Lama Yeshe Jinpa
About the Teacher
Why study with them?
Lama Yeshe Jinpa (Stephen Bryant Walker, LMFT) is an American Buddhist teacher, psychotherapist, and community leader whose life's work has been dedicated to healing, spiritual practice, and compassionate service. Based in Sacramento, California, he serves as Spiritual Director and resident teacher of Lion's Roar Dharma Center, which he co-founded with Geshe Losang Gyatso in 1992. Lion's Roar was established as a nonprofit organization in 1998. Lama Jinpa received direct lineage transmission from Geshe Losang Gyatso in 1995 and is among the few Western lamas recognized within the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
His path into Buddhism began early, shaped by his grandmother's library of Buddhist books, an influential high school teacher, and a formative trip to Japan at age fifteen. He later studied with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, where he first took Refuge. From 1975 to 1980 he attended the Buddhist Studies Program at Naropa, and he also trained in Zen with Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi, helping to establish a Zen center in Boulder. These experiences contributed to the warmth, openness, and nonsectarian spirit of his teaching, which is rooted in the Gelug tradition and the example of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
Alongside his Dharma work, Lama Jinpa founded Middleway Health and the Middle Way Health Foundation, integrating psychotherapy with mindfulness, loving-kindness, nonjudgmental awareness, and contemplative practice. The foundation offers free individual psychotherapy and supports weekly recovery and grief groups. He has also served as a prison chaplain at Folsom Prison and created Expressions, a monthly program devoted to art as a source of healing. Throughout his life, Lama Jinpa has joined spiritual practice with direct human care, embodying the tour's purpose of bringing healing, inner change, and peace into real communities.
His path into Buddhism began early, shaped by his grandmother's library of Buddhist books, an influential high school teacher, and a formative trip to Japan at age fifteen. He later studied with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in Boulder, where he first took Refuge. From 1975 to 1980 he attended the Buddhist Studies Program at Naropa, and he also trained in Zen with Kyozan Joshu Sasaki Roshi, helping to establish a Zen center in Boulder. These experiences contributed to the warmth, openness, and nonsectarian spirit of his teaching, which is rooted in the Gelug tradition and the example of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
Alongside his Dharma work, Lama Jinpa founded Middleway Health and the Middle Way Health Foundation, integrating psychotherapy with mindfulness, loving-kindness, nonjudgmental awareness, and contemplative practice. The foundation offers free individual psychotherapy and supports weekly recovery and grief groups. He has also served as a prison chaplain at Folsom Prison and created Expressions, a monthly program devoted to art as a source of healing. Throughout his life, Lama Jinpa has joined spiritual practice with direct human care, embodying the tour's purpose of bringing healing, inner change, and peace into real communities.
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