AudioDharma Speakers
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Adrianne Ross | Adrianne, a retired family physician, has been involved in meditation and healing since 1976. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation since 1984. Her spiritual journey has also included contemplative inquiry practices and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. Trained by Jack Kornfield, Adrianne is influenced by both Thai and Burmese streams of the Theravadan tradition as well as Tibetan (Dzogchen) practice. She teaches classes and... |
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Ajaan Thanissaro | Ajaan Thanissaro (Geoff) is an American monk of the Thai forest tradition. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1971 with a degree in European Intellectual History, he studied meditation under Ajaan Fuang Jotiko in Thailand and ordained in 1976. In 1991 he helped establish Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego, CA where he is the abbot. He is a prolific writer and translator. Many of his works can be found online at www.dhammatalks.org. |
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Ajahn Amaro | Born in England in 1956, Ven. Amaro Bhikkhu received his BSc. in Psychology and Physiology from the University of London. Spiritual searching led him to Thailand, where he went to Wat Pah Nanachat, a Forest Tradition monastery established for Western disciples of Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, who ordained him as a bhikkhu in 1979. He returned to England and joined Ajahn Sumedho at the newly established Chithurst Monastery. He resided for... |
| Ajahn Brahmali | ||
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Ajahn Chandako | Originally from Minneapolis, Ajahn Chandako was ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1990 in the Thai Forest Tradition in the lineage of Ajahn Chah. After practicing intensive meditation in various monasteries in Thailand and traveling extensively in Tibet, Nepal, and India, he settled at Wat Pah Nanachat in Thailand, the monastery established by Ajahn Chah for his English-speaking disciples. He translated many of the teachings into English and is... |
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Ajahn Kovilo | Ajahn Kovilo is an Ohio-born monk who, having been introduced to meditation through the Goenka tradition, first entered the monastery in 2006. After receiving full ordination from Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro at Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California in 2010, Ajahn Kovilo spent the next decade training at monasteries in the Ajahn Chah tradition in America and Thailand. In 2020, after a year practicing at a Pa Auk Sayadaw monastery, Ajahn... |
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Ajahn Nisabho | After finishing college in 2012, Ajahn Nisabho left his native Washington to go forth as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. He received full ordination the following spring under Ajahn Anan, a senior disciple of renowned meditation master, Ajahn Chah, and spent the following years training in forest monasteries throughout Thailand, Australia, and the US. While staying with some of the lineage’s most respected teachers, he grew to believe the Thai... |
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Ajahn Pasanno | Ajahn Pasanno took ordination in Thailand in 1974 with Venerable Phra Khru Ñāṇasirivatana as preceptor. During his first year as a monk he was taken by his teacher to meet Ajahn Chah, with whom he asked to be allowed to stay and train. One of the early residents of Wat Pah Nanachat, Ajahn Pasanno became its abbot in his ninth year. During his incumbency Wat Pah Nanachat developed considerably, both in physical size and in reputation. Ajahn... |
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Ajahn Sucitto | |
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Alan Senauke | Hozan Alan Senauke is vice-abbot of Berkeley Zen Center, where he lives with his family. Alan is founder of the Clear View Project, developing Buddhist-based resources for relief and social change. He is Senior Advisor to Buddhist Peace Fellowship. In another realm, Alan has been a student and performer of American traditional music for nearly fifty years. |
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Alex Haley | Alex is an assistant professor of mindfulness programs at the University of Minnesota. He was trained as a Community Dharma Leader by Spirit Rock Meditation Center (SRMC) and is currently going through the 2013-16 Spirit Rock/IMS/IMC Teacher Training program. His mentors are Joseph Goldstein and Guy Armstrong. Alex was also trained through the Center for Spirituality & Healing, the Center for Mindfulness, and the Somatic Experiencing Trauma... |
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Alexis Santos | Alexis has practiced Insight Meditation in India, Burma and the US since 2001. He met Sayadaw U Tejaniya in Burma in 2003 and has been his long-time student, including several years of training as a Buddhist Monk under his guidance. Alexis’ teaching emphasizes knowing the mind through a natural and relaxed continuity. He brings a practical, intuitive and compassionate approach to the development of wisdom. He is a graduate of the Spirit... |
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Alice Cabotaje | The Rev. Alice Cabotaje is the Director of Spiritual Care at Stanford Health Care. Alice is a Certified Educator from the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) and a Board Certified Chaplain through the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC). |
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Amana Brembry Johnson | Amana Brembry Johnson is a Core Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA and a Guiding Teacher for the center’s Spiritual Teacher and Leadership (STL) training. Four decades of contemplative practice in multiple traditions contribute to a form of teaching, meditation guidance and mentoring, that offers a broad range of access to practice from diverse communities that warmly includes but is not exclusive to BIPOC, Black Women,... |
| Amy Saltzman | ||
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Andrea Castillo | Andrea Castillo has practiced Insight Meditation since 1998 under the guidance of Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella. She has taught Dharma at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) since 2011; she has specialized, although not exclusively, in teaching in Spanish for the Hispanic community. Andrea was trained as a teacher at IMC by Gil Fronsdal, and graduated from the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) teacher training, led by Joseph Goldstein. She... |
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Andrea Fella | Andrea Fella is a co-guiding teacher at the Insight Meditation Center and the Insight Retreat Center. She has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1996, and teaching Insight Meditation since 2003. She is particularly drawn to intensive retreat practice, and has done a number of long retreats, both in the United States and in Burma. During one long practice period in Burma, she ordained as a nun with Sayadaw U Janaka. Andrea is especially... |
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Angie Boissevain | Angie Boissevain is a transmitted lay priest disciple of Kobun Chino Otogawa and completed transmission with Vanja Palmers. She has been teaching in the San Francisco Bay Area for 40 years, with emphasis on zazen, and informal studies of Buddhist, especially Soto Zen, teachings. She was one of the founders, with Kobun roshi, of Jikoji, a Zen temple and retreat center in the Santa Cruz mountains, and is teacher for Floating Zendo meditation... |
| Anne Roise | ||
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Annie Nugent | Annie has practiced in the Theravada and Tibetan traditions since 1979 under the guidance of a range of teachers including Sayadaw U Pandita, Tulku Akong Rinpoche and various western teachers. She was the resident teacher at the Insight Meditation Society from 1999-2003 and has since been teaching elsewhere in America, including the annual IMS 3 month retreat and The Forest Refuge. Her teaching style aims to reveal how our all aspects of our... |
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Anushka Fernandopulle | Anushka Fernandopulle teaches Insight meditation in the San Francisco Bay Area and other parts of the world. Anushka is a member of the Spirit Rock Teacher's Council and has trained in the Theravada Buddhist tradition for 30 years in monasteries in Sri Lanka & India as well as urban US settings. Anushka has an MBA from Yale and works with organizations as a consultant and with individuals as a leadership coach. She leads a weekly meditation... |
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Ari Crellin-Quick | Ari Crellin-Quick has been a student of the Dharma since 2004. His primary practice lineage and orientation is based in the teachings of Sayadaw U Tejaniya, which emphasize a simple, natural, easeful knowing of experience for the cultivation of wisdom. Ari's primary Dharma mentor is Andrea Fella, and he has participated in Spirit Rock's Dedicated Practitioners Program, Insight Meditation Center's Local Dharma Leaders training, and is a... |
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Ari Goldfield | Ari Goldfield is a Buddhist teacher who had the unique experience of being continuously in the training and service of his own teacher, the Tibetan master Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, for eleven years. From 1998-2006, Ari served as Khenpo Rinpoche's oral translator and secretary on seven round-the-world teaching tours, received extensive instruction from Rinpoche, and meditated under Rinpoche’s guidance in retreats. Ari is also a... |
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Ayya Anandabodhi | Ayya Anandabodhi first encountered the Buddha’s teachings in her early teens, igniting a deep interest in the Buddha’s Path of Awakening. She lived and trained as a nun in the Forest Tradition at Amaravati and Chithurst monasteries in England from 1992 until 2009, when she moved to the US to help establish Aloka Vihara, a training monastery for women. Her practice and teaching are guided by early Buddhist scriptures and through nature’s pure... |
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Ayya Dhammadipa | Ayya Dhammadīpā también se conoce como la Reverenda Konin Cardenas. Ella empezó a practicar el budismo en 1987, cuando descubrió la práctica del Zen. Continuó como practicante laica hasta el 2007, cuando fue ordenada como monja por Sekkei Harada Roshi en el monasterio Hosshinji, en Japón. Es heredera del Dharma en el linaje Suzuki Roshi, transmitido por la Reverenda Shosan Victoria Austin. Dhammadīpā llegó al Monasterio del Bosque Aloka... |
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Ayya Santacitta | Ayya Santacittā has practiced meditation since 1988. Her first teacher was Ajahn Buddhadasa, who sparked her interest in Buddhist monastic life. She has trained as a nun in both the East and West since 1993, primarily in the lineage of Ajahn Chah. Since 2002, she also integrates Dzogchen teachings into her practice. Ayya Santacitta is co-founder of Aloka Vihara, a training monastery for women near Placerville, CA, and received bhikkhuni... |
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Ayya Santussika | Ayya Santussika grew up on a farm in Indiana and moved to California after receiving a BS and MS in Computer Science. She worked for 15 years as a software engineer in Silicon Valley before dedicating her life to spiritual practice. In 1999, she began visiting monasteries in the US, Europe and Asia where she learned from master teachers mostly in the Ajahn Chah lineage. She trained as a minister and received a Masters of Divinity degree in... |
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Berget Jelane | Berget Jelane has been a student of the Dharma since 1986. She is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center Community Dharma Leaders Program and the Sati Center Chaplaincy Training. She was ordained by Gil Fronsdal as a lay Buddhist minister in 2010. She leads the sangha, Insight Meditation San Jose. |
| Bernadette Prinster | ||
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Bernat Font | Bernat Font conoció el budismo en la adolescencia y ha practicado en Europa, en la India, y en Birmania con Sayadaw U Tejaniya. Entiende la tradición como un proceso creativo en constante reinterpretación. Se ha formado como profesor de meditación y dharma en Bodhi College, con Stephen Batchelor como mentor principal, y está terminando un doctorado en Estudios del Budismo en la Universidad de Bristol. Enseña en inglés, catalán y... |
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Beth Goldring | Beth Kanji Goldring began sitting Zen in 1995 and was ordained in 1995. She studies vipassana with Gil Fronsdal. She has also studied tonglen with Alan Wallace, and Reiki with Glynn DeBrocky. A former university humanities teacher and human rights worker, Beth lives in Phnom Penh where she founded Brahmavihara Cambodia, formerly Brahmavihara/Cambodia AIDS Project, in 2000. Brahmavihara provides chaplaincy, social work, and material support to... |
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Bhante Buddharakkhita | Bhante Buddharakkhita was born and raised in Uganda. He first encountered Buddhism in 1990 while living in India, and he began practicing meditation in 1993. He was ordained as a Buddhist monk by the late Venerable U Silananda in 2002 at the Tathagata Meditation Center in San Jose, California and then he spent eight years under the guidance of Bhante Gunaratana at the Bhavana Society, West Virginia. He is the founder of the Uganda Buddhist... |
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Bhante Pasanna | Born in Vienna in 1975, he was ordained in Sri Lanka in 1997 by Venerable Katukurunde Nyanananda Thero. Bhante Pasanna lived and practiced in monasteries and forest hermitages in Sri Lanka for 17 years. From 2014-2019, he spent time in the Metta Vihara in Germany and since then has been living as an independent hermit in a cottage in rural Germany. It is important to him to convey Theravāda Buddhism in an authentic yet practicable way. |
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Bhante Piyananda | Venerable Walpola Piyananda (“Bhante”) is the founder, president, and abbot of Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara in Los Angeles, California. Born in 1943 in Sri Lanka, he has been a monk since the age of 12. He came to the United States in 1976 to further his education, attending Northwestern University and UCLA, holding two M.A.s and a Ph.D. He is presently the adviser to the president of Sri Lanka on international religious affairs and the chief... |
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Bhante Sujato | Bhante Sujato is a senior teaching monk in Australia and the region. He is currently focussing on leading the team for SuttaCentral, a website for early Buddhist texts, translations, and parallels. He is also passionate about climate work and other contemporary issues. Many of his works can be found online at https://lokanta.github.io. |
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Bhikkhu Analayo | Bhikkhu Analayo was born in Germany in 1962 and ordained in Sri Lanka in 1995. In the year 2000 he completed a Ph.D. thesis on the Satipatthana-sutta at the University of Peradeniya (published by Windhorse in the UK). In the year 2007 he completed a habilitation research at the University of Marburg, in which he compared the Majjhima-nikaya discourses with their Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan counterparts. At present, he is a member of the... |
| Bhikkhu Ananda | ||
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Bhikkhu Bodhi | Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Buddhist monk, originally from New York City. In late 1972, he traveled to Sri Lanka, where he received monastic ordination. He lived for altogether twenty-four years in Asia, primarily in Sri Lanka. He was the editor for the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy from 1984 until 2002, and he has translated numerous texts from the Pali Canon into English, among them the Samyutta Nikaya (Connected Discourses of the... |
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Bhikkhu Sambodhi | Bhikkhu Sambodhi was born in the mid-sixties in what was then known as Czechoslovakia and what is now the Czech Republic, one the most irreligious countries in the world. Raised as an atheist with an initial strong bend toward “hard” science, he eventually ended up graduating in math and physics.The subsequent postgraduate study of psychology, a “soft” science, led him to encounter Buddhist meditation for the first time in 1992. He then... |
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Bhikkhu Sanathavihari | Sanathavihari Bhikkhu is a Mexican-American Theravāda monk at the Sarathchandra Buddhist Center in North Hollywood, a Sri Lankan center. He is a student of the late Dr. Bhante Madawela Punnaji, and the founder of Casa De Bhavana – an outreach project to bring the Dhamma to the Spanish-speaking world. He is also the co-author of Buddhism in 10 Steps. Bhante is a U.S. Air Force veteran who served in the Air Force for nine years and was deployed... |
| Bill Hart | Bill Hart is a Hospice and Hospital Chaplain working for several hospitals in the Bay Area. His tradition is primarily Theravadan. He has been practicing meditation since 1995 and has been leading a sitting group since 1998. He has been involved with the Spirit Rock Family program. He completed a year long residency in Clinical Pastoral Education at Sequoia Hospital in 2005 and the Sati Buddhist Chaplaincy Program in 2006. He also serves on... | |
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Bill Kostura | Bill Kostura has been sitting since 2001, and has studied primarily with Gil Fronsdal in Redwood City. At present he explores the teachings primarily through perspectives on suffering and non-attachment. He feels fortunate to teach Buddhist meditation regularly at a couple of places, including at a state prison in Monterey County. He works as an architectural historian, and has published widely in that field. |
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Blanche Hartman | Zenkei Blanche Hartman was a Soto Zen teacher practicing in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki. She was ordained a priest in 1977 by Zentatsu Baker and received dharma transmission with Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1988. She became Abbess of San Francisco Zen Center in 1996. From 1996 to 2002 she served two terms as co-abbess of the San Francisco Zen Center. She was the first woman to assume such a leadership position at the center. (1926-2016) |
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Bob Stahl | Bob Stahl, PhD, has founded eight Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs in medical centers in the SF Bay Area and is currently offering programs at El Camino Hospital in Mt. View, Ca. He serves as an Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences in the School of Public Health at Brown University Mindfulness Center and formerly at the Oasis Institute for Mindfulness-Based Professional... |
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Brian Lesage | Brian Lesage has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1988 and has taught meditation since 2000. He has studied in the Zen, Theravada and Tibetan schools of Buddhism. He was ordained in the Rinzai Zen tradition in 1996. His training in Vipassana Meditation includes doing extended meditation retreats in Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, and India as well as numerous retreats in the U.S. He leads retreats and teaches meditation courses nationwide. Brian... |
| Bruce Hyman | Bruce was first introduced to Buddhism as a doctor during the Vietnam war in 1970 by his dear friend and interpreter, Trug. When he returned to the U.S. he found a balanced Yoga practice consisting of postures and meditation. He continues to practice Hatha Yoga to this day. He practiced other forms of meditation on and off until about 15 years ago when he found Buddhist practice and have engaged fully with persistence and enthusiasm since... | |
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bruni dávila | Bruni Dávila (she/they) is an Insight meditation Dharma teacher in the Theravada tradition of Buddhism. She teaches at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) and Insight Retreat Center (IRC) in CA. Bruni has been practicing Vipassana and Zen since 1995, and completed the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies Chaplaincy and the Eco-Chaplaincy Trainings. Her previous work in the environmental field, and their ancestry of Puerto Rican heritage, have... |
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Carla Brennan | Carla Brennan is an Insight Meditation retreat teacher in the Santa Cruz area and offers drop-in meditation groups, classes, retreats and other programs with Bloom of the Present Insight Meditation. She is also a visiting teacher with the Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. Carla founded Bloom of the Present in 2009. Carla began meditation practice in 1975 in the Zen tradition and was a student of Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn in... |
| Carol Wilson | Carol Wilson first began practicing Vipassana or Insight meditation in 1971, with S.N. Goenka, in Bodh Gaya, India. Since then she has studied and practiced with a number of Theravada teachers, both Asian and Western. She has been particularly influenced by the teachings and practice styles of Sayadaw U Pandita, and in the past ten years, of Ashin U Tejaniya. In the 1980s she spent a year in Thailand as a Buddhist nun, which she continues to... | |
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Carolyn Dille | Carolyn Dille is a poet and teacher who facilitates writing and creative expression workshops. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation since 1990, and has trained with a variety of teachers in both the Theravada and Soto Zen traditions. She completed the Community Dharma Leaders program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in 2003. Carolyn lives in Santa Cruz and is writing a book on meditative and creative awareness, working title:Insight,... |
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Carrie Tamburo | Carrie Tamburo, Ph.D., was born in New Orleans and met the dharma in Los Angeles in 1982 while completing her doctorate at UCLA. She travelled to India and then practiced with renowned teachers in the Tibetan tradition for 10 years. Since 1992, Carrie has practiced and studied in the Theravadan tradition, and since 2015 she has taught dharma in both Spanish and English on the West Coast and via Zoom to Latin America. She lives in San Diego,... |
| Chenxing Han | Chenxing Han (she/her) is the author of Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists (2021); one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care (2023); and numerous articles and book chapters for both academic and mainstream audiences. A frequent speaker and workshop leader at schools, universities, and Buddhist communities across the nation, she has received fellowships from Hedgebrook, Hemera Foundation,... | |
| Cheryl Hylton | Cheryl Hylton has been a student of Gil Fronsdal and meditation practitioner since 1997. She teaches the Basic Meditation Instruction class at IMC, has served on the IMC board, fund development and board development committees and the Ethics and Reconciliation Council. She is IMC residential retreat co-coordinator and lives in San Mateo with her husband, Jeff. | |
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Chris Clifford | Chris Clifford has practiced meditation at Insight Meditation Center and other Insight centers since 1995. She appreciates the integration of intensive meditation retreats with daily life Dharma practice and service. Chris is a graduate of IMC's Dharma Mentoring program and Local Dharma Leadership program. She has taught IMC's various introductory classes and co-leads the Eightfold Path Program. She also manages retreats for The Mountain... |
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Chris Ives | Christopher Ives, Ph.D., is a professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College. In his teaching and writing, he focuses on modern Zen ethics and is currently working on Buddhist approaches to nature and environmental issues. He is the author of Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage, Meditations on the Trail: A Guidebook for Self-Discovery, Zen Awakening and Society, and Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’s Critique and Lingering Questions... |
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Claralynn Nunamaker | Claralynn Nunamaker has been a practicing Buddhist since 1999, has studied Pāli since 2014, and has practiced under her main teacher, Leigh Brasington, since 2015. She currently attends an advanced Pāli reading group with John Kelly and classes with Aleix Ruiz-Falqués (Pāli), Antonia Ruppel, and Samskrita Bharati UK (Sanskrit). She identifies as a student of early Buddhist teachings and serves as Director for the Scottish charity Friends of... |
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Daigan Gaither | Rev. Daigan Gaither began Buddhist practice in 1995 in the Vipassana (Insight) tradition, and then began to study Zen in 2003 with Ryushin Paul Haller Roshi. He received Lay Ordination in 2006 where he was given the name Daigan or “Great Vow”, and received Priest Ordination in July 2011. Daigan speaks internationally on a variety of topics particularly around politics, gender, sexuality, social justice and their intersections with the Dharma.... |
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Daniel Bowling | Daniel Bowling is a mediator and public policy facilitator in Sausalito, California. He co-edited and co-authored "Bringing Peace into the Room" -- the first book on mediation to focus on the importance for resolving conflict of the mediator's personal qualities. He also contributed a chapter entitled “The Buddha’s Teachings on the Personal Qualities of a Conflict Resolver” for Faith and Practice in Conflict Resolution, edited by Professor... |
| Dan Landry | Dan Landry has had a lifelong interest in contemplative practice. He has been a student of the dhamma since 1999 and is a grateful member of Insight Santa Cruz where he continues to practice and teach. | |
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David Chernikoff | David Chernikoff began the study and practice of meditation in 1971 and started teaching insight meditation in 1988. He trained as a yoga teacher at the Integral Yoga Institute and completed the Community Dharma Leader program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. His teaching has been influenced by senior teachers from the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock, Tibetan teachers he studied with during a 3-year stay in Nepal, and Zen teacher... |
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David Cohn | David Cohn was a resident practitioner at the Zen Center of San Francisco's three practice places, Tassajara Monastery, Green Gulch Farm, and the City Center, from 1970 to 1984, and was ordained as a priest in 1974. Since then he has carried on lay practice, became married and has a daughter and a grandson. He owned and operated two San Francisco restaurants from 1985 until retirement in 2009. He was a Zen Hospice Project volunteer for 20... |
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David Lorey | David Lorey began meditating as a teenager in the 1970s, in college began an intensive training in transcendental meditation, and then came to practice in the Buddhadharma in the early 2000s. Integrating tranquility and insight practice forms the core of his current path; in addition, he explores the early teachings embedded in the textual tradition of the Pali canon for insights into practicing and living in accord with the Dharma. In sharing... |
| David Morris | ||
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Dawn Neal | Dawn Neal has devoted several years to silent retreat since 2005. Her intensive practice in Asia includes temporarily ordaining in Burma in 2009. Shortly afterwards, she started practicing with Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella, with whom she is now in the final phase of Dharma teacher training. Dawn has an MA from the Institute of Buddhist Studies. She is a published scholar and core faculty member of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies... |
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Dawn Scott | Dawn Scott has been practicing insight meditation since 2008. She has taught teen retreats and led Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s family program for eight years. She is currently completing the Insight Meditation Society’s four year teacher training program. Dawn has a deep love of long retreat practice and enjoys sharing teachings that lead to awakening. |
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Devin Berry | Devin began his practice with Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village sangha and has been practicing Insight meditation since 1999. He teaches at Insight Meditation Society (IMS), where he was trained as a residential retreat teacher. Devin has a love of long retreat practice as well as daily life practices that point to the liberative teachings of the Buddha. Devin co-founded both the teen and men of color sangha at the East Bay Meditation center... |
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Devon Hase | devon hase loves long retreats. Cumulatively, she’s spent four years in silent practice in the Insight and Vajrayana traditions. Since discovering meditation in 2000, she has put dharma and community at the center of her life: she spent a decade bringing mindfulness to high school and college classrooms and now teaches at the Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock, and other centers around the world. She enjoys supporting practitioners with... |
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Dhammaruwan | Dhammaruwan, born in a traditional Buddhist village in Sri Lanka, became known for spontaneously chanting suttas as a young boy. He began meditation practice in early childhood with the teachings of Anagarika Munindra. He trained for many years with Bhante Gunaratana and is a graduate of Insight Meditation Society's Teacher Training Program USA (2005). He teaches worldwide, bringing his students complex teaching in simple and easy to... |
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Diana Clark | Diana Clark, PhD, is a dedicated meditation teacher based in the San Francisco Bay Area, teaching primarily at the Insight Meditation Center and Insight Retreat Center. Her extensive meditation experience includes years of silent retreats at Spirit Rock, IMS, and the Insight Retreat Center, where she received training from esteemed teachers Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella. Inspired by the Buddha's teachings on peace and freedom, Diana's teaching... |
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Donald Rothberg | Donald Rothberg, Ph.D., a member of the Teachers Council at Spirit Rock and a teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, has practiced Insight Meditation since 1976, and has also received training in Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahamudra practice and the Hakomi approach to body-based psychotherapy. Formerly on the faculties of the University of Kentucky, Kenyon College, and Saybrook Graduate School, he currently writes and teaches classes,... |
| Eileen Messina | Eileen Messina is in training to become a Buddhist Chaplain. She feels Chaplaincy is a natural expression of her years of practice and involvement with the Insight Meditation Center and her responsibility, joy, and commitment as a parent, friend, and community member. | |
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Eugene Cash | Eugene Cash has practiced meditation since 1981. He leads weekly sitting groups in San Francisco and meditation retreats nationwide. Many streams of the vipassana tradition and the Zen school of Buddhism influence his teaching. Eugene is also a teacher in the Ridhwan School. As a psychotherapist he has worked extensively with those who are ill, the dying and the bereaved. |
| Fiona Barner | ||
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Francisco Morillo Gable | Francisco is a student of Andrea Fella and Gil Fronsdal. He also studies and teaches early Buddhism with Bikkhu Analayo. Thanks to a devoted engagement with the Dharma, Francisco made a remarkable recovery from an accident in 2003 that rendered him disabled. He has a special interest in teaching underserved groups. And he is highly committed to bringing the Dharma to the greater Spanish speaking world. |
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Frank Ostaseski | In 1987, Frank Ostaseski helped form the Zen Hospice Project, the first Buddhist hospice in America. In 2004, he founded the Metta Institute to provide innovative educational programs on spirituality in dying and to create a national network of end-of-life care practitioners. Frank teaches Buddhist retreats internationally. His workshops have introduced thousands to the practices of mindful and compassionate care of the dying. For more... |
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Fu Nancy Schroeder | Fu Schroeder has studied Zen Buddhism as a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center since 1979. She began working for the community at the Tassajara Bread Bakery and later at Greens Restaurant before entering monastic training at Zen Mountain Center. Fu was priest ordained in 1986 and received Dharma Transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1999. Fu is currently the Abiding Abbess at Green Gulch Farm and a trustee of the Marin Community... |
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Gay Watson | Gay Watson has a PhD in Religious Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. She trained as a psychotherapist with the Karuna Institute in Core Process, a Buddhist inspired psychotherapy. She is the author of Beyond Happiness, Deepening the Dialogue Between Buddhism, Psychotherapy and the Mind Sciences (2008) and A Philosophy of Emptiness (2014). |
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Gil Fronsdal | Gil Fronsdal is the senior guiding co-teacher at the Insight Meditation Center (IMC) in Redwood City, California and the Insight Retreat Center in Santa Cruz, California. He started Buddhist practice in 1975, and has been teaching for IMC since 1990. Gil is an authorized teacher in two traditions: the Insight Meditation lineage of Theravada Buddhism of Southeast Asia, and Japanese Soto Zen. He holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Stanford.... |
| Ginger Clarkson | ||
| Grace Burford | ||
| Grace Schireson | ||
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Gregory Kramer | Gregory Kramer has been teaching meditation since 1980. He developed the practice of Insight Dialogue and is the Founder and Guiding Teacher of Metta Programs, offering retreats worldwide and authoring books including Insight Dialogue: The Interpersonal Path to Freedom and Dharma Contemplation: Meditating Together with Wisdom Texts. |
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Greg Scharf | Greg Scharf began meditating in 1992 and has been teaching residential meditation retreats since 2007, including the annual 3 month retreat at the Insight Meditation Society where he is a core teacher. In his teaching Greg emphasizes the understanding that meditation is fundamentally an exploration of nature and natural processes. He also stresses the critical importance of bringing the qualities of kindness, compassion, and a sense of humor... |
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Gulwinder (Gullu) Singh | Gulwinder “Gullu” Singh is a corporate attorney and dedicated Dharma practitioner. He teaches regularly at InsightLA and Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught meditation at USC, as a guest lecturer at UCLA Law School, in law firms, at legal conferences and in corporate settings. Gullu is trained to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and is currently in the 4-year Spirit Rock Meditation Center Teacher Training Program.... |
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Guy Armstrong | |
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Heather Martin | Heather Martin has practiced different forms of meditation for over thirty years. Her early dharma practice was under the guidance of S. N. Goenka, and has since been influenced by both Burmese and Thai streams of Theravada - just recently while practicing in Burma with Ven. U Tejaniya. She was trained by Jack Kornfield, and teaches at Spirit Rock, in south western Canada and in the Pacific Northwest. She worked for 20 years as a midwife, and... |
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Heather Sundberg | Heather Sundberg has completed the four-year Spirit Rock/Insight Meditation Society Teacher Training and continues to be mentored by Jack Kornfield. She is also a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leaders program (CDL2). Beginning her own meditation practice in her late teens, for twenty years Heather has studied with senior teachers in the Insight Meditation (Vipassana) and Tibetan (Vajrayana) traditions, and has sat 1-3 months of... |
| Hilary Borison | Hilary Borison is a recent graduate of the Mindful Self-Compassion Teacher Training through the UCSD Center for Mindfulness, and a graduate of the Chaplaincy Program through the Sati Center, applying both in her work as a grief counselor with Kara in Palo Alto. She is currently enrolled in the Dharma Mentoring Training Program at IMC and serves a mentor in the Eightfold Path Program. Hilary teaches the Dharma Bodhis middle school program,... | |
| Imam Tahir Anwar | ||
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Ines Freedman | Ines first became interested in meditation through her yoga practice in 1970. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation since 1985, with Gil Fronsdal being her primary teacher. She is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader Program. She is a member of the IMC Karuna Council and is past Managing Director of both the Insight Meditation Center and the Insight Retreat Center. She developed and taught IMC’s Online Meditation... |
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Jacques Verduin | Jacques has been a leader and innovator in the field of rehabilitation for prisoners since 1997. He is an expert on violence prevention, emotional intelligence, restorative justice and mindfulness. Born from 21 years of listening to the traumas of thousands of offenders and victims, a deeply transformational program, Guiding Rage Into Power (G.R.I.P.), has emerged." Jacques will bring a few formerly incarcerated men (Change Agents) to speak... |
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Jaku Kinst | Jaku Kinst is a priest and teacher in the Soto Zen tradition and is a licensed psychotherapist. She has taught at the San Francisco Zen Center, Tassajara, Santa Cruz Zen Center and Gampo Abbey with the Venerable Pema Chodron. She teaches graduate courses in Contemplative Psychology, the Psychology of Spiritual Direction and Buddhism. Jaku also trained as a chaplain at the UCSF Medical Center. |
| James Morrison | James Morrison was ordained as a Buddhist monk in the Thai Forest Tradition and lived with meditation masters in Thailand for 15 years. For the last 12 years he has also practiced at his property in the Santa Cruz mountains, the Redwood Hermitage. James has now retired from his life as a monk but is continuing to teach the Dhamma he has inherited from his teachers. Currently he is staying at his peaceful hermitage, surrounded by Redwood... | |
| Jan Nattier | ||
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Jason Murphy | Jason Murphy has been practicing Vipassana (Insight) meditation since 1994. He is a teacher and counselor who has been working with youth and families for the past 17 years. Jason has taught mindful awareness in a variety of settings and now leads a weekly Mindfulness group for young adults in Santa Cruz. He has assisted at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and with the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) on a number of retreats. Jason has sat... |
| JD Doyle | JD Doyle(they/them) served as Core Teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center, where they co-founded the Alphabet(LGBTQIA+) Sangha, and as Guiding Teacher at Insight Santa Cruz. They graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Retreat Teacher Training in 2020. JD began studying and practicing Buddhism in 1995, at Insight Meditation Society and at Spirit Rock and continued with extensive retreat practice in Thailand and Burma in the... | |
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Jeff Hardin | Jeff Hardin has been practicing meditation since 2000. He teaches meditation and is a community mentor at the Sacramento Insight Meditation group and a Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader. He is on the Board of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies and is the managing editor of the Sati Journal. His teachings emphasize using the suttas to inform meditation practice. He has authored <i>How We Practice: An Introduction to Insight Meditation</i>... |
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Jennifer Block | Jennifer Block’s life work is providing spiritual care to people in crisis, mentoring caregivers, and teaching people how to access their innate capacity for caring and healing. Based in San Francisco, Jennifer is a longtime dharma practitioner and Buddhist chaplain. She provides care to individuals facing the spiritual and emotional issues related to aging, sickness, dying and grief. Jennifer teaches the Buddhist Chaplaincy Training program... |
| Jennifer Lemas | Jennifer Lemas is an ordained Buddhist Minister. She has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1997, with Gil Fronsdal as her guiding teacher. Jennifer leads the Buddhism and Recovery group at IMC, offers meditation instructions to beginners and serves as program mentor for the Eightfold Path Program. She is a graduate of the Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Program, Upaya’s Buddhist Chaplaincy Program and Spirit Rock's Dedicated... | |
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Jesse Maceo Vega Frey | Jesse Maceo Vega Frey’s teaching aims to inspire the skills, determination, and faith necessary to realize the deepest human freedom. He is a student of Michele McDonald and his approach is rooted in the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma. As a teacher of Vipassana (insight) meditation within the broader context of Theravadan Buddhism his teaching encourages an exploration of the relationship between ethics, insight, and action. Perpetually... |