About the Writer

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I practice Buddhism. I am a Buddhist, but not necessarily a very good one. I am not a teacher or a monastic, nor even currently a formal student. Nevertheless, in thirty years I have, if not continuously, at least  diligently and earnestly studied and practiced Theravada (South Asian), Vajrayana (from Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan), and Zen Buddhism (Japanese) in forms they are presently being taught in the US. I have been taught by some of the first generation of American teachers, including Pema Chodron, Reggie Ray, John Daido Loori and Dan-En Bennage. and also by relocated classic teachers with a Western bent, like Mingyur Rinpoche, Khandro Rinpoche, and Lama Karma Chopal, a student of Tai Situpa Rinpoche who is my root teacher in the Vajrayana. 

 

I am a master of none of these forms of Buddhism. I have sometimes been a tortured and scattered student rather than a dedicated one. But I think this makes me like many American Buddhist wannabes. If you are one of these, maybe you will find some of my observations to be of help. I am writing what comes. I am not teaching Buddhism here; I am trying to show how one person lives it. 

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I write for survivors of violence in particular, as I believe we have a long and complicated path to the door of any faith. I write about how I approach the standard practices of Buddhism, from meditation to concentrated study and body discipline, from the perspective of one who feels or felt dead, depressed, anxious and afraid. 

I am an anthropologist and chaplain by training. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, and studied chaplaincy at the University of Virginia Hospital. I founded and ran a residential fellowship program at the University for many years, supporting survivors of war, genocide, and mass and systematic violence as “scholars of their own experience.” There, my colleagues and I focused on the long term, intimate effects of violence, including survivor spirituality. I now live on a farm in Virginia as a full-time Buddhist practitioner, balancing my days between full-time study and a small community and family. I weave baskets, study Complexity theory and Buddhist texts and interpretations, and spend a lot of time on Zoom with a growing sangha of virtual Dharma relatives. And now I spend time doing my favorite new activity--writing this blog. 

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