Paths of Practice: Conversations on Journeys into Buddhism

Bidisha Mallik, PhD, is an Associate Teaching Professor of Social Sciences in the Department of School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Tacoma. Dr. Mallik is the author of Legends in Gandhian Social Activism: Mira Behn and Sarala Behn: Addressing Environmental Issues By Dissolving Gender And Colonial Barriers. For more information about the resources mentioned...

Rev. Syd Yang, MDiv (they/them) is a mixed race/Taiwanese American queer trans/non-binary lay Buddhist Minister, movement chaplain, spiritual counselor and writer who engages decolonial possibilities for shared liberation through their practice, Blue Jaguar Healing Arts. Syd’s work finds its resonance in the stories we each hold at the intersection of memory, body, sexuality and mental health. Syd...

Dr. Nicole Wordlaw is a clinical psychologist, a longtime practitioner of Buddhist meditation, a lover of Spirit, and the daughter of a white mother and a Black father. She completed her undergraduate degree in psychology at Stanford University, graduating with honors and distinction in 1992, and then earned a Masters and Doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of California at Berkel...

Bhante Mangala, born and raised in northeastern Massachusetts, started to take an interest in Buddhism while in high school. He began taking that interest more seriously in his mid 20’s and started to practice meditation with small groups and at home. Seeing results early in life, he grew to want to learn more and came to visit the Bhavana Society for a retreat in 2009. Bhante began living at the...

Muichi is a Cuban-American Mahayana Buddhist layman and Wikipedian currently residing in Florida. Muichi's Buddhist refuge name is Abhayajñāna (originally given in Tibetan as Yeshe Jigme), which means "Fearless Wisdom" (Ch: 無畏智 Wúwèi zhì, Jp.: Muichi). Muichi's contributions to Wikipedia are mainly in the fields of Buddhist Studies, Asian History and Eastern philosophy. Muichi...

Reverend Katsuya Kusunoki is the Head Minister of the Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple. Sensei was born in Nagasaki, Japan, the second son of a temple family. Today his older brother Naoya is the 17th generation of their family to serve their family temple. Sensei is a graduate of Miyazaki University where he majored in primary education and his hobby is to watch and play baseball and softball. Whi...

Kyle Neo aka Dharma Kueen and Facilitator of Rainbodhi SG creates safe spaces where Buddhism and queerness meet with compassion. He blends study, practice, and storytelling to make the Dharma inclusive, accessible, engaging and transformative. For more information about Kyle and the resources mentioned in the episode, please visit the following links: https://substack.com/@kyleneo https://www.dhar...

An ordained Zen Buddhist priest, Zengyu Paul Discoe studied art history and philosophy as an undergraduate in the United States and Buddhist temple design and construction in Japan. He became a student of Suzuki Roshi at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in California, and, after four years, Suzuki sent him to Japan to train under a traditional master builder for five years. Upon returning, Discoe fou...

John Tarrant, Roshi is a Zen teacher, poet, and founder of the Pacific Zen Institute. He is interested in Zen as a way that transforms the mind, and in the dance between innovation and tradition in both teaching and practice. Tarrant Roshi is the author of books such as Bring Me The Rhinoceros: And Other Zen Koans That Will Save Your Life, The Light Inside the Dark: Zen, Soul & the Spiritual L...

Frank Olivier is a three-time world juggling champion with a comedy act that’s been seen on the Tonight Show, HBO's Just for Laughs, and America’s Got Talent. He’s entertained two presidents, British royalty, and for Fortune 500 companies as well as performing comedy live onstage with Bill Murray, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Jim Belushi and Dana Carvey. He's toured as a national headl...

Pema Khandro, PhD, is a scholar-practitioner and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. She is the founder of the non-profit organization Ngakpa International and oversees its projects: the Dakini Mountain Retreat Center, the Buddhist Studies Institute and the Yogic Medicine Institute. Pema Khandro’s academic work specializes in the history of Dzogchen, women in Buddhism, and Tibet’s Buddhist yogis. She has...

Rev. Gigen Mark Hollingshead has been studying Zen for over 25 years. He began training at Middlebar Monastery in Stockton, California. Twelve years ago he moved to Santa Cruz and began practice at Ocean Gate Zen Center. In 2017 Gigen went through the Jukai ceremony to officially become Daijaku Roshi’s student, and in 2023 went through novice priest ordination (Shukke Tokodo). Gigen holds a B.A. i...

Monica C. Mann-Wrobel, PhD, is a licensed psychologist located in Chapel Hill, NC. Monica specializes in providing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for a range of aspects of the human condition including but certainly not limited to anxiety, depression, life transitions, family challenges and trauma in adults. Monica also works with couples, offering Emotion Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT). ...

Jeremy David Engels, Ph. D., is the Liberal Arts professor of Communication and Ethics at Penn State University. He is also a longtime teacher of mindfulness, meditation, and yoga and since undertaking a pilgrimage to walk in the footsteps of the Buddha in India and Nepal in 2018, a student of Thích Nhất Hạnh. He is an award-winning teacher and scholar, and has published numerous books and article...

Daisy Lin is an Emmy Award–winning journalist whose work has been published by NBC News, Huffington Post, Thrive Global, and more. She is a longtime member of the Caretaking Council of Los Angeles Compassionate Heart Sangha and a student at the Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Check out the following link for Daisy's blog, Dharma Diaries: https://www.dharmadiaries.com/ For Da...

Rev. Jokan Ono is the 43rd Abbot and Head Priest of Fugenji Temple (Tendai School), Fuchu City, Tokyo. Born in Tokyo in 1986, he is a graduate of Waseda University and also studied at Lewis & Clark College in Oregon, USA. During his university years, he completed the Tendai ascetic training, Shido Kegyo, on Mount Hiei. After working in corporate consulting and the IT sector, he founded “Kechie...

John Fraser is the principal teacher of the Glasgow Zen Group and received Shiho or dharma transmission from Michael Eido Luetchford in 2006. John is also a somatic sex therapist & sex coach, working in Edinburgh, Scotland, with individuals and couples. The Glasgow Zen Group was established in 1990 within the auspices of the International Zen Association, and has operated as an independent fel...

Euna is a multicultural, unaffiliated renunciate dedicating their life to the Dhamma (Laws of Nature) as taught by Buddha. Cave yogi-poet who loves exploring diverse, inclusive, and fun routes to awakening. Enthusiastic about ascetic training in caves and wilderness, nervous system theory, and Brahma-Vihara practices. Primary focus is on Cittanupassana and Hwadu. Formally trained in Vipassana &amp...

Ananda Mahinkanda is an accomplished Accounting and Finance professional and Business Administrator with a Doctorate in Humanity. His life journey has taken him across South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and North America, giving him a rich multicultural perspective and a deep appreciation for the diversity of human experience. A lifelong animal lover, Ananda is deeply committed to ahimsa and to...

Assaf Katz is an activist and Buddhist teacher in Israel who opposes the Israeli governments’ devastating military action and long occupation in Palestine, and is dedicated to finding a path to peace. He has been practicing meditation and the path of the Dharma since 2007, mostly from the Vipassana tradition and also from Non-Duality traditions, and has practiced for long periods in Israel and abr...

Bhante Buddharakkhita was born in Uganda to a Christian family in 1966 in Kampala, Uganda, East Africa. He first encountered Buddhism in 1990 while studying in India. He was fully ordained as a Theravada Buddhist monk by the late Most Venerable U Silananda in 2002 at the Tathagata Meditation Centre in San Jose, California. He then spent eight years under the guidance of Bhante Henepola Gunaratana...

Alexander James O'Neill is a specially appointed assistant professor at the Department of Liberal Arts at Musashino University, Tōkyō. He was previously a research fellow at the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto's Department for the Study of Religion....

Tseme (they/them) practices in the Himalayan Gelugpa tradition. Their Buddhist Studies degree at UC Berkeley included studying Tibetan and Japanese languages and they are now undertaking a Master of Divinity at Harvard to become a Buddhist Chaplain. Tseme also publishes innovative content about being queer and Buddhist on their Instagram @neo_queer and dreams of starting their own publishing house...

Jhani Randhawa is an interdisciplinary artist and scholar, whose praxis centres the performative uses of literature, archival marginalia, and bodies to illuminate limits of legality, memory, and racially gendered power within the ongoing ecological crises of settler colonialism. Winner of the 2024 California Book Award for their debut poetry collection, Time Regime (Gaudy Boy, 2022), Jhani’s work...

Muna Shaheen is a Palestinian single mother of three living in Haifa. She is a long-term practitioner, who co-founded “Ihna-Hon,” an open Arabic-speaking mindfulness-meditation space, and later founded “Marsa” a dedicated Arabic-speaking Sangha, in which she teaches Dharma. In addition she is an assistant teacher in an MBSR teacher-training-course. Muna regards mindfulness teaching as her major so...