Archives: Authors
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (1904-1971) came to the US from Japan in 1959 and founded <a href="https://www.sfzc.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Francisco Zen Center</a>. The author of <em>Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind</em>, his approach to teaching Soto Zen continues to have an immeasurable influence on Buddhism in the West.
James Ishmael Ford
James Ishmael Ford is a senior guiding teacher of Boundless Way Zen and the author of several books including <i>Zen Master WHO?</i> and <i>If You're Lucky, Your Heart Will Break.</i>
Lin Jensen
Lin Jensen is the author of several books, including Bad Dog! A Memoir of Love, Beauty, and Redemption in Dark Places and Together Under One Roof: Making a Home of the Buddha’s Household. He lives in Chico, CA.
Jean Smith
Jean Smith is the author/editor of numerous successful books on Buddhism, including 365 Zen, A Beginner’s Guide to Insight Meditation, and Breath Sweeps Mind. A longtime associate of the Insight Meditation Society, she is the head of the executive board of the Mountain Retreat Center, in Taos, New Mexico, where she lives.
Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
is a Soto Zen priest, author, and poet. A dharma heir of the late Zenkei Blanche Hartman in the Shunryu Suzuki Roshi lineage, her practice is also influenced by Native American and African indigenous traditions. Her most recent book is <em>Opening to Darkness</em> (Sounds True, 2023).
Heidi Bourne
Heidi Bourne is a meditation teacher in the Insight Meditation tradition and is the founder and guiding teacher of Pacific Mindfulness. She has been teaching groups and individuals since 2005 in both public and private settings offering courses, retreats and professional programs. Heidi holds certification in mindfulness facilitation from UCLA, teaches regularly at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and is a member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. She can be reached anytime at <a href="https://pacificmindfulness.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pacificmindfulness.com</a>.
Vivien Shotwell
Vivien Shotwell is the author of the historical novel <a href="http://vivienshotwell.com/">Vienna Nocturne</a> (Random House, 2014). She lives and writes in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Ty Phillips
Former big city bouncer turned pacifist and Buddhist, Ty Phillips is the co-founder of <a href="http://www.thetattooedbuddha.com/" title="The Tattooed Buddha">The Tattooed Buddha</a> and a freelance author whose writing has been featured in The Good Men Project, Patheos, Elephant Journal, Rebelle, BeliefNet, and The Petoskey News. He is a long term Buddhist and a lineage holder, as well as a father to three amazing girls and a tiny dog named Fuzz.
Michael Stone
Shôken Michael Stone was an author, activist, father, and teacher who sought to illuminate the teachings and practices of Vipassana meditation, yoga, and Mahayana Buddhism for the postmillennial age. A Fellow in Residence at the University of British Columbia, he was the author of several books including <i>The Inner Tradition of Yoga</i> and <i>Awake in the World.</i> He passed away on July 16, 2017 at the age of 42.
A. Jesse Jiryu Davis
A. Jesse Jiryu Davis is a programmer and photographer living in New York City. He is a student of Enkyo Roshi at the Village Zendo. Visit his blog at <a title="Blog - A. Jesse Jiryu Davis - Empty Square" href="http://emptysqua.re/blog/">emptysqua.re</a>.
George Takei
Best known for playing Sulu on the original Star Trek TV series and six movies that followed, George Takei is unlikely social media royalty. Unofficially dubbed the King of Facebook, he counts 8.2 million fans in his online empire - including Trekkies, Howard Stern listeners, and the LGBTQ community - who devour his quirky mix of kitten jokes, Star Trek references, heartfelt messages, and sci-fi/fantasy memes. An outspoken advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, Takei has used his unmistakable baritone in several satiric PSAs, including one in response to Tennessee's infamous "Don't Say Gay" bill that encourages viewers to say, "It's OK to be Takei." His current projects include the musical Allegiance, drawn from his experience of growing up in Japanese American internment camps during World War II, and the recently published "Oh Myyy! There Goes the Internet" and "Lions and Tigers and Bears: The Internet Strikes Back."
Adam Tebbe
Adam Tebbe is owner and editor of <a href="http://sweepingzen.com/">Sweeping Zen</a>, an online database of unique interviews with Zen teachers -- complete with extensive biographies, audio talks, dharma talk transcripts, Zen news, and more.
Melissa Myozen Blacker
Melissa Myozen Blacker, Roshi is the Abbot of Boundless Way Zen. She is co-editor of <em>The Book of Mu: Essential Writings on Zen’s Most Important Koan</em>. She will be teaching at the annual Lion's Roar retreat, "Facing Life's Challenges" from October 19-21, 2018.
Tenshin Reb Anderson
Tenshin Reb Anderson is a senior dharma teacher in the Soto Zen tradition of Shunryu Suzuki at the San Francisco and Green Gulch Farm Zen Centers.
Charles R. Johnson
Charles Johnson won the National Book Award for Fiction for his novel <em>Middle Passage</em>. He’s coauthor of the new graphic novel <em>The Eightfold Path</em>.