Sr. Sharifa Vernice Meytung (Meylong Tungba)

Contact: meytung@outlook.com

Sr. Sharifa V. Meytung is a Catholic-Buddhist lay contemplative practitioner; teacher; haijin

(writer of haiku poetry) and an abstract painter. Her spiritual practice is also deeply informed by her ancestral animist indigeneity.

She has studied in many community and academic settings, including Catholic Theology at the University of Erfurt, Germany. Currently, her academic focus is on Education and

Africology/African American Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the year 2000 she pilgrimed to the Jasna Gora Monastery in Poland, in homage to Our Lady of Czestochowa to whom she devoted her contemplative lay vows in the same year.

In 2017, Sr. Sharifa began practicing Shamatha (calm-abiding) meditation with the Philadelphia sangha of the Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Center (CTBC), led by Lama Losang Samten (Spiritual Director). Since 2020, Sr. Sharifa has guided both the CTBC annual Prayers for Peace Mantra-thon (in collaboration with Peace Day Philly / International Prayers for Peace United Nations); as well as the CTBC monthly virtual Medicine Buddha practice. As a sangha teacher at CTBC, she enjoys sharing with the community an inter-faith approach to spiritual practice with an emphasis on the beneficial practice of Medicine Buddha (Sangye Menla). In addition to these activities, she also serves as the Contemplative Traditions Advisor for the Center and Library for the Bible and Social Justice.

Over the past several years, Sr. Sharifa has benefited deeply from the generous teachings and guidance of Lama Losang Samten (Shamatha); the Venerable Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche (Dzogchen/Buddhist Philosophy); and Yeshe Kaytup Rinpoche (Mahamudra). She looks forward to continuing to grow, learn and share from her Dharmic path, which honors the wisdom teachings of all the traditions that she holds dear.