Patrick Dowd graduated with his PhD in Anthropology from the University of British Columbia in May 2024. His dissertation centered on the relationship between the Tibetan language and Buddhist transmission, a topic he has explored for more than a decade while living in the Himalaya and Tibet. He conducted the majority of his doctoral research concurrent with teaching SINI’s monastic students, whose erudition, wisdom, compassion, and humor serve as the beating heart of his dissertation. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow with the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), pursuing a new research project on the Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, while affiliated with the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Sarnath. He feels extraordinarily fortunate to be a part of the SINI mandala and the deep, meaningful relationships this entails.