Archives: Authors
La Sarmiento
La Sarmiento brings their experiences as an immigrant, nonbinary, Filipinx American to the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, DC, where they serve as the guiding teacher of both the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ sanghas. A graduate of the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader Training, they are a mentor for both the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program and Cloud Sangha and teach at retreat centers around the US.
Brenna Artinger
Brenna Artinger is an independent scholar and researcher with a master’s in Buddhist studies from the University of Oxford. Their work focuses on exclusion and extremism, with current emphasis on the intersection of Buddhism and queer theory in Pali vinaya texts. They also research and write on Buddhist nationalism and extremism in the US and southeast Asia.
Thomas Davis IV
Thomas Davis IV is a Mindful Awareness practitioner who emerged from the Contemplative Faith Community, where he served as a Lay Minister for over 10 years. His orientation to the Mindful Awareness practice began at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA, where he was introduced to the Theravadan tradition of Vipassana in 2012. Thomas began his journey into Dharma Leadership in 2013. In 2017, Thomas graduated from the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader Training Program, The Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Training, and was enlisted as one of the Spirit Rock Community Welcome Teachers for the Monday Night Dharma program. Thomas is also a Co-Founder and Teacher of the Insight Richmond Meditation Group. For more about Thomas Davis offerings visit avant-dharma.com.
Patrice Clark Koelsch
Formally trained with a Ph.D. in Philosophy, Patrice Clark Koelsch began sitting at Common Ground Meditation Center in 1995. Patrice is a graduate of Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders Program, and completed a year-long Buddhist Chaplaincy Training Program at the Sati Center for Buddhist Studies. She has practiced meditation at monasteries in Thailand and Myanmar. Patrice has provided hands-on care for persons in the last stages of HIV/AIDS, and worked for many years in HIV education and client support services. For the past two decades, she has been facilitating meditation groups in correctional facilities. Patrice has a special interest in antiracism work focusing on waking up to whiteness. Through Common Ground Meditation Center, Patrice has offered training in mindfulness and loving kindness for corporations, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions. She has also taught workshops on spiritual care for Buddhist and other religious organizations. Patrice is on the Board of the Minnesota Multifaith Network and is involved with ISAIAH and Faith in Minnesota in working for a multiracial democracy, a caring economy, and a just climate future.
Sam Ludlow-Broback
Sam Ludlow-Broback (<a href="https://twitter.com/SLudlowBroback">@SLudlowBroback</a>) is media relations intern at Springtide Research Institute.
thubten khandro
<a href="https://ratnadakini.org/about.html" rel="noopener">thubten khandro</a> is a Tibetan Buddhist yogini, dancer, poet, and translator. Born in Puebla, Mexico. Since 2013 she has been a student of Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and belongs to the <a href="https://tergar.org/" rel="noopener">Tergar Meditation Community</a>. She has published two dharma poetry books, <i>bird yes </i>and <i>Sunbird</i>. Currently, she teaches yoga and shares poetry and dance through a monthly newsletter.
Marcella Prokop
Marcella Prokop (she/her) began her study of meditation and Buddhism in 2008. As a Colombian-American writer and educator, she is passionate about helping students find their voice, and she has been working to advance access to higher education for BIPOC communities for more than a decade. Marcella seeks to be a student of those she serves and has found that years of creative training and mindfulness practice support all parts of her being.
Blayne Higa
Rev. Blayne Higa is the minister of the Kona Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, a Shin Buddhist sangha on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Justin F. Miles
Justin F. Miles (MA, NCC, LCPCS, LGADAS) is the head of Miles Institute of Integral Living. He holds an MA in Counseling Psychology, is a Nationally Certified and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, certified LCPC Supervisor and certified LGADC supervisor by the State of Maryland's Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists. He has worked in the field of community mental health and substance abuse for 20 years and provides treatment to men and women of all ages with a variety of challenges. Additionally, Justin has 2nd degree Brown Belt in Judo, teaches and practices preparedness, is a certified Master Gardener, regularly engages in Lakota, Christian, Buddhist and Taoist practices, has 28 years of meditation experience, is a Buddhist seminary graduate and teaches Buddhism and meditation through the Washington DC and Baltimore Shambhala Meditation Center.
Bhante Sumano
Bhante Sumano is a Jamaican American Theravada Buddhist monk. He currently lives in the United States as a wandering contemplative, traveling and practicing with his dharma brother Bhante Tanakaro.
Elizabeth Hernandez-Stomp
Elizabeth Hernandez-Stomp is a certified life coach and mindfulness teacher. She’s part of InsightLA’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.
Dhondup T. Rekjong
Dhondup T. Rekjong is a Tibetan scholar and doctoral candidate in religious studies at Northwestern University. His writings have appeared in <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>, <em>Chicago Tribune</em>, <em>The Journal of Asian Studies</em>, <em>The Treasury of Lives</em>, and elsewhere.
Avery Grace
Avery Grace (they/she) is a queer/trans/neurodiverse. multi-genre author and playwright, and is lay ordained in the Soto Zen tradition. They are particularly passionate about the dimensions of vow as a "New Monastic," or a monk in the world. Avery's work is featured in: "Non-Binary: An Anthology of Gender and Identity”, and “All of Me: Stories of Love, Anger, and the Female Body”. You can find more of Avery’s writing in their debut book of poetry, “Laid Bare,” and at <a href="http://www.averybraverygrace.com">averybraverygrace.com</a>. When not writing, Avery co-parents 3 children with their partner on the occupied the lands of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, otherwise known as Bend, Oregon.
Noel Alumit
Noel Alumit is an Associate Editor at Lion's Roar. He has a Master of Divinity in Buddhist Chaplaincy from the University of the West, where he is also an Adjunct Professor. He facilitates meditation workshops for LA Artcore and Meditation Coalition. Noel is also an actor and bestselling author. His film and TV credits include <i>Beverly Hills, 90210</i>, <i>The Young and the Restless</i>, and <i>Red Surf</i>.
Shantum Seth
Shantum Seth has been leading pilgrimages and other transformative journeys across India and Asia since 1988.
Takashi Miyaji
Takashi Miyaji teaches at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. He’s the minister of Southern Alameda County Buddhist Church, part of the Buddhist Churches of America.
Aaron Proffitt
Aaron Proffitt is an Associate Professor of Japanese Studies at The University at Albany-SUNY. He earned his PhD in Buddhist Studies at the University of Michigan in 2015, and his first book, Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism (University of Hawaii Press, 2023), explores the ways that Buddhists in East Asia employed tantric thought and practice to attain rebirth in the Pure Land, and contains the first translation of Dōhan’s (1179–1252) Himitsu nenbutsu shō into a modern language. His research and publications have explored Esoteric Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism, and the Lotus Sutra, and his current research explores the way that emptiness has been understood and employed within the Pure Land tradition.His book <em>Esoteric Pure Land Buddhism</em> will be published in September by University of Hawaii Press.