The Gay Buddhist Forum by GBF

In this interactive presentation, Eve engages the Sangha in music and dharma talk. She speaks about her CD "Commentary on Perfections of the Heart," inspired by the 10 Pāramis (or paramitas) - known as the Perfections the Buddha said would lead to enlightenment. ______________ Eve Decker has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1991, and has taught groups, daylongs, and short retreat...

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. ______________  To support our efforts to share these talks with LGBTQIA audiences worldwide, please visit https://gaybuddhist.org/ There you can:    Donat...

Wes Nisker, the co-founder and editor of the international Buddhist journal Inquiring Minds, has practiced Vipassana meditation for 30 years. He is the author of "Buddha's Nature: Evolution as a Guide to Enlightenment," "Crazy Wisdom: A Romp Through the Philosophies of East and West," and "The Buddha, the Big Bang, and the Baby Boom: The Spiritual Experiments of My Ge...

Maie Duerr was the executive director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship from 2004 until June 2007. Committed to exploring the intersection of social change and dharma practice, she engaged in her first civil disobedience during a March 2003 action at the Westover Air Base in Chicopee, MA, at the start of the Iraq war. A Buddhist practitioner since 1993, Maia received lay ordination from Roshi Joan...

Sean Feit Oakes, PhD (he/him, queer, Puerto Rican and English ancestry, living on unceded Pomo land in NorCal), teaches Buddhism and somatic practice focusing on the integration of meditation, trauma resolution, and social justice. He received teaching authorization from Jack Kornfield, and wrote his dissertation on extraordinary states in Buddhist meditation and experimental dance. He teaches at...

Dave's meditation practice began in the early 1970's with the Zen community of Genjoji in Sonoma County. His psychotherapy practice began also in the early 1970's. In 1990 he helped form a group of meditators called the Gay Men's Meditation Retreat that continues to have small, twice yearly retreats. Both practices, psychotherapy and meditation, have focused on gay men working...

Brian leads us in an exploration of breath, voice production, resonance, and the singing of some old chestnuts famous for their capacity to enliven.  ____________  Brian Baker is an acclaimed pianist and choral conductor. He has a doctorate in music and serves on the faculty of the College of San Mateo. In addition to serving as Music Director of the Masterworks Chorale in San Mateo and the Unitar...

As a Buddhist practitioner and a certified Jungian analyst, Justin has explored both the dharma and Jung’s work and has both professional and personal experience of the interactions of these two powerful belief systems. He will present several useful concepts, illustrated by stories and examples, and be available for discussion at the conclusion of his presentation. ______________  To support our...

GBF Sangha members share their favorite poems, along with a brief personal commentary revealing how it has impacted their life or practice. ______________  To support our efforts to share these talks with LGBTQIA audiences worldwide, please visit https://gaybuddhist.org/ There you can:    Donate   Learn how to participate live   Find our schedule of upcoming speakers   Join our mailing list or dis...

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.  ____________  Joe Goode is the artistic director of The Joe Goode Performance Group, and a professor in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance...

Ji-Sing Norman Eng is the facilitator of Q-Sangha and the "Minister of Buddhist Spirituality" at the Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco. His main spiritual teacher is Thich Nhat Hanh ("Thay"), and he was ordained by Thay into the "Order of Interbeing" (Unified Buddhist Church) in 2003 with the Dharma name of "True Wonderful Happiness." __________...

Jorge speaks on “Beyond Monogamy and Polyamory: Extending Sympathetic Joy (mudita) to Intimate Relationships”  ____________  Jorge N. Ferrer, Ph. D., is core faculty in the East-West Psychology Program at California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco. He is the author of "Revisioning Transpersonal Theory: A Participatory Vision of Human Spirituality" (SUNY Press, 2002) and coed...

Bonnie O'Brien Jonsson, MS, has led thirty-seven year-long “A Year To Live” groups since 1998 and leads Living and Dying Mindfully workshop/retreats and trainings nationally. She teaches meditation in prison and through East Bay Dharma in Berkeley, California, and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction through the University of California, San Francisco. Bonnie is the lead facilitator of the Kaly...

Anushka Fernandopulle has practiced dharma in the Theravada Buddhist tradition for over 15 years in meditation centers and monasteries in the USA, India, and Sri Lanka. Anushka is a longtime LGBT activist, has worked in HIV prevention and education, was the director of the Boston Gay and Lesbian Helpline, and was cochair of the board of Trikone (South Asian queer group). Anushka currently works as...

Ven. Robina Courtin was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun at Kopan Monastery in 1978. She has worked full-time since then for Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition. She is now director of Liberation Prison Project, which supports the Buddhist practice of thousands of prisoners in the USA and Australia. ______________  To support...

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...

David has been sitting with and organizing retreats for the northern California circle of insight meditations teachers for more than twenty years. Since 1986, he has coordinated Jack Kornfield and Stan Grof's Insight and Opening Retreats, which integrate the depth of practice and ancient wisdom of Buddhism with contemporary experiential psychological perspectives. Since 1993 he has trained in...

Pamela Weiss is a dual-lineage Buddhist teacher in Soto Zen and Theravada, and the author of “A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism." She sits on the Spirit Rock Teacher Council, and teaches through San Francisco Insight, San Francisco Zen Center and Brooklyn Zen Center. Pamela lives in San Francisco with her husband and little dog, Grover. ______________  To support our efforts...

Jesse Wiens Chu is the founder of ZENVC, an approach to the practice of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) that integrates meditation, mindfulness, and inner work. He has a passion for bringing Eastern and Western wisdom to bear on the problems of today, supporting individuals, couples, and communities to come back into wholeness. In this, he draws from his own Chinese-American heritage, seven years o...

GBF members Harv Whitten, Don Wiepert and Jim Stewart are interviewed by Dean Bellerby about their various perspectives on aging. ______________  To support our efforts to share these talks with LGBTQIA audiences worldwide, please visit https://gaybuddhist.org/ There you can:    Donate   Learn how to participate live   Find our schedule of upcoming speakers   Join our mailing list or discussion fo...

Sylvia has been teaching since 1985 and teaches both vipassana and metta meditation. She is a founding teacher of Spirit Rock Meditation Center and a psychotherapist, wife, mother, and grandmother who is particularly interested in seeing daily life as practice. Her books include "It’s Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness," "Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There: A Mindf...

Larry Yang is a Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader and leads meditation retreats tailored for men, people of color, the LGBTQ communities, and people in recovery from addiction. He co-leads a meditation group for the LGBTQ community in San Francisco and is a psychotherapist and a consultant in cultural competency. ______________  To support our efforts to share these talks with LGBTQIA audiences...

Susan Moon is a writer, editor, and lay teacher in the Soto Zen tradition. She leads Buddhist retreats and teaches writing workshops in the U.S. and abroad. Her books include "This Is Getting Old: Zen Thoughts on Aging with Humor and Dignity," "The Hidden Lamp: Stories from 25 Centuries of Awakened Women," with co-editor Florence Caplow, and most recently, "What Is Zen? Pl...

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.  ____________  Teng How Bae was born into Buddhism. Born in China but raised in Thailand, he has been influenced by both Chinese and Thai traditions of pra...

For over 20 years, Roger Corless was a professor of Buddhism and Christianity at Duke University. After settling in the Bay Area in the late 1990s, he became a frequent contributor to GBF. He was also the author of several books, including "Vision of Buddhism: The Space Under the Tree." He died in January 2007. ______________  To support our efforts to share these talks with LGBTQIA audi...