Archives: Authors
Marianna Pogosyan
Born in Armenia and raised in Japan, Marianna Pogosyan currently lives in the Netherlands, where she is a lecturer in cultural psychology. She is a consultant to international executives and their families on psychological adaptation to life far from home.
Rehena Harilall
rehena Harilall (we,she/her) is South African, a psychologist and management consultant who celebrates African and Indian heritages. She was born and grew up during the Apartheid regime and was involved in various Reconstruction and Development work post democratic elections in 1994. She now lives and works from the United Kingdom as a management consultant. She has been practising in the Plum Village tradition since 1998 and also practises in the Tibetan and Insight Traditions. She practises with BIPOC and Non-BIPOC Buddhist Communities in South Africa, the UK, and USA. She is currently engaged in various revitalisation and re-pairing projects in Kwazulu-Natal focusing on the renewal of rural spaces most impacted by the legacy of apartheid and climate change.
Aishah Shahidah Simmons
Aishah Shahidah Simmons (she/her), is a Buddhist practitioner in the Theravada tradition, and a trauma-informed Mindfulness meditation teacher. A Black feminist lesbian cultural worker, she is also the producer/director of the 2006-released, Ford Foundation-funded film, <a href="http://notherapedocumentary.org/" rel="noopener">NO! The Rape Documentary</a>, and the editor of the 2020 Lambda Literary Award-winning anthology, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Love-Accountability-Digging-Roots-Sexual/dp/1849353522" rel="noopener">love WITH accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse</a> (AK Press 2019). (<a href="https://linktr.ee/afrolez" rel="noopener">https://linktr.ee/afrolez</a>)
Lori Perine
Lori Perine (True Harmonious Dwelling) is an ordained member of the Order of Interbeing and a core member of the ARISE (Awakening through Race, Intersectionality, and Social Equity) Sangha. Her practice of engaged Buddhism manifests in her work as a college educator and mentor to black, Latinx, and immigrant youth and as a policy-maker, advocating for inclusion and progress of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM education, research, and industry.
Zenzele Isoke
Zenzele Isoke, Ph.D. Zenzele Isoke is a black feminist theorist, urban ethnographer, and political storyteller. She is the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Minnesota and the author of <em>Urban Black Women and the Politics of Resistance (Palgrave 2013)</em>. Zenzele leads meditation groups through Common Ground Meditation Center and Yoga Room in North Minneapolis.
Trent Walker
Trent Walker is the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University, where his research focuses on chant and manuscript traditions in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. His first book, <em>Until Nirvana’s Time: Buddhist Songs from Cambodia</em>, will be released by Shambhala Publications next year. <a href="http://www.trentwalker.org/" rel="noopener">www.trentwalker.org</a>
Lama Liz Monson
Lama Liz Monson is spiritual codirector of Natural Dharma Fellowship and managing teacher of Wonderwell Mountain Refuge in New Hampshire
Gendo Lucy Xiao
Gendo Lucy Xiao is a priest at San Francisco Zen Center as well as a doctor of acupuncture and oriental medicine
Craig Blinderman
Dr. Craig (Anshin) Blinderman is the director of the Adult Palliative Medicine Service at Columbia University Medical Center and serves on the advisory board of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.
Mariana Restrepo
Mariana Restrepo is deputy editor of <em>Buddhadharma</em>, Lion's Roar's online source for committed Buddhists. Born and raised in Colombia, Mariana has practiced in the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages of Tibetan Buddhism for more than 20 years. Her path has included time as a monastic, long-term retreat, and years of service within retreat centers and dharma organizations. She brings a deep commitment to integrating Buddhist principles into everyday life—especially in the context of parenting and community building. Mariana holds a Master’s degree in Religious Studies, has taught university-level courses on Buddhism and Indian religions, and has organized large-scale Buddhist events and pilgrimages. She is passionate about making Buddhist teachings accessible and relevant across languages and lived experiences. She also works with <a href="https://middlewayeducation.org/framework/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Middle Way Education</a>, contributing to the development of their curricular framework, which helps to support Buddhist-inspired learning for children and families. She currently lives in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina with her husband and two children.
John A Martson
John A. Marston is a professor at the Center for Asian and African Studies of El Colegio de México in Mexico City. He has written extensively about Cambodian Buddhism.
Ikumi Kaminishi
Ikumi Kaminish is an associate professor of the history of art and architecture at Tufts University. She specializes in Buddhist art.
Denise Leidy
Denise Leidy is the author of The Art of Buddhism and coauthor of Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment.
Damchö Diana Finnegan
Damchö Diana Finnegan is a translator, author, and cofounder of Comunidad Dharmadatta (Dharmadatta Community), a Spanish-speaking community that locates gender and ecological issues at the heart of Buddhist practice. She co-edited and translated Interconnected: Embracing Life in a Global Society and The Heart Is Noble: Changing the World From the Inside Out. From 1999, she held monastic vows for over two decades.
Breeshia Wade
Breeshia Wade is an ordained Buddhist chaplain and the author of<em> Grieving While Black: An Antiracist Take on Oppression and Sorrow</em>.
Paul Condon
Paul Condon is an associate professor of psychology at Southern Oregon University in Ashland and a visiting lecturer at Rangjung Yeshe Institute in Nepal. His research areas range from attachment theory, to the impact of meditation on compassion, to the dialogue between psychological science and modern meditation programs. He teaches meditation practices adapted from the Tibetan Nyingma tradition.
David Viafora
David Viafora, a former monk in the Plum Village tradition, was introduced to Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings as a poor college student, when someone gave him free tickets to a public lecture. He spent a year visiting and studying sanghas around the world — the result is his forthcoming book, <em>Conscious Communities: The Transformative Power of Sangha,</em> available in 2023. He now lives at MorningSun Community in New Hampshire.
Sonam Kachru
Sonam Kachru is an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where his research centers on the history of Buddhist philosophy in ancient South Asia. His first book, released this summer, is Other Lives: Mind and World in Indian Buddhism, a new interpretation of the Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu.
Nalika Gajaweera
Nalika Gajaweera is a research anthropologist at the University of Southern California, specializing in the intersections of Buddhism, race, ethno-nationalism, and gender. She is the coordinator of "Transforming the American Sangha", a Kataly Foundation – sponsored project that explores race, racism, and diversity in North American Insight centers, with the goal of developing resources for other communities wishing to be more inclusive.
Seigen Johnson
Seigen Johnson is a Master of Divinity student at Boston University School of Theology and a priest ordination candidate in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi.