerable Chodron's teachers as well. Before moving to Sravasti Abbey, Venerable Tarpa (then Jan Howell) worked as a Physical Therapist/Athletic Trainer for 30 years in colleges, hospital clinics, and private practice settings. In this career she had the opportunity to help patients and teach students and colleagues, which was very rewarding. She has B.S. degrees from Michigan State and University of Washington and an M.S. degree from the University of Oregon. She coordinates the Abbey's building projects. On December 20, 2008 Ven. Tarpa traveled to Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights California receiving bhikhshuni ordination. The temple is affiliated with Taiwan's Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order.
