After encountering Tibetan Buddhism in college, Merrill Peterson has been studying Buddhist teachings and his own mind for now over 50 years. He became a student of Tarthang Tulku in 1970 and has plunged into reading the texts and making the work of preserving Tibetan traditions his main focus in life.

He was the Production Manager at Dharma Press from 1974-1978, and the Project Manager for the Derge Kangyur & Tangyur reprint from 1978-1981.  He then worked on the Arbor Prayer Wheel project from 2017-2019, and has worked at Yeshe De Text Preservation since 2019. He now serves as the Bindery Manager at Yeshe De.