Meet Your Teachers
Sharon Salzberg is a well-known teacher of Insight Meditation and mindfulness. She is one of the founders of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, and the author of several books including Faith, A Heart as Wide as the World, and most recently, Real Change.
Join Sharon on Day 3 of the Summit for her talk "Real Change" and a guided loving-kindness meditation.
Lama Rod Owens is an author, activist, yoga instructor, and authorized teacher in the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. He holds a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist Studies from Harvard Divinity School and is a co-author of Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love and Liberation. Owens is the co-founder of Bhumisparsha, a Buddhist tantric practice and study community. Has been published in Buddhadharma, Lion’s Roar, Tricycle and The Harvard Divinity Bulletin, and offers talks, retreats and workshops in more than seven countries.
Join Lama Rod on Day 4 of the Summit for his talk "Love & Rage: Survival in a Post-Pandemic World" with a supporting guided practice.
David Loy’s books include Eco-Dharma, Money, Sex, War, Karma: Notes for a Buddhist Revolution; The Great Awakening: A Buddhist Social Theory; The World Is Made of Stories; A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency; and The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons, a finalist for the 2006 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award. He was the Besl Professor of Ethics/Religion and Society at Cincinnati’s Xavier University and is qualified as a teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition of Japanese Buddhism.
Join David on Day 5 of the Summit for his talk "Finding Your Way on the Eco-Sattva Path" and guided reflections for finding your way.
Cyndi Lee is the author of Yoga Body, Buddha Mind and May I Be Happy: A Memoir of Love, Yoga, and Changing My Mind. Her online course, "Taking Refuge In Your Body," is available now through Lion's Roar Online Learning.
Join Cyndi on Day 1 of the Summit for her talk "Our Bodies Wake Us Up" and a restorative yoga practice.
Roshi Joan Halifax is the abbot and head teacher of Upaya Institute and Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her most recent book is Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet.
Join Roshi Joan on Day 4 of the Summit for her talk, "Are We In a Global Rite of Passage?" and four guided practices.
Ray Buckner is a writer and scholar. They received their MA in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from The Ohio State University. In Fall 2020, Ray will begin their PhD in Religious Studies at Northwestern University. Ray’s academic research analyzes sexual violence in American Buddhist communities. Ray is a Buddhist practitioner who has previously worked for organizations committed to racial, religious, and gender justice. Through their writing and public scholarship, they explore subjects of sexual trauma, queer and transgender desire, and racial injustice.
Join Ray on Day 2 of the Summit for their talk "Cultivating the Courage to Continue" with a supporting meditative check-in with journaling.
Mary Stancavage has practiced meditation and yoga, for over 30 years and in 2009 was empowered to teach Buddhadharma. Mary is based in the Los Angeles area and teaches classes, retreats and does individual mentoring. She has taught mindfulness at recovery centers, has co-facilitated Year-to-Live groups since 2008, and has had a weekly dharma class for over a decade. She also was director of Against the Stream Buddhist Meditation Society for ten years. Mary completed the Buddhist Chaplaincy Program at the Sati Center and served as a volunteer chaplain at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. Mary is also honored to serve on the board of CLUE: Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice. Fun fact: Mary has a Masters Degree from UCLA and worked as an archaeologist in the Middle East.
Join Mary on Day 1 of the Summit for her talk "Living with an undefended heart" and guided mindfulness meditation.
Rev. Qalvy Grainzvolt is a native New Yorker of Asian and European ancestry. He is currently the youngest ordained Shinnyo-en Buddhist priest in North America and is the lead meditation guide at The Shinnyo Center for Meditation and Wellbeing in New York City. Qalvy is a meditation instructor at New York University and teaches mindfulness to the New York City Fire Department. He is also a U.S. Army National Guard veteran, a clergy liaison in the Buddhist tradition for the New York City Police Department, a police chaplain in several Westchester County public safety departments, and the first Buddhist chaplain for the Metropolitan Transit Authority. In 2018, Qalvy helped bring mindfulness training to the NYPD Academy’s crisis intervention curriculum. He holds a Master’s degree in mental health counseling, recently completing a year at NY-Presbyterian hospital as a core therapist for the personality disorders unit. He serves part-time as a clinical therapist for incarcerated individuals within the Westchester County Department of Corrections. Ultimately, Qalvy believes that his main characteristics are being tall (good for dusting the high bookshelves and windows of his temple) and having a name that will win big in Scrabble, if ever proper nouns get their day.
Join Qalvy on Day 2 of the Summit for his talk "We Are All First Responders in Our Lives" with a guided meditation.
Mushim Patricia Ikeda is a social activist and teacher at East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California. She also works as a diversity and inclusion consultant.
Join Mushim on Day 3 of the Summit for her talk "Love and Community Building: Mindful Speech In a Time of Global Crises" and supporting guided meditation.
Spencer Sherman (MBA) is on a mission to use the timeless wisdom of the dharma to transform and empower our relationship with money. After getting his MBA from Wharton, he founded Abacus, a financial firm with Buddhist-inspired values. He is the author of The Cure for Money Madness and the "Spirit of Money" Workshop. His thirty-year Vipassana and Dzogchen meditation practice informs his work with money.
Join Spencer on Day 2 of the Summit for his talk "Working with Your Financial Fears" and supporting guided practice.
Sylvia Boorstein is a psychologist and leading teacher of Insight Meditation. Her many best-selling books include Pay Attention, for Goodness' Sake and Happiness Is An Inside Job.
Join Sylvia on Day 3 of the Summit for her talk, "From Enmity to Equinamity" with a guided meditation for fostering equinamity and good will.
Guo Gu (Jimmy Yu) was a longtime student of the late Chan Master Sheng Yen and is the author of The Essence of Chan. He is the Sheng Yen Assistant Professor of Chinese Buddhism at Florida State University and the founder of both the Tallahassee Chan Group and Dharma Relief.
Join Guo on Day 1 of the Summit for his talk "Revitalizing and Deepening Our Spiritual Well-Being" with a supporting guided practice.
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is a senior Theravada monk and scholar who has translated and edited several important Pali texts, including most recently The Buddha’s Teachings on Social and Community Harmony. He resides at Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York.
Join Bhikkhu on Day 5 of the Summit for his talk "Values at the Crossroads: The Struggle for a Sustainable Future" and a supporting guided practice.
Sensei Koshin Paley-Ellison co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. The organization delivers contemplative approaches to care through education, direct service, and meditation practice. In order to bring the work to a broader audience, he co-developed the Foundations in Contemplative Care Training Program. Chodo is part of the core faculty for the Buddhist Track in the Master in Pastoral Care and Counseling at NYZCCC’s education partner, New York Theological Seminary. He teaches in the University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship. Chodo has traveled extensively in the U.S teaching in various institutions as well as bearing witness to the suffering of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and South Africa. His public programs have introduced thousands to the practices of mindful and compassionate care of the living and dying. He is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher with the American Zen Teachers Association, White Plum Asanga, and Soto Zen Buddhist Association.
Join Koshin on Day 4 of the Summit for his talk "Love & Loss in the Time of Covid-19" and a supporting guided practice.
Sensei Robert Chodo Campbell co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. The organization delivers contemplative approaches to care through education, direct service, and meditation practice. In order to bring the work to a broader audience, he co-developed the Foundations in Contemplative Care Training Program. Chodo is part of the core faculty for the Buddhist Track in the Master in Pastoral Care and Counseling at NYZCCC’s education partner, New York Theological Seminary. He teaches in the University of Arizona Medical School’s Center for Integrative Medicine’s Integrative Medicine Fellowship. Chodo has traveled extensively in the U.S teaching in various institutions as well as bearing witness to the suffering of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and South Africa. His public programs have introduced thousands to the practices of mindful and compassionate care of the living and dying. He is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher with the American Zen Teachers Association, White Plum Asanga, and Soto Zen Buddhist Association.
Join Robert on Day 4 of the Summit for his talk "Love & Loss in the Time of Covid-19" and guided mindfulness practice.
Lama Tsomo is an American lama, author, and co-founder of the Namchak Retreat Ranch, dedicated to sharing Tibetan Buddhist meditation practices. Born into a Midwestern Jewish household, she followed a path of spiritual inquiry and study that led to her ordination as one of the few American lamas in Tibetan Buddhism. Fluent in Tibetan, she now teaches students in the U.S. and abroad. She is passionate about reaching young people and supporting those working for positive social change. She holds an M.A. in Counseling Psychology and is the author of the award-winning book Why Is the Dalai Lama Always Smiling? An Introduction and Guide to Tibetan Buddhist Practice and co-author of The Lotus & the Rose: A Conversation Between Tibetan Buddhism & Mystical Christianity.
Join Lama Tsomo on Day 5 of the Summit for her talk "From Inner Work to Outer Work" and a supporting guided practice.
