Thomas Cox

T. Luis Cox has been a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism for the last fifteen years, in which his principal teachers have been H.E. Garchen Rinpoche, Khenchen Konchog Gyaltsen Rinpoche, the Ven. Ontul Rinpoche, the Ven. Choejor Rinpoche, and Khenchen Parchhimba Dorjee Rinpoche. During that time, he’s led study groups in Gampopa’s Jewel Ornament of Liberation and Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, as well as having taught meditation and led various meditation groups. Born in Toquepala, Peru, he lived in California, Indiana, and Ohio before moving to Tucson, Arizona in 1987 to attend the M.F.A. program in creative writing at the University of Arizona. After graduating in 1991, he went into the business of making food for a living, what involved a wholesale natural foods business and a restaurant called The Tao of Natural Foods Cafe. Recently, he’s worked as a writing instructor at Pima College. Currently, he directs the Tibetan Meditation Center of Tucson and does healing work with a new technology involving Vogel crystals, light and sound. His first book of poems A Stone Blessing has recently been published by Uccelli Press (uccellipress.com) of Seattle, Washington. He’s also author of Among Angels and Crabs, as yet unpublished, as well as a recently completed collection of poems entitled Breathing with Wings in October Light. He continues to work on The Lotus King, a book-length narrative poem on the life of Guru Padmasambhava, and is also working on a new collection of poems based on the paintings of artist Sarah Spector called Imaginary Still Lifes. Above all, his daughter Mandarava (named after Padmasambhava’s first consort) continues to be the light and inspiration of his life.