Michael Levin, long-time dharma practitioner and student of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Michael Levin passed away on August 14, 2025 in Belmont, Massachusetts. Michael had been living, in recent years, and receiving care at the Belmont Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, with support from his wife Emily Weidman.
Soon after his passing, the Hospice Chaplin and Emily, both Tibetan Buddhist practitioners, were able to be present with Michael, practice, and recite mantras together. Also, a Drikung Kagyu lama, who had been contacted close to the time of Michael‘s death, was able to do phowa practice for him. The feeling was that Michael “chose” a good time to transition.
In addition to his practice and study of Buddhism over many years, Michael was involved at M.I.T., in the 1960’s, in early research of A.I. and software programming languages (Lisp). As well, in the 1980’s, he was a co-founder of Gensym, Corp., applying A.I. technology to the field of real-time process control and monitoring of complex industrial systems.
Post a Tribute to Michael Levin
Tributes
A post in memory of Michael, highlighting a connection through computer science and music, as well as Dharma.
I first met Michael, during the 1980's, along with other sangha members involved in the computer science field in Boulder. While planning graduate studies in computer science, I learned that several sangha members, including Michael, were to teach at a university in Nova Scotia. Although, I enrolled at the University of Colorado, I did enjoy meeting Michael several times, over the years, at different A.I. conferences.
At one conference, Michael was at a booth representing the company he was with before Gensym and we had good discussions. The following year, I was glad to see him again, but this time at the Gensym booth, excited to talk about the company that he was with and had recently co-founded It was great to hear about Gensym products and technologies being used. (l just searched online and found this article about Gensym in the NY Times, from that time period - https://www.nytimes.com/1991/02/10/business/technology-keeping-track-of-a-hermetic-universe.html )
In the late-1980s and planning a move to the Boston area, I reached out to Michael, being very interested in Gensym and its real-time rule-based system technology. He generously set up a meeting with me. I still remember going to lunch, close to the Cambridge office, as part of the interview process with members of the development team. The group was very welcoming, as well as very capable and bright. The interview went well and I was very glad to join the development team, led by Michael. I stayed with Gensym for over 7 ½ years, a memorable time of my career, being with such an innovative and dynamic company, and talented people.
I most remember the brilliance and humbleness of Michael. For example, how he described in a matter-of-fact way how he designed the G2 rules-engine, after he determined what it needed to be capable of and then just did it, like it was no big deal 🙂
A vivid memory from that time involved Michael and the development team meeting with company partners visiting from Japan. During our social gathering and conversation, some of us expressed our interest in Japanese contemplative arts, including Gagaku and Bugaku, ancient Japanese court music and dance. In mentioning this, the Japanese visitors were, of course, surprised. Then, Michael commented, in his inscrutable way, how listening to Gagakau music was like hiking up a Japanese mountain trail and sitting by a cool stream. As you could imagine, this added to the surprise and wonder for the guests, with perhaps a loss for words :- ) Though, when I then also mentioned an interest in jazz music, and having recently seen Miles Davis perform, the visitor became very animated and expressed their excitement at that! 🙂
I am very appreciative for my time at Gensym, working with Michael and all the team. Interesting to see how that experience has been a foundation for other future work, including at Resmed - a company that specializes in CPAP and ventilator products - that I am currently with. Once again working on a rule-based system that monitors large sets of device data - similar to the purpose of Gensym's G2 - applying learnings from that time and with Michael.
As a side note, with his background in A.I. and software, I think Michael would have a smile seeing the prompt on this page, for submitting a tribute, to confirm ("Are you Human? ...")
Best to you Michael as you go forward from this life, for all your contributions and lives you have touched.
I believe it was Mike Levin, whom I met. It was just another of those brief encounters in the sangha, which had a powerful effect upon my path. I was only recently introduced to the dharma. Even so, I was taking a deep dive. I was a member of Skylake, gladly welcoming a quiet man who was “new.” I thought that no one else was around, but I would soon to learn we are often surrounded by mysterious entities. This, I learned later from Arawana, was Michael. It was the only time I encountered him. There was an exhibit of the beautiful thangka paintings of Gurmi Lama, adorning the walls of the dining room.
Just as in a museum, people come and go, and their respective attraction to the representations of the art, serve to bring those people together. So, Michael and I found ourselves ,standing silently side-by-side before the figure of Vajrayogini. Out of the corners of our eyes, we made a connection, as if she was our ambassador. We turned toward each other. He spoke to me. They were the only words we shared:
“Some day you will meet her.”
I felt heat, rising up in my body, and then tears poured from my eyes. It was a blessing, an act of great kindness.
I believe it was Mike Levin, whom I met. It was just another of those brief encounters in the sangha, which had a powerful effect upon my path. I was only recently introduced to the dharma. Even so, I was taking a deep dive. I was a member of Skylake, gladly welcoming a quiet man who was “new.” I thought that no one else was around, but I would soon to learn we are often surrounded by mysterious entities. This, I learned later from Arawana, was Michael. It was the only time I encountered him. There was an exhibit of the beautiful thangka paintings of Gurmi Lama, adorning the walls of the dining room.
Just as in a museum, people come and go, and their respective attraction to the representations of the art, serve to bring those people together. So, Michael and I found ourselves ,standing silently side-by-side before the figure of Vajrayogini. Out of the corners of our eyes, we made a connection, as if she was our ambassador. We turned toward each other. He spoke to me. They were the only words we shared:
“Some day you will meet her.”
I felt heat, rising up in my body, and then tears poured from my eyes. It was a blessing, an act of great kindness.
Michael was deeply committed to the bodhisattva path and sharing the dharma. He was also a genius mind whose cerebrum cooked at a high temperature nonstop. I appreciated working with him and Emily in developing the Waltham meditation group. He was a genuine vajra brother and fellow classical music aficionado. His phowa, performed by Drikung Lama Sonam was really moving. Thanks for your contribution to this life, Michael!
