Archives: Authors
Kim Thai
Kim Thai (she/her) is an interdisciplinary mindfulness writer and teacher. As an Emmy-award storyteller and a proud Queer kid of Vietnamese refugees, she has uplifted marginalized voices across different mediums for almost twenty years. Her personal essays on identity, healing and social justice have been published in <i>New York Magazine</i>’s <i>The Cut</i>, <i>Newsweek</i>, <i>Buzzfeed</i>, and more. She is a certified yoga and meditation teacher.
Marc Lesser
Marc Lesser is an executive coach, speaker, and Zen teacher with more than 25 years of experience as a leader and supporting leaders to reach their full potential, as business executives and as full, thriving, human beings. Marc helped develop a mindfulness-based emotional intelligence training for leaders within Google. He then co-founded and was CEO of the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute from 2012– 2017. Marc has been CEO of three companies and has an MBA degree from New York University. <br><br> Marc is the author of five books including <em>Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader: Lessons From Google and a Zen Monastery Kitchen,</em> and <em>Less: Accomplishing More By Doing Less.</em> Prior to his business and coaching career, Marc was a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center for 10 years, including director of Tassajara, Zen Mountain Center, the first Zen monastery in the western world. He has a passion for utilizing business as a force for positive change and sees work as a place to cultivate character and bring meaning and satisfaction to everyday life. Find out more at <a href="https://marclesser.net">marclesser.net</a>
Rev. Syd Yang
Syd Yang is an ordained Buddhist minister, spiritual counselor, movement chaplain, writer, speaker, teacher, and group facilitator. The work and medicine they share with the world centers the voices and lived experiences of queer, trans, non-binary folks of color and finds its resonance at the intersection of memory, bodies, sexuality, spirituality, and mental health.
Paul Daisuke Goodman
Paul Daisuke Goodman manages his own production company called Eight East Productions. It’s named for the wing of the hospital where he made his first films, <em>Evergreen</em> and <em>No No Girl</em>.
Carlo Carranza
Carlo Carranza has studied and practiced Buddhism for over 24 years, beginning in 2001 with teachings from his main teacher, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, at the University of British Columbia. A monk for 10 years with vows from the 14th Dalai Lama, he is a Siddhartha’s Intent instructor. He has taught internationally, embraced a non-sectarian approach, translated works, and is involved with the Khyentse Foundation’s Milinda Program for Western Instructors.
Anjali Sawhney
Life coach Anjali Sawhney is on East Bay Meditation Center’s program committee and leadership sangha (board).
David Whitehorn
David Whitehorn has been a student of Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche for many years. His professional credentials include a PhD in Neurophysiology and a Masters degree in Nursing. He is a founding Director of the Atlantic Contemplative Centre, a charitable not-for-profit organization in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Ken McLeod
Ken McLeod is a senior Western translator, author, and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. He received traditional training mainly in the Shangpa Kagyu lineage through a long association with his principal teacher, Kalu Rinpoche, whom he met in 1970.
Cortland Dahl
Cortland Dahl is a scientist, Buddhist scholar and translator, and meditation teacher. He has practiced at Buddhist centers across Asia and lived for eight years in Tibetan refugee settlements near Kathmandu, Nepal. He researches meditation and human flourishing at the Center for Healthy Minds, and he cofounded Tergar International—a network of meditation centers with activities on six continents—with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche. Dahl lives with his wife and son in Madison, Wisconsin. He is the author of <em><a href="https://www.shambhala.com/meditators-guide-to-buddhism.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Meditator’s Guide to Buddhism </a> </em> and is leading a Tergar International <a href="https://vajrayana.tergar.org/course/a-meditators-guide-to-buddhism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">course</a> based on the book.
NELSON FOSTER
NELSON FOSTER began Zen practice under Diamond Sangha founder Robert Aitken in 1972, later becoming his Dharma heir and succeeding him at its Honolulu temple. Today he teaches in this lay lineage mainly at Ring of Bone Zendo in the Sierra Nevada foothills, while also serving East Rock Sangha in New England and making periodic visits to sanghas in Hawai’i. His Buddhist publications include Storehouse of Treasures and The Roaring Stream.
sujatha baliga
As director of the Restorative Justice Project, sujatha baliga helped communities across the nation implement restorative justice alternatives to juvenile detention and zero-tolerance school discipline policies. She was a 2019 MacArthur Fellow.
Renato Almanzor
Renato Almanzor, PhD, endeavors to be a transformation catalyst. He has over twenty-five years of experience developing leaders committed to equitable communities, multicultural organizations, and social justice.
Br. Phap Huu
Brother Phap Huu began training with Thich Nhat Hanh at the age of thirteen, when he first entered the monastery to become a monk. Today he’s cohost of the Plum Village podcast <em>The Way Out Is In</em> and the abbot of Plum Village’s Upper Hamlet. </p>
D.E. Osto
D. E. Osto is senior lecturer in philosophy at Massey University. They are the author of Altered States: Buddhism and Psychedelic Spirituality in America (Columbia, 2016) and An Indian Tantric Tradition and Its Modern Global Revival: Contemporary Nondual Śaivism (2020), among other books.
Andrew Lam
Andrew Lam’s next collection of short stories, Stories from the Edge of the Sea, is due out in March 2025.
June Ryushin Tanoue
Zen teacher June Ryushin Tanoue is cofounder of Zen Life & Meditation Center and the founder of Halau i Ka Pono, the Hula School of Chicago.
Sandi Rankaduwa
Sandi Rankaduwa is assistant editor of Lion’s Roar. She’s also a culture critic, filmmaker, and sometimes performer.
Edwin Kelley
Edwin Kelley first encountered Vajrayana Buddhism in Dharamsala, India, in 1993 and became a student of Mingyur Rinpoche in 1998. In 2009, Kelley helped establish the global Tergar Meditation Community, where he then served variably as Executive Director, Co-Executive Director, and CFO. He retired from his administrative role in 2022 and continues to lead programs and support students of Mingyur Rinpoche in his role as an instructor. Edwin Kelley is a guide in Tergar International's <a href="https://vajrayana.tergar.org/buddhist-psychology" target="_blank" rel="noopener">year-long Abhidharma transmission</a> led by Mingyur Rinpoche. For more information on the program and how to join, visit <a href="https://tergar.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tergar.org</a>
Ellen Hamada Crane sensei
Ellen Hamada Crane sensei was a criminal defense attorney, former schoolteacher, and avid outdoor enthusiast. Recently, she earned a master’s degree in Buddhist Studies. She currently serves as a volunteer minister at the Orange County Buddhist Church in Anaheim, CA, and is part of EverydayBuddhist.org the online Buddhist education platform.