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Audio Dharma Teachers
Ajahn Amaro
Ajahn Amaro received his B.Sc. in Psychology and Physiology from the University of London. He trained in Thailand with Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho. A senior monk from Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in England, he is abbot of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, a new branch monastery of the forest meditation tradition, in Mendocino, where he resides with a small monastic community. Talks available: 16 Tradition: Monastic Ajahn Anandabodhi
Ajahn Anandabodhi was born in Wales in 1968. She trained in catering and also worked in environmental conservation, all the while looking for spiritual direction. Visiting Amaravati in 1990, she experienced a sense of 'coming home' and in 1992 joined the community, taking ordination in 1995. She particularly enjoys 'tudong' - walking on faith and taking the sign of the samana out into the world. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Monastic 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 also the author of 'A Honed and Heavy Ax: Samatha and Vipassana in Harmony.' In recent years, he has taught internationally, and is now the abbot of Vimutti Forest Monastery, near Auckland, New Zealand. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Ajahn Jumnien
Ajahn Jumnien is a delightfully happy, wise, playful Thai forest monk. Trained in intensive meditation with Ajhan Dhammadaro, he also traveled as a wandering ascetic and mastered a diverse array of concentration meditations. No matter what the technique, he constantly urges us back into seeing our true nature. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Monastic Ajahn Liem Thitadhammo
Ajahn Liem Thitadhammo, a highly respected and revered Buddhist monk in the classical Thai Forest Tradition, is Ajahn Chahs chosen successor. Born in Thailand in 1941, he took full bhikkhu ordination at the age of 20. In 1969 he began training under Ajahn Chah one of Thailand's most beloved and renowned monks. In 1982 when Ajahn Chah became too ill to carry on with his duties, he entrusted Ajahn Liem with full authority and responsibility to run the monastery at Wat Nong Pah Pong; Ajahn Liem subsequently became abbott. For the Sangha at Wat Pah Nanachat (Ajahn Chahs International Forest Monastery for training monks using English as the language of instruction), Ajahn Liem is a dearly respected teacher and guide in the monastic life. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Monastic Ajahn Metta
Ajahn Metta was born in 1953 in Germany. She has been practising meditation since 1984 and has experience of living in other spiritual communities in Europe and Thailand (Wat Suan Mokkh). She became an Anagārikā in 1993 at Amaravati and took higher ordination as a Sīladhārā in 1996. She is one of the group of senior nuns leading the Sīladhārā community. For the past few years she has been teaching meditation workshops and retreats. Talks available: 3 Tradition: Monastic Ajahn Prasert
Ajahn Prasert is originally from northeast Thailand where he became a monk at the age of 11. He studied both in Bangkok and India, and came to the United States in 1982. He is the abbot of Wat Buddhanusorn in Fremont, which he established in 1983. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Ajahn Sundara
Ajahn Sundara was born in France. In her early thirties, after working for a few years as a dancer and teacher of contemporary dance in both France and England, she had the opportunity to attend a talk followed by a retreat led by Ajahn Sumedho. His teachings and his way of life as a Buddhist monk resonated deeply. In 1983 she was given the Going Forth as a siladhara (ten precept nun). In the mid-nineties she spent over two years in Thailand practicing in the forest monasteries. For the last 20 years she has taught and led meditation retreats in Europe and North America. Talks available: 15 Tradition: Monastic Ajahn Thanasanti
Ajahn Thanasanti was born in California. She was first introduced to insight meditation in 1979 by Jack Engler. After working as an analytical chemist for a few years, in 1987 she went on pilgrimage to India, Nepal and Thailand. She entered Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in 1989 receiving ordination in 1991, and trained with Ajahn Sumedho. She spent a few years traveling as an alms mendicant without a fixed abode.Ajahn Thanasanti has been teaching intensive meditation retreats internationally for many years. Her interest is integrating insight into the full human condition and using nature as a support in the practice. Currently she is resident at Chithurst Buddhist Monastery in the new Rocana Vihara. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Monastic Ajahn Thaniya
Ajahn Thaniya was born in New Zealand. She practised for a number of years with a meditation group closely affiliated with Luang Por Chah and the Thai Forest Tradition . In 1990 she went to England to join the monastic community there. She trains at Cittaviveka Monastery where she is the senior nun. Her interest is in, 'What ripens the heart so it can taste freedom?' Talks available: 1 Tradition: Monastic 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. Talks available: 6 Tradition: Zen Andrea Fella
Andrea Fella has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1996, and, under Gil Fronsdal's guidance, began teaching meditation classes in 2003. She is particularly drawn to intensive retreat practice, and has done a number of long retreats, both in the U.S. and Burma. During one long practice period in Burma, she ordained as a nun with Sayadaw U Janaka. Andrea teaches residential retreats for IMC, and the Tuesday morning and Thursday evening meditation classes. She is in the Spirit Rock teacher training program with Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein. Talks available: 176 Tradition: Vipassana Andrew Getz
Andrew Getz is a child and adolescent psychiatric nurse who is director of "Youth Horizons," an organization dedicated to introducing awareness practices to youth, with an emphasis on at-risk and incarcerated teens, mostly in the SF Bay area. Andrew has been practicing Vipassana meditation for over 25 years. He spent several years in Asia where he studied under U Pandita of Burma, and in the tradition of Ajahn Buddhadasa of Thailand. He is also an experienced teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn. He has taught retreats at the Insight Meditation Society and Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Vipassana Andrew Olendzki
ANDREW OLENDZKI, PH.D. was trained in Buddhist Studies at Lancaster University in England, as well as at Harvard and the University of Sri Lanka. The former executive director of IMS (Insight Meditation Society), he is currently the executive director of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies (BCBS) in Barre, MA. He is editor of the Insight Journal. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Vipassana Angie Boissevain
Angie Boissevain has been a student of Kobun Chino, a Soto Zen teacher, since 1971, first at Haiku zendo in Los Altos, then as head student teacher and director at Jikoji, a retreat center in the Santa Cruz mountains. She was ordained as a lay priest in 1989. Retired from Jikoji, she now meets weekly with meditation groups in the Bay Area. She has raised three children and is a published poet. Talks available: 19 Tradition: Zen Ani Lhadron
Ani Tenzin Lhadron ordained in 1996 as a Tibetan Buddhist sramanerika nun in the Rime, non-sectarian tradition. She is a licensed MFT and did her Chaplain Residency at the Institute for Health and Healing, CPMC. Additionally, she has studied Perennial Wisdoms and Diamond Heart for over ten years and holds a deep commitment to Mind Training practices that can be applied in practical ways in everyday life. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Monastic Anushka Fernandopulle
Anushka Fernandopulle has trained in meditation in the Theravada Buddhist tradition for over 20 years in monasteries in Sri Lanka and India as well as in urban US settings. She teaches dharma groups and meditation retreats around the country. Anushka also works as a leadership/life coach, facilitator and consultant. Her work is informed by a B.A. in social anthropology/religion from Harvard University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. More about her dharma teaching can be found at www.anushkaf.org Talks available: 8 Tradition: Vipassana Arlene Lueck
Arlene Lueck has been a resident practitioner at the San Francisco Zen Center since 1990. She was ordained as a priest by Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1996, She has served as Head Monk at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and received dharma transmission from Norman Fisher. She currently resides at Green Gulch Farm with her husband Daigan where she teaches and also oversees the physical facilities, new construction, and renovation there. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Zen Art Jolly
Art Jolly took an introductory meditation course in the early 1990's and sat his first residential retreat in 1995. Since then, he's participated in Spirit Rock's Dedicated Practitioners Program and is currently in their Community Dharma Leaders program. In 2003 he spent 5 months as a monk with Pa-Auk Sayadaw in Burma. His main teacher is Phillip Moffitt. He leads a sitting group in Oakland. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Vipassana Ayya Tathaaloka
Ayya Tathaaloka Bhikkhuni is an American-born member of the Buddhist Women's Monastic Sangha with a background in Zen and Theravadan Buddhism. Venerable Sister Tathaaloka began monastic life sixteen years ago, and was granted Higher Ordination by an ecumenical gathering of the Bhikkhu & Bhikkhuni Sanghas in Southern California in early 1997. With the encouragement of her long-term mentor, Ajahn Maha Prasert, and the expressed wish of many Sangha friends, both lay and monastic, she has recently been involved in opening Dhammadharini Vihara, the first Theravadan Buddhist women's monastic retreat residence in Northern California, where she currently serves as Abbess. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Monastic Barbara Gates
BARBARA GATES is cofounder and coeditor of the Buddhist journal Inquiring Mind, for which she writes a regular column. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation since 1975. Her editorial projects include books by the Dalai Lama, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg and Joanna Macy. She is the author of the recently published book Already Home, A Topography of Spirit and Place. She lives with her husband and daughter in Berkeley, CA. Talks available: 1 Berget Jelane
Berget Jelane has been a student of the Dharma since 1986. She is a graduate of the SRMC Community Dharma Leaders Program and the Sati Center Chaplaincy Training. Recently, she was ordained by Gil Fronsdal as a lay Buddhist minister. As a psychotherapist, she uses mindfulness and other Buddhist principles in her work with people. Talks available: 36 Tradition: Vipassana Beth Goldring
BETH GOLDRING, a Zen student of the late Maurine Stuart and ordained in 1995, founded and directs Brahmavihara/Cambodia AIDS Project. This is a chaplaincy organization providing Buddhist services to destitute AIDS patients and their families in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She is a student of Gil Fronsdal. She has also studied Tibetan lojong with Alan Wallace, Reiki with Glynn DeBrocky, and Healing Touch with Helen Hann. Beth's home community in the US is Empty Hand Zen Center, headed by her dharma sister Susan Postal. Talks available: 7 Tradition: Zen Betsy Rose
Betsy Rose is an accomplished singer and songwriter of folk and progressive music. She has performed widely for over 30 years throughout the world, at festivals, ecological conferences, spiritual gatherings, with organization such as La Leche League, Omega Institute, Aids and Hospice services. She is currently involved in the Singing For Peace Project, through Bay Area gatherings, rallies, demonstrations, vigils and concerts. Many artists have sung and recorded her songs, including Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert and Bobbi McFerron. Dharma teachers such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Matthew Fox, and Joanna Macy include her music in their work. She is one of the teachers of the Family Program at Spirit Rock. Talks available: 4 Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is the founding abbot of the Bhavana Society. Born in Sri Lanka, he has been a monk since age 12 and took full ordination at age 20 in 1947. He came to the United States in 1968. Bhante G has written a number of books, including Mindfulness In Plain English and Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness. As Chief Sangha Nayaka Thera for North America, he is the highest-ranking monk of his sect in the US and Canada. Bhante G writes articles, leads retreats, and teaches worldwide. Talks available: 6 Tradition: Monastic Bhante Sujiva
Bhante Sujiva has dedicated his life to Buddhist teachings. He has studied with many teachers in Malaysia, Thailand and Burma, including Sayadaw U Pandita. He began teaching meditation in Malaysia in 1984 and has held countless retreats there. Beginning in 1995, he started teaching internationally. He has since led retreats in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, several countries in Europe and the US. He also has a degree in Agricultural Science. Talks available: 6 Tradition: Monastic 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 Buddha) and the Majjhima Nikaya (Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha). In 2008, he helped to establish Buddhist Global Relief, an organization dedicated to providing poverty relief to people in developing countries. He resides at Chuang Yen Monastery in upstate New York. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Monastic 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 IMC's Chaplaincy Council. Talks available: 3 Tradition: Vipassana Bill Weber
Bill Weber is a senior Vipassana student and a recent graduate from Spirit Rock's Community Dharma Leader program. He teaches beginning meditation classes and daylongs. He has studied for the past ten years with Gil Fronsdal and Eugene Cash among others and has extensive retreat practice. He is also a documentary filmmaker and video editor. Talks available: 1 Blanche Hartman
ZENZEI BLANCHE HARTMAN began sitting in 1969 with Mel Weitsman and Suzuki-roshi. 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. She is married to Shuun Lou Hartman; they have four children and six grandchildren. Talks available: 5 Tradition: Zen Bob Stahl
Bob Stahl is a long-time practitioner of insight meditation who lived in a Buddhist monastery for over eight years. He now directs Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs in Bay Area medical centers, and teaches at Vipassana Santa Cruz. Bob is also a husband and a father of two sons. Talks available: 3 Tradition: Vipassana Bruce Freedman
Bruce Freedman first became interested in meditation through Transcendental Meditation in 1967, and through his yoga practice in 1970. He has been practicing Buddhist meditation as a student of Gil Fronsdal since 1994. He is currently on the IMC Board of Directors. He is a retired chiropractor. Talks available: 1 Carla Brennan
Carla Brennan is a Vipassana teacher with Vipassana Santa Cruz and other groups in the Bay Area. She has been meditating for 35 years in the Zen, Theravada, and Tibetan traditions. Her teachers have included Zen Master Seung Sahn, Jack Kornfield, and Lama Surya Das. Carla offers nature-based retreats in California and Utah, teaches Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction in Santa Cruz, and is an artist and former psychotherapist. Talks available: 4 Tradition: Vipassana 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, Intuition, and Imagination. Talks available: 15 Tradition: Vipassana Charlie Johnson
CHARLIE JOHNSON is a retired chemical engineer. He teaches Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, yoga, meditation, and the Dharma in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. He has been practicing meditation and yoga since 1972. He has studied Tibetan Buddhism with Lama Lodu Rinpoche of Kagyu Droden Kunchab in San Francisco. More recently he has been studying in the Theravada Buddhist tradition and is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Meditation Center Community Dharma Leaders program. He is a certified yoga teacher, is registered with the Yoga Alliance and is a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Vipassana 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. Talks available: 6 Cheryll Gasner
Cheryll Gasner has been practicing Mindfulness and Jhana meditation since 1995. Her principal teachers are Gil Fronsdal and Lee Brasington. She has served as past Secretary for the IMC Board and was a member of the Board Development committee; she helped develop the Sunday Pot-luck Brunch, the Children's program and the Woman's Full Moon Gathering at IMC. She has taught Mindfulness Meditation at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Mountain View. She is a retired Family Nurse Practitioner and lives with her husband, Steve Gasner in Mountain View, CA. Talks available: 2 Chris Clifford
Chris Clifford has studied meditation at IMC since 1995. In her own practice and in working with students she emphasizes the integration of regular meditation practice with mindfulness in daily life. She also values the opportunities she has had to sit many long retreats. She has been offering basic meditation instruction and Dharma talks for the last four years. She is a former software engineer. Currently she manages retreats for The Mountain Hermitage in New Mexico and volunteers tutoring ESL in California. Talks available: 9 Tradition: Vipassana Daigan Lueck
DAIGAN LUECK began sitting zazen in 1971 and practiced for eight years at Tassajara before returning to live at Green Gulch, where he is one of the resident priests. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen Daniel Bowling
Daniel Bowling is a mediator and teaches negotiation and mediation at Hastings and Osgoode Hall Law Schools. He has written numerous conflict resolution publications, including Bringing Peace into the Room: The Personal Qualities of the Mediator and their Impact on Conflict Resolution. He co-founded the first mediation organization in SC, where he practiced law. He was general counsel for Kripalu Yoga Center, founded the Kripalu Yoga Teachers Association, and taught a course in yoga philosophy and meditation, 'Life is Transformation.' A Harvard Law graduate, he has practiced yoga and meditation since 1976, and started teaching in 1983. Talks available: 7 Tradition: Vipassana Darlene Cohen
Darlene Cohen earned a graduate degree in Physiological Psychology in 1966 and began sitting at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1970. She was ordained as a Zen priest in 1999. She also earned certification as a massage and movement teacher from Meir Schneider, the renowned Israeli self-healing teacher. Darlene counsels chronic pain clients and gives arthritis workshops, classes, lectures, and pain seminars in private practice and at medical facilities and meditation centers. She is author of Arthritis: Stop Suffering, Start Moving and Everyday Exercises for Body and Mind. Talks available: 3 Tradition: Zen David Cohn
David Cohn began practice at Zen Center in 1969 with Suzuki Roshi, later becoming a disciple of Baker Roshi. A residential student at Tassajara, Green Gulch Farm, and City Center until 1984, he was ordained as a priest in 1977. David worked for Stewart Brand at Whole Earth for a year, before opening his first restaurant in 1985, another in 1988 and retiring in January 2009. David has been a Zen Hospice Project volunteer since 1998 and Board Member. He maintains connections with Zen Center as a Board member for Everyday Zen and management consultant for Greens Restaurant as well as exploring practice opportunities at IMC. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen Diana Winston
Diana Winston is a writer, activist, teacher and founder of the Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement (BASE) Program. She was associate director of Buddhist Peace Fellowship for 9 years. She has practiced Insight Meditation since 1989 and spent a year as a Buddhist nun in Burma. She is the author of Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens. Talks available: 8 Tradition: Vipassana Don Johnson
Don Johnson has been practicing Vipassana with Gil Fronsdal since 1992. He is currently interested in how the Dhamma is being transmitted from East to West, and sits with Asian teachers such as U Pandita and U Silananda to learn directly from them. Don has taught college physics, managed an applied mathematics group, and held various marketing positions in Silicon Valley. In addition, he has been deeply involved in organizing grass roots political efforts around land use and civil liberties issues. Currently he practices craniosacral therapy in Montara. Talks available: 8 Donald H. Flaxman
Don Flaxman was a dear friend and supporter of IMC. He died at home on January 16, 2009. From being president of the Spirit Rock board to advising us at IMC, he was very important in the establishment of vipassana centers in the Bay Area. His own generosity, in all its forms, was an inspiration. His goodwill and joy lives on in our community. He gave a number of memorable dharma talks on generosity, his favorite topic. Talks available: 1 Donald Rothberg
Donald Rothberg, Ph.D., a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, has practiced Insight Meditation since 1976 and has also received training in Dzogchen and the Hakomi approach to body-based psychotherapy. A former teacher at the University of Kentucky, Kenyon College, and Saybrook Graduate School, he currently writes and teaches classes, groups, and retreats on meditation, daily life practice, spirituality and psychology, and socially engaged Buddhism, in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally. An organizer, teacher, and former board member for the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, he is the guiding teacher for the two-year Spirit Rock program, "Path of Engagement". He is the author of The Engaged Spiritual Life: A Buddhist Approach to Transforming Ourselves and the World and the co-editor of Ken Wilber in Dialogue: Conversations with Leading Transpersonal Thinkers. Talks available: 17 Tradition: Vipassana Douglas Harding
Based in London, England, Douglas and Catherine Harding have been lecturing and teaching their simple, practical method of direct seeing for oneself for many years. Talks available: 1 Edward Brown
Edward Espe Brown is a zen priest and author of The Tassajara Bread Book and Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings. A teacher of meditation and cooking, he is also a student of Vipassana, yoga, cranio-sacral, handwriting change, and chi gung, as well as a lover of poetry. His teaching style weaves together a multiplicity of strands. Most recently he is featured in the movie How to Cook Your Life, directed by Doris Dorrie, released in the fall of 2007. Teaching schedule is listed at www.peacefulseasangha.com. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Zen Eric Kolvig
ERIC KOLVIG, PhD has been teaching Dharma in the Vipassana (Insight) meditation tradition since 1985. For several years he was the resident teacher for the Santa Fe and Albuquerque Vipassana Sanghas in New Mexico, and leads meditation retreats around the United States. Eric lives near Gila, New Mexico, at Kusinara, an intentional Buddhist community devoted to conscious living and service. He has had a lifelong love affair with wilderness and has been backpacking, canoeing and skiing since he was a child, and shares this love in teaching backpacking retreats. Talks available: 3 Tradition: Vipassana Eric Wendt
Talks available: 1 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. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Vipassana Evan Kavanagh
EVAN KAVANAGH has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1995. He has led meditation groups in the 12-step tradition and is currently in Spirit Rock's Dedicated Practitioners Program. Evan serves as the Executive Director of Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Previously he was executive director of the Western Alliance of Arts Administrators Foundation, worked for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, volunteered for the United Farm Workers Union, the Gay Community AIDS Project, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Evan is happily domestically partnered with his mate of six years, Andrew Harkins. They have just bought a house in San Francisco that requires more work than either ever envisioned. Talks available: 1 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 information visit: www.mettainstitute.org. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen Fred Luskin
Fred Luskin is a practicing psychologist, cofounder of the Stanford University Forgiveness Project, and author of the book, "Forgive for Good". Talks available: 1 Fred Porta
Talks available: 1 Gil Fronsdal
Gil has practiced Zen and Vipassana since 1975 and has a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Stanford. He has trained in both the Japanese Soto Zen tradition and the Insight Meditation lineage of Theravada Buddhism of Southeast Asia. Gil was trained as a Vipassana teacher by Jack Kornfield and is part of the Vipassana teachers' collective at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 he received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He has been the primary teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California since 1990. He is a husband and father of two boys. Talks available: 876 Tradition: Vipassana Gloria Taraniya Ambrosia
GLORIA TARANIYA AMBROSIA has been offering instruction in Theravada Buddhist teachings and practices since 1990. She is a student of the western forest sangha, the disciples of Ajahn Chah and Ajahn Sumedho, and is a Lay Buddhist Minister in association with Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in California. She has served as resident teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts from 1996 through 1999. Taraniya teaches at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and at Dhamma centers in the United States. Talks available: 25 Tradition: Vipassana Greg Scharf
Greg Scharf began meditation practice in 1992. He has studied with a variety of teachers both in Asia and the west, and has trained as a Buddhist monk in Burma at Panditarama and Chanmyay Yeiktha Meditation Centers. Greg has served on staff at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, and as manager for the annual foreign yogis' retreat at Kyaswa Monastery in upper Burma. He has also served as attendant to Vens. Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Lakkhanna, and Pa-Auk Sayadaw. Greg has been teaching residential retreats since 2007. His teaching emphasizes the natural unfolding of love and wisdom through the cultivation of mindful awareness. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Vipassana 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 lives on Salt Spring Island, off the west coast of British Columbia. Talks available: 11 Tradition: Vipassana Howard Cohn
Howard Cohn has practiced meditation since 1972. He has lead vipassana retreats since 1985 and leads an ongoing class in San Francisco. He has studied with many Asian and western teachers of several traditions, including Theravada, Zen, Dzogchen and Advaita Vedanta. He has been strongly influenced by contact with the Indian master H.W.L. Poonja. He has done postgraduate work in East/West Psychology and has a private counseling practice. He leads a sitting group in SAN FRANCISCO: Tuesdays 7:30-9pm. Golden Gate Lutheran Church, 601 Dolores St. (19th & Dolores), SF Info: (415) 447-7761. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Vipassana Hugh MacMillan
Hugh MacMillan was brought to the dhamma, as so many are, by mountains of self-inflicted suffering. He has been sitting since 1984. He sat numerous short retreats with Ajahn Sumedho and Ajahn Amaro followed by longer retreats at IMS with Joseph Goldstein and others. He has been involved in developing the Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery in Redwood Valley under co-abbots Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Amaro since 1994. He teaches meditation to prisoners at Soledad prison. Talks available: 12 Ines Freedman
Ines Freedman 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 since 1995. She is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader Program and a past Managing Director of Insight Meditation Center. She directs and teaches the Audiodharma Online Meditation Course, and serves on the IMC Chaplaincy council. She is a retired chiropractor. Talks available: 32 Tradition: Vipassana Jacques Verduin
Jacques Verduin, Founder and Director of the Insight Prison Project, is a husband, father, teacher and community organizer. At San Quentin, he is pioneering innovative approaches to in-prison rehabilitation. The project focuses on assisting prisoners in healing the pain that they lash out from by transforming the negative habit patterns that trip them up. IPP teaches 20 classes that serve 300 prisoners every week. Through its Insight Out Initiative trained former prisoners work in the East Bay School system to teach the skills that help prevent crime. He served 12 years on the faculty of the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. In July 2005, the Insight Prison Project was the organization chosen from a field of 285 to receive the San Francisco Foundation Community Leadership Award of $20,000. Talks available: 2 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. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen James Baraz
James Baraz is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he started the Family Program, Community Dharma Leader Program and Kalyana Mitta Network. He leads retreats, workshops and classes in the U.S. and abroad and has been teaching the Awakening Joy course (www.awakeningjoy.info) since 2003. James is co-author with Shoshana Alexander of Awakening Joy due in 2010 (Bantam) which is based on the course. In addition, he is on the International Advisory Board of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. James leads ongoing meditation classes in the East Bay. In addition to practicing in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, he has been influenced by Advaita and Dzogchen teachings, as well as the path of devotion. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Vipassana Jeff Hylton
Jeff Hylton has been a student of Gil Fronsdal since 1997, having practiced other forms of meditation since 1971. He enjoys his service as IMC Saturday all-day retreat manager. Professionally, Jeff is a psychotherapist in private practice in San Mateo utilizing mindfulness to enhance his client's therapeutic progress as they learn and grow in the process. Jeff is an avid skier, nature lover, and a civic volunteer in San Mateo where he lives with his wife, Cheryl. Talks available: 2 Jennifer Block
Talks available: 6 Jim Bronson
Jim Bronson began working with the inner life and spiritual traditions as a student of Krishnamurti through a meditation course in 1968; he began Vipassana Meditation in 1990. Jim focuses on expressing his practice in the world with community outreach and education through Kara for those dealing with tragedy and loss. In addition to talks and meditation instruction in the Bay Area, he officiates at weddings and memorial services, and has organized retreats in natural settings. He is a graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader program and serves on the IMC Chaplaincy Council. He is helping create an anthology of practice wisdom, stories and art by lay Vipassana practitioners, called 'Passing It On'. Talks available: 23 Tradition: Vipassana Jim Podolske
Jim Podolske is a scientist who has been a Vipassana student of Gil Fronsdal since 1998. He serves the Insight Meditation Center sangha both as a volunteer and introductory meditation instructor, and is a former IMC board member. He has sat Vipassana, Samadhi, and Brahmavihara retreats over the last 10 years, including a six week retreat with Joseph Goldstein in 2003. Jim enjoys sailing on the San Francisco Bay. Talks available: 18 Tradition: Vipassana Joan DePaoli
Talks available: 5 Joanna Macy
Joanna Macy, Ph.D., is a Buddhist scholar and teacher, active world-wide in movements for peace, justice, and ecological sanity. Thousands of people around the world have participated in her workshops and trainings, while her methods have been adopted widely in classrooms, churches, and grassroots organizing. Her work helps people transform despair and apathy, in the face of overwhelming social and ecological crises, into constructive, collaborative action. Joanna's books include "Mutual Causality in Buddhist Teachings and General Systems Theory; World as Lover, World as Self">; and her memoir, "Widening Circles". Talks available: 2 John Lewis
John Lewis has practiced insight meditation since 1996. The first years of his practice were devoted to long retreat. More recently, he has focused on daily practice and integrating the Buddhist values of wisdom and compassion into advocacy for marriage equality for same-sex couples. He is a 2004 graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center's Dedicated Practitioners Program and has led meditation and yoga groups for homeless transgender and other youth. John has practiced with IMC since 2000, and lives in San Francisco with his partner. Talks available: 1 John Travis
JOHN TRAVIS has been a student of vipassana since 1970. In the eight years he lived in Asia, he studied intensively with senior teachers of the vipassana and Tibetan traditions. John Is the founder of the Mountain Stream Meditation Center in the Sacramento/Auburn area, where he leads classes and retreats, and is in the process of building a residential retreat center. He is a member of the Spirit Rock Teacher?s Council. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Vipassana Jon Kabat-Zinn
Dr. Kabat-Zinn's work has contributed to a growing movement of bringing mindfulness into mainstream institutions in our society such as medicine, health care, hospitals, schools, corporations, prisons, and professional sports. He was the founding executive director of the Center of Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the U. of Mass. Medical School. He founded and directed U. Mass's world-renown Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic which has become the model used in hospitals throughout the country. He is the author of four bestsellers. Talks available: 3 Tradition: Vipassana Joseph Bobrow
Joseph Bobrow is the guiding teacher and founder of Deep Streams Institute. He is a licensed psychologist in private practice in San Francisco and a faculty member and supervisory and personal analyst at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California. A Zen master in the Aitken-Harada tradition, he has been teaching Zen since 1987. He also studied with Thich Nhat Hanh in the early 1980's at Plum Village in southern France, where he co-translated Nhat Hanh's Guide To Walking Meditation. He has also written numerous articles on psychotherapy, Buddhism, and their interplay. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Zen Joseph Goldstein
Joseph Goldstein is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is one of the resident guiding teachers. Since 1967 he has been studying and practicing different forms of Buddhist meditation under eminent teachers from India, Burma, and Tibet. He has been leading meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a co-founder of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and more recently, the Forest Refuge, a new center for long-term meditation practice. He is the author of Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom, The Experience of Insight, and co-author of Seeking the Heart of Wisdom and Insight Meditation: A Correspondence Course. His latest book is One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Vipassana Kamala Masters
Kamala is one of the founders of the Vipassana Metta Foundation on Maui, where she is developing a sanctuary-hermitage for long term practice. She teaches retreats in the worldwide, including being a Core Teacher at the Insight Meditation Society at Barre, MA. Practicing since 1975, her teachers have been the late Anagarika Munindra of India and Sayadaw U Pandita of Burma with whom she continues to practice. She lives on Maui where she raised four children, and is now blessed with five grandchildren. Talks available: 3 Tradition: Vipassana Kate Janke
Kate Janke started her meditation practice in 2004 at IMC. In 2005 she went to Thailand for six months to deepen her meditation practice in Southeast Asia sitting long retreats. This was a transformative experience that has propelled her to make Buddhist practice central to her life. Currently, Kate co-leads a Kalyana Mitta group for young adults and is one of the founders of the Saturday Night Sangha sitting group in the East Bay. She is also in the Dedicated Practitioners Program at Spirit Rock. Kate works as the Coordinator for James Baraz's Awakening Joy Course and her next adventure in spreading the dharma is as a mindfulness teacher in the Oakland Public Schools through the Mindfulness and Education Project. Talks available: 2 Kathy Cheney
Kathy Cheney been practicing meditation since 2001 as a student of Gil Fronsdal. She has done several periods of intensive retreat and spent fall of 2007 on personal retreat at Gaia House, in England, working with Christina Feldman. Kathy is part of Spirit Rock's Family Program and teaches at a preschool in Marin County. Her intention is to offer the dharma in ways that young children can hear and practice while having fun. Talks available: 2 Kevin Griffin
Kevin Griffin is the author of One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps and the forthcoming A Burning Desire: God, Buddha, and the Path of Recovery. He is a leader in the mindful recovery movement and a co-founder of the Buddhist Recovery Network. Trained as a Community Dharma Leader at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, he teaches at treatment centers, Buddhist centers, professional conferences, and colleges across the U.S. Talks available: 9 Tradition: Vipassana Kim Allen
Kim Allen has practiced meditation since 2003, including intensive retreats up to 3 months in length. Interested in both natural systems and human communities, she works as a sustainability consultant, and practices and teaches tai chi and qi gong. She volunteers at a local hospice and at IMC, including as board president. Talks available: 3 Kim McLaughlin
Kim McLaughlin has been a student of insight meditation since 1987. Prior to that she practiced concentration meditation and other aspects in the Ananda Marga spiritual tradition for 18 years. She studied with the Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw in Burma for three months in 2004. She was a participant in the Dharma Practice Program study group with Gil Fronsdal, and a graduate of the Buddhist Chaplaincy course sponsored by Sati Center. Talks available: 3 Kokai Roberts
Kokai Roberts was ordained as a priest at San Francisco Zen Center in 1988. She has been teaching in the City Center Study Center for over ten years and is currently a teacher in residence at the Santa Cruz Zen Center. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen Larry Yang
Larry Yang teaches meditation retreats nationally and has a special interest in creating access to the Dharma for diverse multicultural communities. Larry is being trained as a teacher by Jack Kornfield and is a Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader. Larry has practiced extensively in Myanmar and Thailand, with a six month period of ordination as a Buddhist monk under the guidance of meditation master Ajahn Tong. He is one of the teachers and leaders of the East Bay Meditation Center. Talks available: 4 Tradition: Vipassana Laura Crabb
Laura Crabb has been involved in insight meditation and practice at IMC as Gil Fronsdal's student for 12 years. She has a daily meditation practice and attends a weekly IMC sitting group, and she is particularly fond of retreat practice. She says it's a little like summer camp. She is a Marriage and Family Therapist, specializing in the healing of perpetrators and victims of sexual abuse, and she finds that the Buddha's teachings and mindfulness practice strongly influence her way of working with clients. Talks available: 1 Lauren Silver
Lauren Silver has been practicing vipassana meditation since 2004. She studies with both Gil Fronsdal and Andrea Fella; one of her primary interests is the integration of formal practice with daily life. Lauren volunteers at IMC in a number of different capacities, including helping with programs for children and families, and supporting Andrea's ongoing householder practice group. She has a PhD in developmental psychology and has worked as an educator in schools and museums for over 20 years. She is an artist and is married with one daughter. Talks available: 1 Lee De Barros
Seido Lee de Barros,is a Zen Priest and Dharma Teacher in the lineage of Suzuki Roshi, His home temple is Green Gulch Farm in Marin County. He has had a long time involvement in interfaith activities, homeless, and jail services and leads a Buddhist sangha at San Quentin State Prison. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Zen Lee Lipp
LEE LIPP has practiced Buddhism since 1990. She began meditation with Thich Nhat Hahn and has been a member of the Order of Interbeing. She has practiced Vipassana and Soto Zen for several years. She was lay ordained at San Francisco Zen Center in 1999. She's been a psychotherapist and professor teaching existential therapy since 1980 and supervises at Haight Ashbury Psych. Clinic. She is Outreach Coordinator at San Francisco Zen Center and is active in many areas of socially engaged Buddhism, including having been on Buddhist Peace Fellowship's Board, serving as a mentor for its Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement (BASE) and coordination of SFZC's Prison Meditation Network. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Zen Leigh Brasington
Leigh Brasington has been practicing since 1985 and is the senior American student of the late Ven. Ayya Khema, who confirmed Leigh's practice and requested that he begin teaching. Leigh began assisting Ven. Ayya Khema in 1994 and began teaching retreats on his own in 1997. He continues to teach in Europe and North America. His teaching emphasizes using concentration as a preliminary to insight practice. He lives in Alameda and works as a software engineer. Talks available: 15 Tradition: Vipassana Lesley Grant
Lesley Grant has both practiced Dharma & taught adults & children for 25 years. Graduating from CIIS w/ a thesis in East/ West psychology education, she developed a mindfulness-based somatic therapy program in a neurology clinic, ordained in Sikkim as a Buddhist Nun, and returning to lay practice as a parenting godmother, she is currently combining Waldorf-inspired educational methods, parent's mindfulness practice and Buddhist Dharma, in a co-operative program for parents and children in Marin. Talks available: 1 Lewis Richmond
Chikudo Lew Richmond is an ordained disciple of Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki, and a lineage holder in that tradition. Beginning in 1967, for fifteen years he lived and trained at Tassajara Zen Monastery, San Francisco Zen Center, and Green Gulch Zen Temple, where he was its Head of Practice from 1977-1983. He is the author of three books: "Work as a Spiritual Practice, A Practical Buddhist Approach to Inner Growth and Satisfaction on the Job"; "Healing Lazarus, A Buddhist's Journey from Near Death to New Life"; and "A Whole Life's Work, Living Passionately, Growing Spiritually". He is also at work on a new book, "Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser", to be published by Gotham Books in Spring, 2012. Talks available: 4 Tradition: Zen Linda Ruth Cutts
Senior Dharma Teacher Eijun Linda Cutts came to San Francisco Zen Center in 1971, and practiced with Suzuki-roshi, and other teachers. Priest ordained in 1975, she has lived at Tassajara, City Center, and since 1993, Green Gulch Farm. Married to Steve Weintraub, a Zen priest and psychotherapist, they have two children; Sarah, who practices at Tassajara and Colombia, South America, and David, who teaches English in China. Linda's son Jonathan studies acupuncture. Linda received dharma transmission from Reb Anderson and served as Abbess of San Francisco Zen Center from 2000 to 2007. Linda teaches and leads retreats at Tassajara, Green Gulch and elsewhere. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen Lori Wong
Lori Wong has been practicing vipassana meditation since 2003. Her first retreat (a Goenka retreat) was in 2003 at the California Vipassana Center in North Fork, CA. She became acquainted with Gil Fronsdal when she attended a Spirit Rock retreat in the fall of 2003 and has been a student of Gil's ever since. She currently lives in the Central Valley, leads two insight meditation groups in Modesto, and occasionally teaches mindfulness to children at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship there. Grateful for the teachings and the offerings at IMC, she feels that volunteering in many ways at IMC has provided an opportunity to bring practice into another facet of her life. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Vipassana Marc Lesser
Marc Lesser is CEO of ZBA Associates LLC, a company providing executive coaching, seminar, and facilitation services. He is the founder and former CEO of Brush Dance, a publisher of greeting cards, calendars and gift items, with spiritual themes and artwork. Marc was a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center for 10 years, was director of Tassajara, and is a Zen priest. He is the author of Less: Accomplishing More By Doing Less, and Z.B.A. Zen of Business Administration: How Zen Practice Can Transform Your Work and Your Life. He has an MBA degree from New York University. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Zen Margaret Gainer
Margaret began Buddhist meditation practice in 1995 after taking Jon Kabat Zinn's MBSR class. Since then she has practiced weekly with San Jose Insight Meditation and attended events at IMC. In 2005 she began teaching a weekly meditation class for women inmates at Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas. Through Sati Center, she has completed the Buddhist Chaplaincy Training. Margaret is a member of First Congregational Church of San Jose and brings together Buddhist and Christian teachings there. She has taught at San Jose Insight Meditation and Insight Meditation South Bay. Talks available: 1 Maria Straatmann
Maria Straatmann, a former scientist and businesswoman, has been a student of Vipassana meditation since 1996. She is a graduate of the Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Program and End of Life Counselor training with Metta Institute; volunteers with Zen Hospice Project, and facilitates Commonweal's Heart Disease Support Group. Maria also serves as IMC Program Director and on its Chaplaincy Council. She is a Spirit Rock Buddhist Ritual Minister. Talks available: 13 Tradition: Vipassana Mark Abramson
Mark Abramson DDS is the founder and facilitator of Mindfulness-Meditation Based Stress Reduction programs at Stanford. He has practiced dentistry in the Bay Area for more than twenty-five years, specializing in the treatment of chronic pain and temporomandibular disorders, focusing on non-drug oriented care integrating traditional dental approaches with mind/body techniques, osteopathic manual medicine, and acupuncture. Dr. Abramson holds a black belt in Aikido. Talks available: 4 Mark Coleman
Mark Coleman has practiced Buddhist meditation since 1984, primarily within the insight meditation tradition. He started teaching Vipassana retreats in 1997 in Europe and currently teaches both at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and nationally. He also leads wilderness and nature-based meditation retreats from Alaska to Mexico where he integrates mindfulness practice with the great outdoors. His new book 'Awake in the Wild' is about the practice of meditation in nature. Mark has a private practice in counseling in Marin, where he integrates his Dharma perspectives and training into his therapeutic work. Talks available: 4 Tradition: Vipassana Mark Neenan
Talks available: 1 Martine Batchelor
MARTINE BATCHELOR was a Zen Buddhist nun in Korea for ten years. She teaches meditation retreats worldwide. She is co-editor of "Buddhism and Ecology" and editor of "Women on the Buddhist Path". She is the author of several books including her forthcoming book "Let Go: a Buddhist Guide to Breaking Free of Habits". She is interested in meditation in daily life, Buddhism and social action, religion and women issues, Zen and its history factual and legendary. She lives in France. Talks available: 5 Tradition: Zen Mary Grace Orr
MARY ORR has practiced Vipassana since 1983; prior to that she followed western contemplative practices. She worked as a therapist from 1977 to 1995. Trained to teach by Jack Kornfield, she now teaches classes and retreats in Santa Cruz and throughout the United States. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Vipassana Matt McNeil
Talks available: 3 Mel Weitsman
Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi is abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He was ordained by Suzuki Roshi in 1969 as resident priest at the Berkeley Zendo, and was officially installed as abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center in 1985. Sojun lives in North Berkeley with his wife, Liz, and their son, Daniel. Talks available: 3 Tradition: Zen Michael Bennett
Michael (or Mick) Bennett is a retired psychotherapist who has been actively involved in IMC activities since 2002, having served on IMC's Board of Directors and as its Residential Retreat Coordinator for four years. Mick also is a graduate of the Sati Center Chaplaincy Program, and he serves on IMC's Chaplaincy Council. Mick has also worked with the Zen Hospice Project for the last six years, and since 2006 he has been facilitating IMC's support group for persons with life-threatening illnesses. Earlier this year he also began facilitating IMC's support group for persons with chronic health challenges. Talks available: 2 Michael Newell
Talks available: 1 Tradition: Michael Wenger
MICHAEL WENGER has practiced at Zen Center for thirty years and is currently dean of Buddhist studies. He is the author of 33 Fingers: A Collection of Modern American Koans, co-editor of Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness, and editor of Windbell: Teachings from San Francisco Zen Center. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen Mirka Knaster
Mirka Knaster has practiced in the Theravada tradition since her first retreat in India in 1981. A writer and an editor, she is presently working on Living the Life Fully, a book about the life and teachings of Munindra, the meditation master who first taught Dipa Ma, Joseph Goldstein, and many of our western dharma leaders. He was a pivotal figure in the transmission of Dharma to the West and the resulting mindfulness movement. Mirka's last book, Discovering the Body's Wisdom (by Bantam Books) invites readers to befriend their body and explore the benefits of Eastern and Western body-mind disciplines. Talks available: 6 Misha Merrill
MISHA MERRILL was ordained a Zen priest in 1988 by Les Kaye Roshi in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki-Roshi of the San Francisco Zen Center. She received Dharma Transmission from him in 1998 and has been leading a meditation group in Redwood City since 1993. She also teaches young children at the Peninsula School of Menlo Park. She lives in the hills above Stanford with her husband and joyfully cultivates a large garden. Talks available: 8 Tradition: Zen Noah Levine
NOAH LEVINE is a Buddhist teacher in training with Jack Kornfield and the teaching collective at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. He teaches meditation retreats nationally as well as leading groups in juvenile halls and prisons around the San Francisco Bay Area. Noah is also the director and co-founder of the Mind Body Awareness Project, a non-profit organization that serves incarcerated youths. He has studied with such well-known and respected teachers as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg, Norman Fischer, and Sylvia Boorstein, to name a few. He is the author of "Dharma Punx"Noah lives in San Francisco, CA. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Vipassana Nona Olivia
Nona Olivia has been practicing meditation for some 40 years, during which time she raised her children and became a grandmother. Deeply involved in the Insight Meditation tradition of Theravada Buddhism, Nona graduated from Spirit Rock Meditation Center's first Dedicated Practitioner Program and is a Lay Buddhist Minister, ordained by Gil Fronsdal. Nona practices with and is very inspired by the monastics in the tradition of Ajahn Chah. She holds a PhD from Brown University and teaches at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Vipassana Norman Fischer
Norman is a Zen priest and abbot, a husband, father, and a poet, a teacher with wide-ranging interests and passions. During almost 30 years at San Francisco Zen Center, he served as director, tenzo, tanto, operations manager and other positions. Norman retired as abbot of Zen Center in 2000 to take his teaching out into the world. He continues his involvement with the Zen Center as a senior Dharma teacher. Norman believes in the possibility of engaged renunciation: living a fully committed religious life that does not exclude family, work, and a passionate interest in the world. In addition to his teaching with the Everyday Zen sangha in the Bay Area, Norman is guiding teacher to four other groups: the Bellingham (WA) Zen Practice Group, the Mountain Rain Zen Community (Vancouver, B.C.), Mar de Jade (Mexico), and The New York Zen Circle (New York City). Talks available: 9 Tradition: Zen Pa Auk Sayadaw
Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw is the founder and main teacher of the Pa Auk Forest Monastery in southern Burma. He teaches a particularly thoroughgoing, step-by-step tranquility & insight practice to monastics and lay people practicing at the monastery. This includes samatha (deep access concentration and the jhanas) as well as a variety of vipassana techniques. The purpose of these practices is to bring the practitioner towards Liberation as quickly and efficiently as possible. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Monastic Pamela Weiss
Pamela Weiss is a Professional Coach and meditation teacher. She has been practicing Zen since 1987, including several years of monastic training, and is currently a teacher-in-training with Jack Kornfield at Spirit Rock. Through her company, An Appropriate Response, she coaches leaders and executives in organizations, and leads meditation classes, workshops and retreats, as well as an ongoing Women's Circle. The focus of her work is the integration of spiritual practice into the nitty-gritty of everyday life. She lives in San Francisco with her husband. Talks available: 5 Tradition: Vipassana Paul Haller
PAUL HALLER has been engaged in Buddhist practice for thirty years, initially as a Theravada monk in Thailand, and then was ordained as a priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1980, where he has recently become the new abbot. He has been leading the outreach program at the Zen Center and has extensive experience with integrating Buddhist practice with hospice, jail and peace work. Talks available: 9 Tradition: Zen Peter Overton
Talks available: 1 Rebecca Dixon
Rebecca Dixon is a long-time student and practitioner who has spent many years sharing the dharma and practice opportunities with hospice patients, incarcerated women, and the chemically dependant. A graduate of the Community Dharma Leader program, she has taught meditation in a variety of settings, helped found the East Bay Meditation Center, co-teaches a dharma study group, and leads a sitting group on Monday nights in Oakland. Talks available: 4 Tradition: Vipassana Reverend Heng Sure
Rev. Heng Sure currently serves as Director of the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery and teaches at the Institute for World Religions. Rev. Sure ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1976. He met his teacher, the late Ven. Master Hsüan Hua, while finishing an M.A. in Oriental Languages at UC Berkeley. After receiving full ordination in the Mahayana tradition of Chinese Buddhism he commenced a "three steps, one bow" pilgrimage. With a fellow monk, he traveled more than 600 miles up the California Coastal Highway from Pasadena to Ukiah, making a full prostration to the ground every three steps. They dedicated their efforts to world peace. The journey took over two years and nine months to complete. During the pilgrimage and for two years following, he observed a practice of total silence. Some talks and chants are available at http://dharmaradio.org/ Talks available: 6 Tradition: Monastic Richard Shankman
Richard Shankman has been a meditator since 1970 and teaches at dharma centers and groups nationally, including Spirit Rock Meditation Center and Insight Meditation Society. He is a co-founder of the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies and Mindful Schools. He is the author of The Experience of Samadhi: An In-Depth Investigation of Buddhist Meditation. Talks available: 48 Tradition: Vipassana Rick Hanson
Rick Hanson, Ph.D. is a psychologist, author, and teacher. He began Buddhist practice in 1974, with an emphasis on using householder life for steadiness of mind, insight, and opening the heart. Rick sat on the Board of Spirit Rock Meditation Center for nine years and is a graduate of the Community Dharma Leaders program. He teaches workshops at Sati Center, Spirit Rock, CIIS, Kripalu, and New York Insight. He co-founded the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom and edits the Wise Brain Bulletin (see www.WiseBrain.org). He and his wife have a young adult daughter and son. Talks available: 12 Tradition: Vipassana Robert Beatty
Robert Beatty is a Buddhist dharma teacher and psychotherapist. He is the founder and guiding teacher of the Portland Insight Meditation Community. His meditation training began in India in 1972. He has studied with many teachers in Burma, India, and the US. His primary lineage is through Ruth Denison, who named him a Dharma successor in 1982. He has been a therapist in private practice since 1982. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Vipassana Robert Cusick
Robert Cusick is a long time student of Gil Fronsdal. He was a Buddhist monk in Burma, trained by the Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw. He also trained in the Soto Zen tradition at Tassajara Zen Center in 2001. He participated in the Diamond Heart program with Hameed Ali (A.H. Almaas), in the Sati Center's Buddhist Chaplaincy training and completed the Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP) at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in 2003, where he served as Retreats Program Manager. Robert is a certified Kripalu Yoga instructor, and sits on the board of directors at the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. Talks available: 8 Tradition: Vipassana Ronna Kabatznick
Ronna Kabatznick is a social psychologist who has been practicing meditation since 1985. She spent nearly two years on a Vipassana meditation retreat under the guidance of two of Thailand's greatest Forest Masters. She is the author of "The Zen of Eating: Ancient Answers to Modern Weight Problems" and a board member of The Center for Mindful Eating, a web-based organization designed to help educate professionals about Mindful Eating. Currently, she is an assistant clinical professor in the department of psychiatry at UCSF. Her Berkeley-based private practice focuses on helping people with depression, weight and relationship issues. Talks available: 22 Tradition: Vipassana Sally Clough
Sally Clough was introduced to vipassana through retreats in India in 1981. She co-founded the Sharpham meditation community in Devon, England, and was the Executive Director of Spirit Rock for five years. Trained by Jack Kornfield, Sally has led meditation classes and assisted on retreats since 1994. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Vipassana Santikaro
Santikaro lived with Ajahn Buddhadasa during the last nine years of his life and became his primary translator. Ordained as a Theravada Bhikkhu in 1985, Santikaro spent most of his monastic life at Suan Mokkh. During this time he led Dawn Kiam, a small monastic community for foreigners. He is the founder of Liberation Park, a modern expression of Buddhist practice, study, and social responsibility, located in rural southwestern Wisconsin. There he continues to teach, explore nature, and translate the work of his teacher. He teaches Buddhism and meditation with an emphasis on the early Pali sources and is a lucid interpreter of the original teachings and discourses. Talks available: 7 Tradition: Monastic Sayadaw U Tejaniya
SAYADAW U TEJANIYA started practicing and studying dhamma with his teacher the late Shwe Oo Min Sayadaw (the Gold Cave Hermitage Monastic Teacher) when he was thirteen years old. Ordained as a Buddhist monk for more than 10 years, he teaches meditation at Shwe Oo Min Dhammasukha Tawya in Yangon, Myanmar (Rangoon, Burma). Talks available: 7 Tradition: Monastic Seth Castleman
Seth Castleman is a teacher, storyteller, and writer. A practicing Jew and a student of Theravadan dharma, he writes about the people, practices, and myths of the Jewish and Buddhist traditions. Seth teaches dharma to youth and adults incarcerated in America's prisons. He first developed and then directed the Family, Teen, and Children's Programs at Spirit Rock Meditation Center 1994-98 and presently co-directs the Lineage Project in New York City. Seth has trained in Asia and the U.S. under the guidance of U Pandita Sayadaw, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Jack Kornfield, Christopher Titmuss, Sharon Salzberg, and Joseph Goldstein. Talks available: 4 Shaila Catherine
SHAILA CATHERINE has been practicing meditation since 1980, with seven years of accumulated silent retreat experience. She has taught since 1996 in the USA, India, Israel, England, and New Zealand. Shaila studied at the Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies in England, and dedicated several years to studying with masters in India, Nepal and Thailand. In recent years Shaila has focused on developing deep concentration (jhana) as the basis for insight, completing a one year jhana based retreat at the Forest Refuge, and five months retreat with PaAuk Sayadaw of Burma. She founded Insight Meditation South Bay in Mountain View and authored Focused and Fearless: A Meditator's Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity, published by Wisdom Publications 2008. Talks available: 33 Tradition: Vipassana Shanti Soule
SHANTI SOULE has practiced Vipassana since the mid 1970s. She has become a teacher under the guidance of Ruth Denison in the Burmese lineage of U Ba Khin. Since 1990 her practice efforts have been devoted to intensive retreat practice and work meditation in the form of acting as the head cook at Vipassana retreats. She currently resides in Sebastopol. Talks available: 5 Tradition: Vipassana Sharda Rogell
SHARDA ROGELL is currently a teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She has practiced in the Theravadan tradition since 1979. She has been teaching worldwide since 1985 where she brings a strong emphasis to awakening heartfulness. She has also been influenced by the non-dual teachings of Advaita Vedanta and the Dzogchen teachings in the Tibetan tradition. Talks available: 5 Tradition: Vipassana Sharon Salzberg
Sharon Salzberg has been a student of Buddhism since 1971, and has been leading meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. She teaches both intensive awareness practice (vipassana or insight meditation) and the profound cultivation of lovingkindness and compassion (the Brahma Viharas). She is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, The Barre Center for Buddhist Studies and The Forest Refuge, a new center for long term meditation practice. She is the author of Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience, Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness and A Heart as Wide as the World; and co-author with Joseph Goldstein of Insight Meditation, a Step-by-Step Course on How to Meditate (audio), from Sounds True. Talks available: 5 Tradition: Vipassana Sister Susila
Talks available: 2 Smita Joshi
Smita Joshi has been doing meditation in the Theravada tradition since 1997. She has studied Vipassana meditation with Gil and U Pandita, and Brahmavihara meditation with Shaila Catherine. Though greatly drawn to intensive meditations in a peaceful and supportive retreat setting, Smita considers her most challenging mindfulness practice to be in the midst of her family life in the Silicon Valley of the 21st century. A sufferer of chronic pain for many years, Smita is interested in the value of meditation practices in reducing physical suffering and mental stress. Talks available: 2 Spring Washam
Spring Washam is a meditation teacher and co-founder of the East Bay Meditation Center. She has practiced meditation intensively since 1997 with many teachers and is known for her joyful heart and loving spirit. She pioneer s bringing mindfulness-based meditation practices to youth and communities of color. Spring is a Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader and leads a weekly sitting group in Oakland. She is in teacher training with Jack Kornfield at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Vipassana Stephen Batchelor
Stephen Batchelor, a former Buddhist monk, studied under the guidance of Tibetan lamas and completed a three-year Zen training in Korea. He is the noted author of Alone With Others, The Faith to Doubt, The Awakening of the West, Buddhism Without Beliefs and Verses from the Center, and his new book Living with the Devil: A Meditation on Good and Evil. He is a member of the teacher council at Gaia House in England and is co-founder of Sharpham College. He teaches worldwide and lives in southwest France. Talks available: 7 Tradition: Vipassana Steve Armstrong
Steve has studied the dhamma and practiced insight meditation since 1975. He was a monk for five years in Burma under the guidance of Sayadaw U Pandita where he undertook intensive, silent practice of insight and lovingkindness meditations. He studied the Buddhist psychology (abhidhamma) with Sayadaw U Zagara in Australia and presents it in practical and easily understood terms. He continues his practice under the guidance of Sayadaw U Tejaniya at the Shwe Oo Min Meditation Center in Rangoon. He lives on Maui and has been leading meditation retreats internationally since 1990. Talks available: 18 Tradition: Vipassana Steve Stuckey
Myogen Steve Stücky has been practicing Zen for 35 years and received Dharma Transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993. He became co-Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center in February 2007 and also serves as guiding teacher of Dharma Eye Zen Center in San Rafael. Talks available: 5 Tradition: Zen Steve Stucky
Myogen Steve Stücky has been practicing Zen for 35 years and received Dharma Transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993. He became co-Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center in February 2007 and also serves as guiding teacher of Dharma Eye Zen Center in San Rafael. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen Steve Weintraub
Steve Weintraub has been practicing and living at Zen Center since 1968 and has been teaching Buddhism since 1976. He received Dharma Transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1994. He has a psychotherapy practice in San Francisco and Mill Valley and works as a therapist in the context of various analytic depth psychologies. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Zen Steven Gasner
Steven Gasner has been practicing Buddhist Meditation since 1983. Originally studying in the Zen Tradition for a brief but very fruitful time with Joko Beck at the Zen Center of Los Angeles. He has also practiced at the Community Meditation Center in Los Angeles with Shinzen Young. He is a founding member of the Insight Meditation Center and has been practicing there since 1995. Talks available: 5 Stuart Clancy
Talks available: 1 Surja Tjahaja
Surja Tjahaja has been attending Insight Meditation Center for 5 years. He is a volunteer chaplain at the trauma center of Laguna Honda Hospital. He has been teaching Vegetarian Cooking for 5 years, and in the last year at IMC. He was born in Indonesia, is married with one son. Talks available: 1 Susan Ezequelle
Susan Ezequelle has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1997. A student of Gil Fronsdal, she is a past IMC Board President and worked closely with Gil and other community members to found in 2001 the Insight Meditation Center. She is a member of the IMC Chaplaincy Council and teaches the Beginners Practice Group program. In response to a deep desire to engage with the world through her practice, she recently completed the year-long Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program and is working as a full-time Buddhist chaplain at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City. Talks available: 7 Tradition: Vipassana Susan O'Connell
Ze Sho Susan O'Connell has been studying and practicing Zen since 1985 and has lived at the San Francisco Zen Center since 1995. In 1999 she was priest ordained by Tenshin Reb Anderson, and served as Shuso (head student) at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in the fall of 2005. Before moving into Zen Center, she was a feature film producer and, when young, a film and television actress in Hollywood and New York. She has a son and two granddaughters. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen Tara Brach
Tara Brach is a clinical psychologist and founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, D.C. She has been practicing meditation since 1975 and leads retreats throughout North America. Tara is author of the newly published book Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Vipassana Teah Strozer
Teah Strozer is a lineage holder in the Soto Zen tradition of Suzuki Roshi. She was at Tassajara Monastery for 11 years, and was head of practice at San Francisco Zen Center. She used to be a music teacher, and has a foster son. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen Tempel Smith
Tempel Smith began practicing meditation in 1989. In 1997 he ordained as a monk in Burma with Sayadaw U Pandita and Pa Auk Sayadaw. He then practiced as a long-term yogi at IMS. Now, in the Bay Area, he is working on integrating these deep meditative practices into daily life and in his work with the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. Tempel has taught meditation and Buddhist psychology, and is a member of the Spirit Rock Teen Council. He coordinates the BPF's BASE and Youth programs including two intensive retreats for teens each year in the Bay Area. Talks available: 7 Tradition: Vipassana Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Thanissaro Bhikkhu (Geoffrey DeGraff) 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, himself a student of the late Ajaan Lee, and ordained in 1976. In 1991 he traveled to the hills of San Diego County, USA, where he helped establish Metta Forest Monastery, where he is the abbot. He is a prolific writer and translator. Many of his works can be found online at www.accesstoinsight.org. Talks available: 56 Tradition: Monastic Therese Fitzgerald
Therese Fitzgerald trained at the San Francisco and Tassajara Zen Centers with Richard Baker-Roshi, and then with Vietnamese Zen teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, who ordained her as a Dharma teacher in 1994. Therese has served as Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and co-founder of the Community of Mindful Living, which developed programs for social service in Vietnam and, with Maxine Hong Kingston, offered mindfulness-and-writing workshops for veterans of war. With Dharma Friends, based on Maui, Therese works as a Dharma mentor and instructor, including giving weekly sessions at Maui Community Correctional Center. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen Tony Bernhard
Tony Bernhard is one of Spirit Rock's Community Dharma Leaders. He sits on the board of the Sati Center, is a member of the Spirit Rock Planning Committee and hosts sitting groups and teaches dharma in Davis, CA. Talks available: 11 Tradition: Vipassana Tony Patchell
Talks available: 1 Various
Talks available: 7 Tradition: Victoria Austin
Victoria Austin began practicing meditation in 1971. She ordained as a Zen Priest at in 1982 at the same time as Gil, in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. She received Dharma transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman. She is formerly the tanto (Head of Practice) at Tassajara, and is currently the President of San Francisco Zen Center. She is a certified Iyengar yoga teacher who trains regularly in India and in the U.S. Talks available: 6 Tradition: Zen Vinny Ferraro
Vinny Ferraro has been practicing meditation since 1993. In 1998, he spent a year sitting bedside with the dying through the Zen Center Hospice Program in San Francisco, as well as experiencing 'A Year to Live' practice (based on the book by Stephen Levine). He has studied with several renowned spiritual teachers including the Dalai Lama. In 2001, Vinny trained to lead Challenge Days in schools throughout the U.S. and has become an integral member of that organization. He also teaches the weekly insight meditation group Urban Dharma in San Francisco on Friday nights. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Vipassana Wendy Johnson
Wendy Johnson is a lay Dharma teacher ordained by Thich Nhat Hanh. Wendy has lived and practiced at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in northern California since 1975. As a wife and mother of two, Wendy combines her 30-year training in organic agriculture with a commitment to teaching meditation engaged with the life of the world. She has been involved for many years in establishing gardening programs in Bay Area schools. She is completing a book on Zen practice and gardening to be published by Bantam Press. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen Wes Nisker
Wes Scoop Nisker Wes is an author, radio commentator, meditation teacher, and performer. His books include: The Big Bang, the Buddha, and the Baby Boom: The Spiritual Experiments of My Generation; Essential Crazy Wisdom; and Buddha's Nature. He is founder and co-editor of the Buddhist journal Inquiring Mind. Talks available: 2 Tradition: Vipassana Yvonne Rand
YVONNE RAND is the resident teacher at Redwood Creek Dharma Center, located in Marin County. She is a Zen Buddhist priest and meditation teacher. She studied with Suzuki Roshi and later received Dharma transmission from Katagiri Roshi in 1989. Yvonne's other primary teachers are His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and the late Ven. Tara Tulku; Yaeko Nakamura (Japanese Tea Ceremony and Noh Theater chanting); and Harry Kellett Roberts (Native American Wisdom traditions. She is well versed in the fields of psychology, Buddhist sacred art, contemporary art, and women's issues. Talks available: 1 Tradition: Zen
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