Archives: Authors
Michael Donnoe
Kōsei Michael Donnoe is an interfaith spiritual director and longtime Buddhist practitioner with more than 30 years of meditation experience. His writing explores contemplative practice in ordinary life, with particular attention to eco-dharma and Queer dharma, and an emphasis on presence, discernment, and compassionate accompaniment across a range of spiritual languages. He lives in Northern California and works in the field of industrial psychology. He is scheduled to receive priest ordination from Linda Galijan Roshi, Abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center, in April 2026, in the Sōtō Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi.
Gary Sanders
Gary Sanders is a seasoned meditation teacher, dhamma guide, and sobriety coach who has shared Buddhist practice with diverse communities across North America close to two decades. Founder of SCV Mindfulness, Heavy Metta PDX, and Boundless Heart, he was also a founding member of Refuge Recovery, a Buddhist-based program for all forms of addiction now practiced worldwide. Authorized to lead Buddhist meditation groups at Against the Stream in Los Angeles, Gary later joined the Teachers Council at Portland Insight Meditation Community, where he was empowered to teach in the lineage of Ruth Denison. His heart-based, accessible approach integrates Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation, inviting students into spaces of kindness, clarity, and genuine transformation.
Paldrom Catharine Collins
Paldrom spent years seeking enlightenment—first in the practices and teachings of Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana, then for fourteen years in the non-dual teachings of Gangaji, in the Hindu Advaita lineage of Ramana Maharshi. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Journey Center Association, a non-profit organization providing resources and workshops based in contemplative Christianity, and has completed their two-year Spiritual Direction certification training program. Paldrom and her husband, George Collins, live in California’s Bay Area. Their business, Neulia-Compulsion Solutions, provides counseling services for sex and porn addicts and their partners.
Ji Hyang Padma
Ji Hyang Padma, Ph.D. has 35 years of experience in Buddhist training and teaching and is a Lay Dharma lineage holder and teacher in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. She serves as Director of the Masters of Divinity Program at Naropa University. Ji Hyang has taught meditation at Omega Institute for 20 years, as well as at Kripalu and Esalen Institutes and many universities. Her practice and teaching are characterized by earth-honoring inter-lineage and intercultural work. Her books include Field of Blessings: Ritual and Consciousness in the Work of Buddhist Healers, Living the Season: Zen Practices for Transformative Times and The Buddhist Campus Chaplaincy Sourcebook.
Timothy Addison
Tim Addison grew up in Boulder and entered the Shambhala community in 1990. He later ordained as a monk, receiving the name Lodrö Gyatso from Thrangu Rinpoche. He studied and practiced at Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia, including advanced training at the Vidyadhara Institute and graduate studies at Naropa University, while also working with Buddhist prison outreach programs. He taught and led retreats in Boulder and throughout Canada before returning his robes and moving to southern Germany in 2015, where he continues to practice and teach primarily in Switzerland. His four-volume meditation manual, Like Honey Amidst Bees, presents teachings from shamatha through bodhicitta to the four vipashyana yogas of the Shentong tradition, based on the instructions of Maitreya.
George Saunders
George Saunders won the 2017 Booker Prize for <em>Lincoln in the Bardo</em>. His new book is <em>Vigil</em>.
Namchak Foundation
The Namchak Foundation is devoted to sharing the teachings of the Namchak lineage of Tibetan Buddhism through meditation, study, retreat, and community.
Dominique Side
Dominique Side is a practicing Buddhist and experienced teacher of Buddhism. She has a Ph.D. in Buddhist philosophy and has edited numerous publications including two books by the Dalai Lama. She is author of Buddhism (2005) and Discovering Buddhism (2022) and a founder of the Windows into Buddhism website providing educational resources for 5 to 18 year olds. She regularly posts articles, videos and audio recordings on her Substack blog The Softer Gaze.
Ann Tashi Slater
Ann Tashi Slater is the author of <i>Traveling in Bardo: The Art of Living in an Impermanent World</i> (Balance/Hachette). She has written for <i>The New Yorker</i>, <i>The New York Times</i>, <i>The Paris Review</i>, <i>Oprah Daily</i>, and many other publications. Visit her at anntashislater.com.
Carole McGranahan
Carole McGranahan is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado. Dr. McGranahan is a scholar of contemporary Tibet and conducts research with the Tibetan refugee diaspora. Currently, she is co-leading an interdisciplinary, international research project on “Leadership and Reincarnation of the Dalai Lamas.”
Tony Koji Wallin-Sato
Tony Koji Wallin-Sato is a justice-impacted scholar and multicultural Nisei writer. He is a facilitator for the Zen In Prisons (ZIP) group, an in-prison teaching artist with the William James Association, a lecturer in the CRGS department at Cal Poly Humboldt, and a PhD student in the communication program at the University of Washington, Seattle. His first book of poems, <i>Bamboo on the Tracks</i> (Finishing Line Press), was selected by John Yau for the 2022 Robert Creeley Award, and his second book of poems, Okaerinasai (Wet Cement Press), was a finalist for the 2024 Big Other Reader’s Choice Award. His forthcoming book will be published through Kaya Press.
Hein Htet Kyaw
Hein Htet Kyaw is a working-class activist who is actively struggling against the state sponsored blasphemy laws and intersectional oppressions in Burma. Hein was born in Burma to a mixed religious (Buddhism and Muslim) and mixed ethnic (Shan, Kachin, Burmese, and Bengali) family. He was raised as a Muslim by his father and raised secretly as a Buddhist by his mother. He is deeply involved in Burmese Buddhist religious reformist movements and Burmese Islamic reformist movements. He has initiated several direct-action projects against state sponsored blasphemy laws in Burma. Hein considers himself a political atheist, whose position is one of secularism and preventing religious privilege from dominating shared public spaces (laws, government, schools, and institutions). He takes an interest in human rights, social justice, labour rights, and secularism. Hein is currently the Director of Australasia for Atheist Alliance International.
Christopher Rivas
Christopher Rivas is an actor, author, and playwright best known for his book <em>Brown Enough</em>. He hosts two podcasts:<em> Rubirosa</em> and <em>Brown Enough</em>. His essays and films have been featured in the <em>New York Times</em>, <em>Tricycle</em>, and many more publications
Shawn J. Moore
Shawn J. Moore is a contemplative learning and development strategist specializing in mindfulness, social equity, and strengths-based leadership programs.
Jo Confino
Jo Confino is coauthor of the new book "Calm in the Storm: Zen Ways to Cultivate Stability in an Anxious World."
Ghadir Shafie
Ghadir Shafie is a cofounder of Aswat, a grassroots organization that advocates for the protection and greater freedoms for female members of the LGBTQ community in Palestine.
Sarika S. Gupta
Sarika S. Gupta, PhD, is a contemplative researcher developing ecological mapping methodologies that make visible the invisible networks where thriving happens. Drawing from two decades in educational systems research and seventeen years of Iyengar yoga practice, she creates frameworks that center embodied inquiry as a tool for personal and institutional transformation.
Amma Thanasanti
Amma Thanasanti began meditating in 1979 under the guidance of Jack Engler, Ajahn Chah, and Dipa Ma — teachers whose influence continues to shape her work today. She spent 28 years as a Buddhist nun, including 20 years in Ajahn Chah monasteries, and has taught intensive retreats worldwide since 1996. As founder of Awakening Truth and the Integrated Meditation Program, she teaches practitioners to recognize trauma, repair attachment wounds, and identify narcissistic patterns — understanding what meditation alone can't heal.
Nikhil Stewart
Nikhil Stewart is currently a researcher for the Religions and Ancient Civilizations department at the University of Hawai’i Mānoa. His research interests span Indian and Tibet Buddhist philosophy, political theory, semiotics, media theory, and linguistics. His current project ‘Digital Dharma: Tibetan Buddhism and Social Media in the Kathmandu Valley’ is an ethnographic study exploring how social media alters the life ways of Tibetan Buddhist monastic communities in the Kathmandu Valley.
Colin H. Simonds
Colin H. Simonds currently lives in Nepal at Tergar Osel Ling monastery and teaches at the Tergar Institute under the guidance of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. He is an assistant teaching professor at the University of Alberta, where he teaches Buddhism at the undergraduate level.