PROFILES
Meet the Rebel Buddha Bloggers and join the discussion to explore, investigate and ruminate on key questions of spiritual life and meaning.
Dan Morris is a Certified Indoor Environmentalist, with over 30 years experience as an environmental engineer, building designer, homebuilder, indoor air quality consultant, and author. He is also a long-term Buddhist practitioner and recent contemplative photographer.
Lynne is a visual and performing artist currently working on perfecting the art of bubble blowing. She has practiced Tibetan Buddhism for quite a while and lives in Seattle.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche is a teacher, poet, visual artist and city-dweller, based in the United States for two decades. He is the founder and principal teacher of Nalandabodhi, an international network of Buddhist practice centers, and Nitartha International, an educational non-profit devoted to the preservation of Buddhist literature and art. Nalanda West, Center for American Buddhism, in Seattle, is currently the primary seat of his educational and spiritual activities in North America.
Sharon Salzberg is cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Barre, Massachusetts. She has been a student of meditation since 1971, guiding meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. Sharon’s newest book, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program, will be available in January 2011. For more information about Sharon, please visit www.SharonSalzberg.com.
Authorized as a lama in 1986 by her root teacher, Khabje Kalu Rinpoche, Lama Palden Drolma has been a student and practitioner of Buddhism for over 35 years, and of Comparative Mysticism for over 40 years. She is the founding teacher of Sukhasiddhi Foundation in Marin County, a Tibetan Buddhist center in the Shangpa Kagyu lineage.
Rev. Danny Fisher, M.Div., D.B.S. (Cand.), is a professor and Coordinator of the Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at University of the West. Prior to his appointment at UWest, he served on the adjunct faculty for Antioch Education Abroad’s Buddhist Studies in India program. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Religion from Denison University and Master of Divinity from Naropa University, and is currently finishing his doctorate in Buddhist Studies at UWest.
Joan Sutherland, Roshi is a Zen koan teacher and the founder of Awakened Life in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Dennis Hunter is a writer from New York City. He publishes a popular website on Buddhism and spirituality, One Human Journey, and writes the weekly feature “21st-Century Buddhism” on the Interdependence Project blog. His work has also appeared on Buddhist Geeks and in Bodhi magazine.
Tina Fossella, MFT, is a Contemplative Psychotherapist practicing in San Francisco, CA. She is passionate about the integration of psychological work and spiritual practice to support people in their healing and transformation.
Mitra Tyler Dewar has served as an oral and literary translator in Nalandabodhi and Nitartha Institute since 2000. He has traveled extensively with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, translating and presenting his teachings for audiences around the world. Two books of Tyler’s translations have been published by Snow Lion: Trainings in Compassion: Manuals on the Meditation of Avalokiteshvara (2004) and The Karmapa’s Middle Way: Feast for the Fortunate (2008), a translation of a major philosophical work by the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje.
Jack Elias, CHT is a longtime Buddhist practitioner, author, and certified NLP practitioner Jack is founder and director of the Institute for Therapeutic Learning. He was an early Western student of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He writes Finding True Magic, the blog.
Tanya McGinnity describes herself as a “Gen X punk rock Buddhist girl who is a student of Nalandabodhi and honing her skills as a meditation teacher. Blogger, tweeter, culture freaker who is also interested in comic books, video games, movies and pugs.”
Debra Ross lives in Halifax and is the Manager of Outreach for the College of Sustainability at Dalhousie University.
Mitra Mark Power has been a student of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition for 30 years, beginning his journey with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, then continuing with his Western dharma successor, Osel Tendzin. In 1993 Mark began studying under the direction of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, and has worked with Rinpoche and the Nalandabodhi community as an administrator. As a board certified chaplain, Mark works at Seattle Children’s Hospital on a palliative care team.
Mitra Lee Worley has been an innovator and pioneer in the field of contemplative arts and education since Tibetan Buddhist practice communities appeared in the West. Her deep grounding in the practices of Vajrayana and Mahamudra support her experience-oriented teachings.
Mitra Karl Brunnholzl is the prolific author and translator of several volumes on Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, including The Center of the Sunlit Sky, Straight from the Heart, In Praise of Dharmadhātu, and Luminous Heart (all Snow Lion Publications). A physician extensively trained in Buddhist study and practice, he teaches frequently in North America and Europe.
Shane Michael Manieri is a meditation practice instructor with Nalandabodhi New York. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana (he misses his family), Shane currently lives with his two cats in Manhattan. He occasionally updates his poetry blog, The Red Shelley Blog.
Beth Patterson, MA, LPC is a licensed psychotherapist and grief counselor in Denver. She is a graduate of the Transpersonal Counseling Psychology masters program at Naropa University. Learn more at Beth’s website.
Juli Goetz Morser is a freelance writer who lives on an island in Puget Sound with her husband and daughter. Juli is a member of Nalandabodhi Seattle and keeps an ear out for the voice of her own rebel buddha.
Megan Johnston is a transcriber of the dharma for Nalandabodhi Publications and Nitartha Institute, student of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Buddhist practitioner and investigator of reality.