Shantum Seth is a Buddhist scholar and practitioner and an ordained teacher (Dharmacharya) in the Zen (Dhyana) lineage of the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh. He teaches in India and abroad and has been leading pilgrimages 'In the Footsteps of the Buddha' since 1988.
He has contributed to a number of books including 'Walking with the Buddha', 'I have arrived, I am home' and 'Volunteers against Conflict'. He has also been a consultant on films including 'Life of the Buddha' made by the BBC and Discovery, ‘The Story of India’ made by BBC and PBS and is presently working on a Hollywood production entitled 'Buddha'.
He has a weekly TV programme on Zee TV in India , called Buddham Saranam Gachami (I take Refuge in Buddha).
He has been a guest lecturer at many forums including to the World President’s organization, the Young President’s organization, the UNDP executive board and a number of universities and conferences.
Shantum graduated in Development Studies, with his thesis in Gandhian Economics, while also getting a diploma in Footwear Technology and Management.
After working in the corporate sector, Shantum worked in the Social Development sector and for fifteen years was with the United Nations Development Programme and UNESCO, managing programmes on volunteer promotion, peace education, world heritage sites and sustainable livelihood programmes. He is also actively involved in the non-profit trust Ahimsa, which is working on peace, cultural and environmental programmes. www.ahimsatrust.org
He lives with his wife, two daughters and parents in Noida, near Delhi
Stephen Batchelor is is a contemporary Buddhist teacher and writer, best known for his secular or agnostic approach to Buddhism. Through his writings, translations and teaching, Stephen engages in a critical exploration of Buddhism's role in the modern world. He has co-led journeys with Shantum Seth and Buddhapath for Tricycle, the Buddhist magazine.
Stephen was born in Dundee, Scotland, on April 7, 1953. He grew up in a humanist environment with his mother Phyllis (b. 1913) and brother David (b. 1955) in Watford, north west of London. After completing his education at Watford Grammar School, he travelled overland to India in February 1972, at the age of eighteen.
He settled in Dharamsala, the capital-in-exile of the Dalai Lama, and studied at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives with Ven. Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey. He was ordained as a novice Buddhist monk in 1974. He left India in 1975 in order to study Buddhist philosophy and doctrine under the guidance of Ven. Geshe Rabten, at the Tibetan Monastic Institute in Rikon, Switzerland and at Le Mont Pelerin, Switzerland. He lived in Germany and South Korea and traveled extensively in Japan, China and Tibet.
He disrobed in February 1985 and married Martine Fages in Hong Kong before returning to England and joining the Sharpham North Community in Totnes, Devon. From 1990 he has been a Guiding Teacher at Gaia House meditation centre in Devon and since 1992 a contributing editor ofTricycle: The Buddhist Review.
In August 2000, he and Martine moved to Aquitaine, France, where they live in a small village near Bordeaux with their cat Alex. While at home he pursues his work as a scholar, writer and artist. He is the translator and author of various books and articles on Buddhism including the bestselling Buddhism Without Beliefs (Riverhead 1997). His most recent publication is Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil (Riverhead, 2004). He is currently writing a novel on the Buddha's life based on canonical and commentarial materials in Pali.
Stephen has been co-leading journeys in India with Shantum Seth and Buddhapath for Tricycle, the Buddhist magazine for the last several years. He will again be leading a journey to his beloved caves of Ajanta and Ellora..
Chandana Dey is the project manager for Srihaswani, or Creative Manual Skills for Self Reliant Development, set in West Bengal . Based in Shantiniketan, she is also leading an effort to revitalize Shantiniketan. She has worked for UNRISD (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development) in Geneva , Switzerland . She served as Project Coordinator with the Ahimsa Trust in West Bengal for the past decade. Chandana has a background in History and International Affairs. Committed to facilitating grassroots development change, she is the co-founder of The Bhab Initiative.
Sucharita Seal is the Secretary of the Antaranga Society for Social and Economic Development. (ASSED). ASSED runs a school for underprivileged children in Shantiniketan and organises community libraries in Kolkata. Ms. Seal enjoys meeting people from different countries. She works with a volunteer placement organisation based in the UK. Her passion is education, teaching and providing opportunities for children from marginalised backgrounds. She has a degree in Social Work and has worked for over three decades in the field of social development and teaching. Sucharita asserts her spirituality through “karma" or work that benefits people. Sucharita's home is Kolkata and she enjoys showing visitors the city. She is very knowledgeable about Indian culture and traditions and her family skillfully combines the traditional and modern. Ms. Seal lives in a joint family with her daughter, son-in law, son-in law's mother, and grandchildren.
Jagdish Chamola lives in the hill state Uttarakhand where he runs a restaurant and hotel on the pilgrimage route to Badrinath along with his brother. He has been leading trekking tours in the Himalayas for the past 15 years both for Indians and non Indians. After finishing his Bachelor’s degree in Science, he completed a Post-graduate diploma course in Tourism and Hoteliering at the Garhwal university. He is well versed in Indian customs and traditions and is also an excellent cook. He has been assisting Shantum Seth on the Buddhapath pilgrimages for a number of years. He lives with his wife, son and parents.
Gitanjali Varma Seth
Gitanjali Varma Seth after finishing her schooling at The Welham Girls school, graduated from the Lady Sriram college in Delhi with honours in Psychology. Thereafter she passed her Law exams at the Delhi Law school, practised in a law firm and then went on to complete her Masters in Law at the University of Virginia in the US. On her return to India, due to her interest in social justice, she joined the United Nations to assist in managing a Programme for Artisan Development in South Asia. During that period she worked closely with Anna Hazare ( a modern day Gandhi) on his 300 village programme. Thereafter she helped set up an international network of marginalized groups in 16 countries again under the auspicies of the UN in the Inter regional Volunteer Programme for Artisan Support. She won the Atsuhito Nakata award for volunteering, now known as the United Nations Volunteers Ambassador award. She married Shantum Seth in 1996 and they have two children and live in Noida, a suburb of Delhi in India. She is the managing trustee of Ahimsa Trust, which works in the fields of education, culture and social development. www.ahimsatrust.org
Bina Aranha
Bina Aranha graduated with Commerce honours from Delhi University. She is deeply involved with community work and the Catholic church. She is an editor of the residents’ news magazine, Samvada, in the area where she lives. She now helps edit 25 such residents’ magazines in Delhi/Noida. She is the Vice President of Buddhapath and has been with the organization since 1998. She enjoys interacting with people from different countries and backgrounds, sharing with them to the unique character of Delhi and India. Her husband runs a software company in Malaysia and she has three grown up children.
