Marin Sangha Visiting Teachers

Ajahn Maha Prasert

Ajahn Maha Prasert, a Buddhist monk in the Thai Forest Tradition, was born in 1946, in Thailand. He took novice ordaination in 1957, at age 11, and full ordination in 1968. Studying in India from 1971 to 1975, he completed his master's degree at Magadh University. In July 1983, he founded Wat Buddhanusorn in Fremont, CA and is the abbot. He also serves as assistant abbot to Wat Rajburana in Bangkok, Thailand. With his encouragement and mentorship, Ayya Tataaloka Bhikkhuni, founded Dhammadharini Vihara, the first Thai Forest Tradition monastic retreat for women in Fremont, California, United States.

Anam Thubten

Anam Thubten grew up in Tibet and received traditional Buddhist training from various teachers at an early age. He developed a special affinity towards a very inspiring Dharma teacher and hermit named Lama Tsurlo. Lama Tsurlo's kindness and wisdom gave him a firm base to advance in his dharma practice, and still serves as a source of inspiration on his spiritual path, as well as in his work as a teacher. In the 1990s, Anam Thubten arrived in America, and interested people began requesting dharma teachings of him. Since then, he has been travelling and teaching extensively, both in the U.S and abroad. He is the founder of the Dharmata Foundation, and author of various articles and books in both the Tibetan and English language. His teachings draw mainly from the Prajnaparamita; the timeless, non-conceptual wisdom of the Buddha. Currently, Anam resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

Art Jolly

Art Jolly took an introductory meditation course in the early 1990's and sat his first residential retreat in 1995.  Since then, he’s sat numerous retreats and participated in Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioners and Community Dharma Leaders Programs. In 2003 he spent five months as a monk in Burma.  He has led a sitting group in Oakland since 2006 and teaches introductory Buddhism classes for Marin Sangha. Art lives and works in the East Bay and, outside of work, enjoys dancing and the restorative power of nature.

Barbara McHugh and Bill Coffin

Barbara McHugh and Bill Coffin have been meditating for more than 20 years. They have attended many silent retreats and studied in Spirit Rock’s Dedicated Practitioner Program. They have been teaching meditation since 2006.

Barbara has a PhD in religion and literature. She currently teaches the art and craft of writing fiction. Bill worked for eight years as a professional drummer and for 20 years as a computer software developer. Bill and Barbara travel extensively, and in particular they like to chase total solar eclipses. You can find out more about them at http://www.eclipsoid.com/.

Ed Brown

Edward Espe Brown is a zen priest and author of The Tassajara Bread Book and Tomato Blessings and Radish Teachings. Also a student of Vipassana, yoga, cranio-sacral, handwriting change, and chi gung, as well as a lover of poetry, his teaching style weaves together a multiplicity of strands.

Shaila Catherine

_{Shaila Catherine has been practicing meditation since 1980, with more than eight years of accumulated silent retreat experience. She has taught since 1996 in the USA, and internationally. Shaila has dedicated several years to studying with masters in India, Nepal and Thailand, completed a one year intensive meditation retreat with the focus on concentration and jhana, and authored Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity. Shaila Catherine has been practicing under the guidance of Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw since 2006, and authored Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhana and Vipassana to help make this traditional approach to meditative training accessible to western practitioners. She is the founder of Insight Meditation South Bay, a Buddhist meditation center in Silicon Valley} (www.imsb.org).

Tempel Smith

Tempel Smith began practicing intensive Insight and Metta retreats in 1989 under the guidance of Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein.  He spent a year as a monk in Burma with Sayadaw U Pandita and Pa Auk Sayadaw, and has been teaching since 1997. He is the founder of BASE House, a collective of Buddhist activists and service providers in San Francisco. Tempel has completed the four year teacher-training program run by Spirit Rock and Insight Meditation Society. He also leads pilgrimages to Thailand, Burma, and India.The Venerable Phagyab Rinpoche

Phagyab Rinpoche (pronounced “Puk Yab Rin Poh Chey”), a lama, scholar, and highly renowned practitioner in the Gelugpa order of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in Kham, Tibet, in 1966 and ordained at the age of thirteen, Rinpoche received a rigorous traditional education in Buddhist philosophy and ritual in Tibet and then at Sera Monastery in South India. While studying for his Geshe degree, the highest rank in Tibetan Buddhist scholarship, he was recognized by the Dalai Lama as the eighth reincarnation of Phagyab Rinpoche—a venerated Buddhist teacher—and was requested to return to Tibet in order to assume leadership of the Ashi and Lithang monasteries, the traditional seats of Phagyab Rinpoche. While teaching in Tibet, Rinpoche was apprehended for his religious beliefs and subsequently fled back to India before immigrating to the USA in 2003. For more information: http://www.healingthroughcompassion.org/about.html

Thanissara

Thanissara started Buddhist practice in the Burmese school in 1975. She was inspired to ordain after meeting Ajahn Chah and spent 12 years as a Buddhist nun. She has taught retreats internationally with her partner Kittisaro for 20 years and together they established a hermitage and Outreach Programs in South Africa - www.dharmagiri.org Thanissara has an MA in Buddhist Psychotherapy from Middlesex University & the Karuna Institute. She is co-facilitator of the Community Dharma Leader Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Centre.