Ken Holmes, born in London in 1947, left his early career in chemical engineering to manage a project helping homeless addicts in central London. On completion of this, he set out in 1969 to meet in person the Sufi and Tibetan mystics he had read read about since his childhood. His travels led him through the Middle East and Afghanistan to India, where he spent six months in Dharmasala studying with the monks of HH the Dalai Lama. From there he went to Kagyu Samye Ling, the first Tibetan Buddhist centre established in the West. This has been his base for the past 25 years, during which time his life has been devoted to making Tibetan Buddhist meditation and philosophy available to the western world. He and his wife Katia have translated some of the main Kagyu teaching texts into English as well as much of the liturgy used in daily Buddhist practice.

In 1977 Ken spent six months traveling with His Holiness the 16th Karmapa as one of his assistants for his European tour. It was during this time that His Holiness encouraged him and Katia to enter into intensive study of Kagyu texts and to prepare accurate English translations based upon the traditional lineage explanations. Ken is presently Director of Studies at Kagyu Samye Ling, where he teaches, translates and interprets for visiting Tibetan lamas.