Ven. Ajahn Amaro is a bhikkhu in the Thai forest tradition and the abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in southeast England.
Guy Armstrong is a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council and a guiding teacher of the Insight Meditation Society.
Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Sensei, is the head of the Mountains and Rivers Order and abbot of the Fire Lotus Temple in Brooklyn, New York.
Harvey Aronson, PhD, MSW, is a psychotherapist in private practice and a Buddhist meditation teacher. He is the author of Buddhist Practice on Western Ground.
Ezra Bayda teaches at the Zen Center of San Diego. His most recent book is The Authentic Life: Zen Wisdom for Living Free From Complacency and Fear.
Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi, is a pediatrician and coabbot of Great Vow Zen Monastery in Claskanie, Oregon. She is the author of Mindful Eating and How to Train a Wild Elephant and Other Adventures in Mindfulness.
Patricia Dai-en Bennage is the abbess of Mt. Equity Zendo in Pennsdale, Pennsylvania. She practiced Zen in Japan for twenty-three years and trained at the NiSodo women’s monastery in Nagoya.
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Theravāda monk, writer, and activist. His translations include The Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya and The Connected Discourses of the Buddha. He is the cofounder of Buddhist Global Relief.
Iris Brilliant is a Buddhist practitioner who has participated in teen and young people retreats organized by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and also attended young people retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.
Elizabeth Callahan completed a traditional three-year Vajrayāna retreat and studied with and interpreted for Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche. Her translations include the Ninth Karmapa’s The Ocean of Definitive Meaning and Jamgon Kongtrul’s Treasury Knowledge.
Francisca Cho is a translator and associate professor of Buddhist studies at Georgetown University. Her publications include Everything Yearned For: Manhae’s Poems of Love and Longing and Embracing Illusion: Truth and Fiction in the Dream of the Nine Clouds.
Georges Dreyfus is Jackson Professor of Religion at Williams College. He was a monk for fifteen years in the Geluk tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and was the first Westerner to receive the geshe degree.
Lama Palden Drolma was authorized as a lama by the late Kalu Rinpoche following her completion of a three-year retreat and has taught Vajrayana Buddhism since 1986. She is the founder of the Sukhasiddhi Foundation, based in Fairfax, California.
Christina Feldman is a guiding teacher in the Insight Meditation Society and cofounder of Gaia House in Devon, England. She is the author of The Buddhist Path to Simplicity and Compassion: Listening to the Cries of the World.
Gaylon Ferguson is associate professor of religious studies at Naropa University and an acharya in Shambhala International. He is the author of Natural Wakefulness.
Zoketsu Norman Fischer is founder of the Everyday Zen Foundation and a former abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center. A poet and writer, he is the author of Training in Compassion: Zen Teachings on the Practice of Lojong and Taking Our Places: The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up.
Gil Fronsdal has a PhD in Buddhist studies and trained in both the Insight Meditation and Soto Zen traditions. He is the primary teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.
Bhante Gunaratana is the founder abbot of the Bhavana Society and author of Journey to Mindfulness: The Autobiography of Bhante G and the classic Mindfulness in Plain English.
Ron Garry has a PhD in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and completed a three-year Vajrayāna retreat. He is the translator of Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche’s Heart Advice.
Joseph Goldstein is a former monk in the Burmese forest tradition and cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Forest Refuge, both in Barre, Massachusetts. He is the author of One Dharma; Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom; and Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening.
Michael Grady is a guiding teacher at the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center and a senior teacher at the Insight Meditation Society.
Rita Gross is a scholar, writer, and dharma teacher in the community of Jetsun Khandro Rinpoche. Among her many publications are Soaring and Settling: Buddhist Perspectives on Contemporary Social and Religious Issues and A Garland of Feminist Reflections: Forty Years of Religious Reflection.
Paul Haller is a Zen teacher and former abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center.
Sarah Harding is a Tibetan translator and lama in the Kagyü school of Vajrayāna Buddhism. Her translations include Creation and Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation by Jamgon Kongtrul and Lion’s Gaze: The Special Teachings of the Wise and Glorious Sovereign by Patrul Rinpoche.
Zenkei Blanche Hartman is a senior dharma teacher at the San Francisco Zen Center. She was the abbess of SFZC from 1996 to 2003.
Steven Heine is professor of religion and history and director of Asian studies at Florida International University. His many publications include The Zen Canon: Studies of Classic Zen Texts; The Zen Poetry of Dōgen; and The Kōan: Meaning and Metaphor.
Mushim Ikeda is a Buddhist teacher, writer, and community activist. She is a core teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California, a Buddhist community that emphasizes social justice and diversity.
Marlene Jones (d. 2013) was a founder of the Diversity Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She also led retreats and programs there for people of color.
Sumi Loundon Kim is the Buddhist chaplain at Duke University and teacher for the Buddhist Families of Durham. She has published two anthologies about young Buddhists: Blue Jean Buddha and The Buddha’s Apprentices.
Anne Carolyn Klein is a founding director and resident teacher at Dawn Mountain Tibetan Temple in Houston, Texas. She is a professor of religious studies at Rice University and author of Heart Essence of the Great Expanse: A Story of Transmission.
Jack Kornfield trained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand, India, and Burma. Returning to the United States, he cofounded the Insight Meditation Society and is a founding teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He has a PhD in clinical psychology and is the author of such classics as A Wise Heart; After the Ecstasy, the Laundry; and Bringing Home the Dharma.
Robin Kornman (d. 2007) was a translator, writer, and close student of the late Chögyam Trunpga Rinpoche. His major translation is of the Tibetan epic King Gesar of Ling.
Cyndi Lee is the founder of OM yoga and a longtime student of Gehlek Rinpoche. She is the author of Yoga Body, Buddha Mind and May I Be Happy: A Memoir of Love, Yoga, and Changing My Mind.
Taigen Dan Leighton is a writer and translator and the guiding dharma teacher at Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago. Among his books are Zen Questions: Zazen, Dogen, and the Spirit of Creative Inquiry and Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and Their Modern Expression.
Judy Lief was trained and empowered by Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche as a teacher in the Buddhist and Shambhala traditions. She is the editor of many of Trungpa Rinpoche’s books, including the three-volume set The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, and is the author of Making Friends with Death: A Buddhist Guide to Encountering Mortality.
John Daido Loori, Roshi (d. 2009), was the founder of Zen Mountain Monastery and the Mountains and Rivers Order, where he served as the guiding teacher for almost thirty years. A holder of both the Soto and Rinzai Zen lineages, he was the author of numerous books, including The Eight Gates of Zen and The Zen of Creativity.
David Loy is a professor, writer, and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition. His work focuses on the encounter between Buddhism and modernity, focusing on contemporary social and ecological issues. He is the author of The Great Awakening: A Buddhist Social Theory, Money, Sex, War, Karma, and The World Is Made of Stories.
Kamala Masters is one of the founders and teachers of the Vipassana Metta Foundation on Maui. She teaches retreats in the Theravāda tradition worldwide and is a guiding teacher at the Insight Meditation Society.
Elizabeth Mattis-Namgyel has studied and practiced for thirty years under the guidance of her teacher and husband, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche. She spent six years in solitary retreat and serves as retreat master at Mangala Shri Bhuti’s retreat center in southern Colorado. She is the author of The Power of an Open Question.
Guy McCloskey is the vice general director of the Soka Gakkai International movement in the United States.
Ken McLeod completed a three-year retreat on the guidance of the late Kalu Rinpoche. He translated The Great Path of Awakening, Jamgön Kongtrül’s commentary on lojong, and is the author of Wake Up to Your Life. He is the founder of Unfettered Mind in Los Angeles.
Larry Mermelstein is the executive director of the Nalanda Translation Committee and an archarya in Shambhala International.
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a teacher in the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. He has authored two best-selling books, The Joy of Living and Joyful Wisdom, and founded the Tergar Meditation Community, an international network of Buddhist meditation centers.
Phillip Moffitt is a member of the Teachers Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the founder of the Life Balance Institute. He is the author of Dancing with Life and Emotional Chaos to Clarity.
Mary Morgan is a member of the diversity committee and chair of the governance committee of San Francisco Zen Center. She is a Superior Court judge in San Francisco.
Reverend Shohaku Okumura is a Soto Zen priest and translator of the writings of Dōgen Zenji and Uchiyama Roshi. He is the founder and director of the Sanshin Zen Community, based in San Francisco.
Andrew Olendzki is senior scholar at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. He is a columnist for Tricycle magazine and the author of Unlimited Mind.
Frank Ostaseski is a leading voice on contemplative end-of-life care. He is founder of the Metta Institute, which offers education in end-of-life care, emphasizing the spiritual dimensions of dying.
Bhante Piyānanda is president and abbot of Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara in Los Angeles.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche is a teacher in the Nyingma and Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the founder of Nalandabodhi and the author of Rebel Buddha: A Guide to a Revolution of Mind and Wild Awakening: The Heart of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.
Charles Prebish is a leading scholar on the history and sociology of Buddhism in America. He is coauthor of The Faces of Buddhism in America and author of An American Buddhist Life.
Yvonne Rand is a meditation teacher and lay householder priest in the Soto Zen tradition. She is the resident teacher at Goat-in-the-Road in Mendocino County, California.
Reginald Ray is a scholar, Buddhist teacher, and spiritual director of the Dharma Ocean Society. He is the author of numerous books and audio sets, including Indestructible Truth; Secrets of the Vajra World; Meditating with the Body; and Mahamudra for the Modern World.
Marcia Rose is the founding teacher of the Mountain Hermitage and Taos Mountain Sangha Meditation Center. She is a regular visiting teacher at the Forest Refuge in Barre, Massachusetts.
Sharon Salzberg is a cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society and the author of such bestsellers as Real Happiness, Love Your Enemies (with Robert Thurman); Loving-Kindness; and Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience.
Grace Schireson is a clinical psychologist and dharma teacher in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. She is the founder and head teacher of the Empty Nest Zen Group and the author of Zen Women: Beyond Tea-Ladies, Iron Maidens, and Macho Masters.
Miranda Shaw is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Richmond. She is the author of Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism and Buddhist Goddesses of India.
Marcia Schmidt is a writer and translator and the cofounder of Rangjung Yeshe Publications. She is the editor of The Dzogchen Primer and Quintessential Dzogchen and the author of Confessions of a Gypsy Yogini.
Bhante Seelawimala is a Theravāda monk from Sri Lanka and professor at the Graduate Theological Seminary in Berkeley. He is president of American Buddhist Seminary Temple in Sacramento and the Buddhist Vihara in Vancouver.
Richard Shrobe received dharma transmission from the late Korean Zen master Soen Sa Nim and is the guiding teacher of the Chogye International Zen Center in New York City. He is the author of Elegant Failure: A Guide to Zen Koans and Don’t-Know Mind: The Spirit of Korean Zen.
Judith Simmer-Brown is an acharya in Shambhala International and professor of religious studies at Naropa University. She is the author of the classic Dakini’s Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism.
Rod Meade Sperry is the associate editor and web editor of the Shambhala Sun. He is the creator of the Buddhism and pop culture website The Worst Horse and editor of A Beginner’s Guide to Meditation.
Myogen Steve Stücky (d. 2013) was central abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center from 2010 to 2013, when he stepped down because of ill health. He was also the guiding teacher of Dharma Eye Zen Center in San Rafael, California.
Ven. Ajahn Sumedho is the foremost Western disciple of the late Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah. He is founder of Amaravati Buddhist Centre, a Theravāda monastery in Hertfordshire, England.
Joan Sutherland, Roshi, is founder of the Open Source, a network of practice communities in the Western US emphasizing the confluence of Zen kōans, creativity, and companionship.
John Tarrant, Roshi, directs the Pacific Zen Institute, where he is developing on a new way of teaching koans for people with no experience of meditation. He is the author of Bring Me the Rhinoceros and Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life and The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul and the Spiritual Life.
Robert Thurman is one of North America’s best-known Buddhist leaders and authors. He is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, president of Tibet House–US, and a leading voice for Tibetan Freedom.
Bonnie Myotai Treace, Sensei, founded Hermitage Heart and the Bodies of Water Society. She teaches Zen at Gristmill Hermitage in Garrison, New York. Her writings include Zen Moon: A Season of Zen Teachings.
Ringu Tulku is a lama in the Kagyü order of Tibetan Buddhism and founder of Bodhicharya. He is the author of Daring Steps and Path to Buddhahood.
Mark Unno was ordained in the Shin Buddhist tradition and is the head of the department of religious studies at the University of Oregon. He is the author of Shingon Reflections: Myoe and the Mantra of Lights, as well as many studies, translations, and articles in both English and Japanese.
B. Alan Wallace is a Buddhist teacher, scholar, and translator, and the founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies. Among his books are The Taboo of Subjectivity: Toward a New Science of Consciousness and Buddhism and Science: Breaking New Ground.
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche is president and resident lama at Ligmincha Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trained in both Bön and Buddhist Dzogchen, he is author of Awakening the Luminous Mind, Healing With Form, Energy, and Light; and other books.
Sojun Mel Weitsman, Roshi, is the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He was ordained as a priest by Suzuki Roshi in 1969 and served as coabbot of the San Francisco Zen Center from 1988 to 1997.