Troy Harris
PROFILE | TROY HARRIS
Senior Researcher and Poet
Venerable Tantidhara
troydeanharris@gmail.com
1953
Born, Los Angeles
1971–1972
The Anatomy of
An Internal Compass
Registers for the draft on turning 18
in late 1971; immediately initiates
a challenge against the system as a
Conscientious Objector (1-O status)
in opposition to civilian slaughter in
Vietnam; mounts his legal defense
of conscience before the Pasadena
Draft Board with written statements
supported by testimonies of local
religious leader Rev Watson
and his father David Keith Harris,
WWII veteran; secures a landmark
victory for social dissent and
personal conscience, well before
Nixon's 1973 order to end the draft
1976
Graduates CalPoly Pomona in
philosophy; immediately departs
for Japan; gains direct, unspoken
entry into an esoteric lineage
of masters; the natural extension
of a deeply examined life led
entirely by internal compass.
Upasampadā Intercontinental
by grace of Guru Mahakashyap
via gurus Watazumi and Isa on the
December full moon in Gaya;
lineage keepership disclosed as
sovereign emergence; the ritual
officiant is the legal basis for
the Upasampada by-laws, while
transmission flows exalted through
a quorum of five living gurus who
remain immortal within the vessel
1981–1983
Independent research Nepal & India
1983–2001
Research under Guru René Laubiès
in Puri and Varkala, Paris and Venice
1984–1988
Five-year training & research with
Saint Rajguru Chod Hasbamrer
Yoga Conservatoire, Bangkok,
Rishikesh and Wat Suan Mokkh
1983–1987
Private Tantidhara curatorship under
Guru Buddhadasa, Wat Suan Mokkh
1994
Upasampadana reconfirmation ritual
31 January–1 February
Her Majesty Queen Sirikit's presence
on 31 Jan bespeaks royal patronage
Conducted by Supreme Patriarch
Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara
Wat Bowonniwet Vihara, Bangkok
Commences private comparative
ethnological research in South,
Southeast and Far East Asian
soteriological ascetic art nostalgia
1995
Rains w/ Ven. Ming Shan (释明山)
Dragon Elephant Cave Hermitage,
Songkhla, near Padang Besar
across the Malayisan border.
Teaches yoga tantra to young nuns
at Wanfo Temple (霧峰萬佛寺)
Wufeng District Taichung, Taiwan
1996
Publishes preliminary research
'Buddhismus und Yoga' (trans.
A. Sartiono), Der Mittlere Weg,
Buddhistischer Bund Hannover
1999
Lecturer, University of the West,
Rosemead, California
'Art and poetic composition'
2005–2008
Guest Lecturer
National University of Singapore
Founds Jasmin Hermitage,
Senior Researcher and poet
108 Lorong 31, Singapore
Publishes two works
The Savage Buddha
(Gautama and the Kapalika vrata),
Grafting Plato's Shadow Play
(a spray can version of metaleptic
mimesis), Ashé Journal of
Experimental Spirituality, 2006
2010
Doctoral study, ascetic art curation
w/ Ven. Prof. Dr. Thich Tịnh Hạnh
Institut Huyen-Vi, Vitry-sur-Seine.
Appointed Rector, Institut Huyen-Vi
2014–2015
Founder-director, Yoga-bauddha
Research Institute, Munich
Publishes
Streams to Healthy Living Yoga:
The Source of Ancient Bauddha
2018
Postdoctoral research publication;
Yoga-Shaiva-Bauddha Hybridity
Among the Old Khmer & Siamese,
Superv. Prof Sachchidanand Sahai,
Siem Reap, Cambodia. Leads dawn
meditation at Angkor Wat as a rite
of reflection on the Khmer temple's
cosmic aspects for the International
Conference on Angkor Wat:
The Monument and the Living
Presence 28th–30th March,
in cooperation with the
Indira Gandhi National Centre
for the Arts, New Delhi, India.
2022–2023
Private wooded practice & research
Das Buddhistische Haus, Berlin
2024–2025
Private lakeside forest practice
and poetic residency, Sweden
Publishes two poetic works: s62iv,
Salamanca, and s5, Asburgo
2026
Observes a fiftieth year in
multi-lineage conduction,
extending the vested journey