CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA (1940-1987)--meditation master, teacher, and artist--founded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, the first Buddhist-inspired university in North America; the Shambhala Training program; and an international association of meditation centers known as Shambhala International. He is the author of numerous books, including Shambhala: Sacred Path of the Warrior, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, and The Myth of Freedom.

Carolyn Rose Gimian, has been editing the works of Chögyam Trungpa for more than thirty-five years. Following his death, she became the founding director of the Shambhala Archives, the archival repository for Chögyam Trungpa's work in Halifax, Nova Scotia.