Lama Jim Kukula took refuge from Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche in 1982, and completed a three-year retreat in 1996. He studied physics in college and then spent twenty years working in the semiconductor industry as a software developer. He is especially interested in how the idea of interdependent arising sheds light on issues in the ethics of technology. 

Roots

I was born in 1955, spent my formative years in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, then moved around a bit. For a couple of grade school years I lived in England, attending school at Stubbington House near Ascot, Berkshire. I started high school at Lake Forest High School in Lake Forest, Illinois, and finished at Homestead Jr. Sr. High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Physics

I studied physics in college, receiving the A.B. degree summa cum laude from Princeton University and the M.S. degree from the University of Pennsylvania. My research work was mainly the theoretical study of phase transitions, renormalization groups, and the topology of defects.

Digital Systems

My professional career has been in developing computer systems to help digital hardware engineers. I have developed interactive schematic editors, design databases, simulators, state encoding algorithms, and a variety of Binary Decision Diagram applications such as formal equivalence checking. I have also developed parallel computer hardware and an object-oriented operating system to manage applications running on such hardware. I started my career at IBM, then continued at Synopsys in Hillsboro, Oregon. I also spent a year as a Visiting Scientist at MIT while working at IBM.

Here's a resume that gives more details on my digital systems career.

Buddhism

My main teacher has been Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, the abbot at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra in Woodstock, New York. My most intensive involvement was my participation in the three year retreat led by Khenpo Rinpoche at Karme Ling. I have also benefitted greatly from the teachings and inspiration of other great teachers in the Kagyu lineage and the other lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. The Zen Mountain Monastery in Mount Tremper, New York, and its abbot John Daido Loori, very kindly gave me an opportunity to experience and learn from the Zen tradition.

Yoga

My discovery of the Iyengar school of Yoga originally opened my experience up to the world beyond the Cartesian mind/body split. My main Yoga teachers have been Joan White and Patricia Walden.