John Makransky combines an academic career as professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology at Boston College with his role as a meditation teacher. Since 1978 John has practiced meditations of compassion and wisdom under the guidance of lamas in the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug traditions of Tibet.  In 2000 he was installed as a lama in the lineage of his first root teacher, Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche, by Lama Surya Das. In the following years, he met and practiced with his other root teachers, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche and Tsoknyi Rinpoche.  Since 2000, John has made practices of replenishing, inclusive compassion and awareness newly accessible to people of all backgrounds and faiths to empower care, service and action, while also empowering Western Buddhists to deepen their contemplative experience of love and wisdom.

John wrote a widely read manual of practices adapted from Tibetan Buddhism entitled Awakening Through Love: Unveiling Your Deepest Goodness. He has also authored Buddhahood Embodied: Sources of Controversy in India and Tibet, coedited Buddhist Theology: Critical Reflections by Contemporary Buddhist Scholars, and authored many articles and essays.