Karin Behrendt grew up in Berlin, where she received a teacher-training in arts and worked as a percussionist. She started to practise Zen Buddhism in her early twenties, before encountering the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and learning to love its richness and profundity

Karin has worked in varied roles to support Rigpa. She accompanied Sogyal Rinpoche as his main German translator for over 20 years and has translated for many other teachers visiting Rigpa, as well as several books and websites about the Dharma and spiritual care for the dying. Based on her own experience with illness and death, one of her favourite subjects in her live and online talks and courses is the Tibetan Buddhist understanding of impermanence and death as an integral part of life, and the methods to cope with and prepare for it.

She lives with her partner in southern France, close to Rigpa’s retreat centre, Lerab Ling.