The Gay Buddhist Forum by GBF

A great way to get to know fellow sangha participants, a "Dharma Duo" features two members of GBF sharing their background, what brought them to Buddhism, and how their practice and experience with the dharma has impacted their lives.  ____________  Chris Shelton, a trained artist and practicing architect with a Christian past and a decade long Buddhist practice, strives to bring themes...

Jack Morin, Ph. D., has been studying the mysteries of Eros for three decades as a psychotherapist and sex researcher in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the author of "The Erotic Mind: Unlocking the Inner Sources of Sexual Passion and Fulfillment," which offers a bold new psychology of desire and arousal based on his clinical experience as well as an in-depth analysis of over 7,000 ano...

Karen Van Dine connected with the San Francisco gay community in 1985 as a member of Radiant Light Ministries, where she served as a prayer counselor. Through the AIDS Epidemic of the 80’s and 90’s, Karen worked with the San Francisco Healing Circle and R.L.M., leading meditations, memorials and assisting many in conscious dying. After her time as a student at Tassajara Zen Monastery and retreats...

Diana Elrod is an active member of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) in the Nichiren tradition. She has a Masters in Philosophy and Religion with an emphasis on Chinese Buddhism, from the California College of Integral Studies. ______________  To support our efforts to share these talks with LGBTQIA audiences worldwide, please visit https://gaybuddhist.org/ There you can:    Donate   Learn how to pa...

Long an admirer of the Buddha, Tom Bruein began studying the Dharma in earnest after the coronation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. Certified as a clinical hypnotherapist, he was especially drawn to the Buddhist approach to understanding and calming the mind and ego. Recognizing the risk of substituting one form of attachment (the material world) for another (spiritual/philosophical attainment), he...

A great way to get to know fellow sangha participants, a "Dharma Duo" features two members of GBF sharing their background, what brought them to Buddhism, and how their practice and experience with the dharma has impacted their lives.  ____________  Mark Hoffheimer has been a member of Gay Buddhist Fellowship for eight years. Professionally, he is an urban planner and urban designer faci...

Ösel Jennings is a wisdom-treasure revealer (known as Terton in the language of Tibet) and has so received direct transmission, teachings and empowerments from Buddha Padmasambhava, Buddha Stainless Wisdom, and numerous other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the Celestial Realms of Awakened Mind, which he has codified into the teachings of Lotus Speech Mandala, called "Perfection Everywhere: the Y...

Ordained in 2001 into the Western Buddhist Order, Suvarnaprabha (or Suvanna for short) is director of the San Francisco Buddhist Center and a writer. She teaches classes and retreats at the SFBC, workplace wellness and mindfulness based stress reduction at local businesses (stressreductionatwork.com), and occasional meditation classes at the San Francisco county jail. Her humorous advice column, “...

Tim Wickens began practice in the Theravada tradition in 1991. He has studied with many Western lay teachers (primarily Michele McDonald and Eric Kolvig) and with senior monks and nuns in the Burmese and Thai traditions. He lived and worked for two years at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has attended retreats around the U.S. and in Canada, England, and Burma, where he spent a retreat as an orda...

Jennifer Berezan is a unique blend of singer/songwriter, producer, and activist. Over the course of ten albums, she has developed and explored recurring themes with a rare wisdom. Her lifelong involvement in environmental, women’s, and other justice movements as well as an interest in Buddhism and earth-based spirituality are at the heart of her writing. ______________  To support our efforts to s...

Ösel Jennings is a wisdom-treasure revealer (known as Terton in the language of Tibet) and has so received direct transmission, teachings and empowerments from Buddha Padmasambhava, Buddha Stainless Wisdom, and numerous other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the Celestial Realms of Awakened Mind, which he has codified into the teachings of Lotus Speech Mandala, called "Perfection Everywhere: the Y...

Arinna Weisman has studied Insight Meditation since 1979. She teaches in the lineage of the Great Burmese teacher U Bha Khin and was empowered to teach by Ruth Denison. Arinna is the founding teacher of Insight Meditation Center of the Pioneer Valley in Easthampton, Massachusetts, and co-author of "A Beginner’s Guide to Insight Meditation." She was a resident teacher at Insight Meditatio...

Joe Weston is an experienced workshop facilitator, life coach, and body worker. Born and educated in New York, Joe lived in Amsterdam for 17 years, coming in contact with people from various cultures, and working with companies and individuals around the world. He now lives in California and is committed to helping others embody spirituality. Joe brings a wealth of insight to his work based on man...

Ven. Amy Miller came to Tibetan Buddhism in 1987. She has traveled on retreats in India, Nepal and the United States and acted as Tibet pilgrimage leader for the Institute of Noetic Science in 1987 and 2001. In 1990, Ven. Amy co-founded Tse Chen Ling Buddhist Center in San Francisco, California. She completed a solitary, seven-month retreat at the Vajrapani Institute where she was Director from 19...

David Lewis has been following the dharma path for 45 years, has a degree in comparative religious studies, and is a graduate of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Dedicated Practitioners Program. He teaches Insight Meditation and enjoys sharing the dharma at several sanghas around the Bay Area. He is a proud long-time member of GBF. ______________  To support our efforts to share these talks with LG...

Doug leads the sangha in New Year's Inter-faith and cross-cultural rituals.  ____________  Doug Von Koss is the Artistic Director of THE NOAH PROJECT, a men's ritual performance group in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through a magical blend of chant, movement, poetry and ritual, Doug weaves a spell that encompasses the ecstatic, the sacred and the wise fool. He draws from many of the world...

Bill Weber is a senior Vipassana practitioner and a graduate from Spirit Rock’s Community Dharma Leaders program. He has twenty-five years of extensive retreat practice and currently practices at home with his husband or sits with a small group of gay men. He is also a documentary filmmaker and video editor, whose latest projects are “To Be Takei” and “The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin.” ______...

GBF Sangha members share their favorite poems, along with a brief personal commentary revealing how it has impacted their life or practice. ____________ Dean Bellerby teaches Integral Coaching® practice and ‘A Year To Live’ groups, explorating what it means to be fully human, fully spirit, and fully queer in the world. Dean has been a born-again Christian (including participating in an ex-gay mini...

Joe Rodriguez is a Soto Zen Buddhist practitioner at San Francisco Zen Center, where he sits on the board committee for diversity, inclusion, and belonging. He is a father, a social impact strategist, and a LGBT+ activist.  https://www.gardnerrodriguez.com/about ______________  To support our efforts to share these talks with LGBTQIA audiences worldwide, please visit https://gaybuddhist.org/ There...

Tom Thurston grew up in a small town in east Tennessee and spent 15 years in a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church called the Christian Brothers. His degrees are in theology. He taught high school religion for six years in the Midwest, and then went to Manila, the Philippines, to teach theology at a university run by the Brothers there. He came to the Bay Area in 1982 to do doctoral studi...

Shortly following the Stonewall Riot, Hawkins Mitchell, Ph. D., joined and was active in the Gay Liberation Front. He returned to the Bay Area and worked with Robert Bly in the Men’s Movement. After designing and for four years heading The Dream Lodge Experience (a support to men seeking to integrate their spiritual, erotic and emotional selves), on his 48th birthday, while attending a weekend lec...

Lee Lipp, Ph. D., has a therapy practice in San Francisco and supervises at Haight Ashbury Psychological Services. She has been a member of Thich Nhat Hahn’s Order of Interbeing, practicing Zen and Vipassana, since 1990. She is the Diversity/Outreach Coordinator at the San Francisco Zen Center. She teaches “Transforming Depression” classes in venues that include Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Insi...

Tom Moon has been a practitioner of Vipassana meditation for fifteen years, and his spiritual home is Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He is a psychologist in San Francisco, working primarily with gay men. His chief commitment is in exploring the interface between Buddhist practice and psychotherapy. ______________  To support our efforts to share these talks with LGBTQIA audiences worldwide, please...

Eric Poche is the director of volunteer services and training at Zen Hospice Project and the Laguna Honda Hospital Hospice Volunteer Program. Eric has many years of compassionate experience working with those in the process of dying, which he calls “the great teaching of my life”. A native of the Bay Area, he has been a student of the dharma for many years, sitting Zen and Vipassana. _____________...

Eugene Cash is the founding teacher of the San Francisco Insight Meditation Community of San Francisco. He teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and leads intensive meditation retreats internationally. His teaching is influenced by both Burmese and Thai streams of the Theravada tradition as well as Zen and Tibetan Buddhist practice. He is also a teacher of the Diamond Approach, a school of spir...