EBMC Alphabet Sangha: Dharma  for LGBTQI and same-gender loving communities

Our Teachers

CORE TEACHING TEAM
Shahara Godfrey Shahara Godfrey
has followed the teachings of the Buddha since 1989, with her primary practices in Compassion and Social Activism. She has completed the Community Dharma Leadership Program and the Path of Engagement programs at Spirit Rock, and received her Ph.D. in Humanities with a focus on Transformative Learning and Change from the California Institute of Integral Studies. A self-taught mixed-media artist, she has exhibited in the Bay Area, Oregon, Washington, Atlanta and Los Angeles.
Joan Doyle Joan Doyle
helped start the East Bay LGBTQ Vipassana group that has grown into the EBMC Alphabet Sangha. S~he is currently in the Community Dharma Leader Program at Spirit Rock and a graduate of the Dedicated Practitioner Program. S~he is committed to celebrating the diversity of our human sangha, expanding concepts of gender, and to living in ways that honor the sacredness of the earth. Doyle teaches ESL in the public schools and environmental activites.
Larry Yang

Larry Yang
teaches meditation retreats nationally and has a special interest in creating access to the Dharma for diverse multicultural communities. He is a Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader and is being mentored as a teacher by Jack Kornfield. Larry has practiced extensively in Myanmar and Thailand, including a six month period of ordination as a Buddhist monk under the guidance of meditation master Ajahn Tong. His webpage is: www.larryyang.org

GUEST TEACHERS
Anushka Fernandopulle Anushka Fernandopulle
has practiced intensively in the Theravada Buddhist tradition over the past 17 years in meditation centers and monasteries in the USA, India, and Sri Lanka. She has been engaged in social justice work throughout her life in such areas as youth development, HIV prevention, LGBT organizing, immigrant/refugee rights, and grassroots community development. She is currently in training as a dharma teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center/Insight Meditation Society and works as a consultant and trainer with community-based nonprofit organizations helping them to function more effectively.
anushkaf.org
Arinna Weisman
has studied Insight Meditation since 1979. She teaches in the lineage of the Great Burmese teacher U Bha Khin. She was empowered to teach by Ruth Denison and has been teaching since 1988. Arinna is the founding teacher of Insight Meditation Center of the Pioneer Valley in Easthampton, MA, and co-author of A Beginner’s Guide to Insight Meditation. She has spent the last two years living in Thai Forest monasteries. She is interested in how to build healthy communities and so her dharma practice has been infused with political, anti-racist and multicultural perspectives.
arinnaweisman.org
Bang Nguyen Bang Nguyen
first practiced meditation and chanting in 1968 during the war in Vietnam. Since 1998, he has been attending retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh and practicing meditation with the People of Color Sitting Group at the San Francisco Zen Center.
John Mifsud John Mifsud
has studied insight meditation for going on ten years and completed EBMC’s Commit to Dharma Program led by his mentor teacher, Larry Yang. He is currently in the Community Dharma Leaders Training Program at Spirit Rock. He is on the Leadership Team of the EBMC Deep Refuge Group for Alphabet Brothers of Color and their Euro-Descent Allies. He also studied with Rodney Smith at Seattle Insight Meditation for eight years. John spent ten years on the Leadership Team of Seattle Dharma Buddies, a meditation group for GBT men and also coordinated the Seattle Multicultural Sangha for four years.  His current teaching practicum includes dharma talks at EBMC, the San Francisco Gay Buddhist Sangha, the Gay Buddhist Fellowship and the LGBT Sangha at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center.
Keiryu Lien Shutt Keiryu Liên Shutt
Born into a Buddhist family in Vietnam, Keiryu Liên Shutt began group sitting in 1996 with the Women of Color in the Spirit Rock tradition of Insight Meditation. She is a founding member of the Buddhists of Color. Her Soto Zen training began at San Francisco Zen Center's monastery at Tassajara. Ordained in 2005 with Zenkei Blanche Hartman Roshi, Liên has practiced in Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. As a social worker working with formerly chronically homeless seniors, Liên’s intentions these days is sharing ways in which the deep settledness of traditional practices can be brought into everyday life.
Pascal Auclair Pascal Auclair
has been immersed in Buddhist practices since 1997. In 2006 he was invited by Jack Kornfield and Joseph Goldstein to join the teacher training program at Spirit Rock and the Insight Meditation Society (IMS), where he is now enjoying teaching retreats. He is a co-founder of True North Insight Meditation Centre in Canada. His depth of insight, classical training, and creative expression all combine in a wise and compassionate presence. In addition, his warmth and humour make Pascal a much appreciated teacher. For more information, visit www.truenorthinsight.org
Zenju Earthlyn Manuel
Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, Ph.D.
has been a student of Buddha’s teachings for many years, initially in Nichiren Buddhism and more recently in the Soto Zen tradition under the guidance of Zenkei Blanche Hartman. She is the author of "Bearing Up in the Wild Winds" in Dharma, Color, and Culture: New Voices in Western Buddhism (Parallax Press), and "What Unknowing Things Know: Zen Liberation in the Art of Romare Bearden" in the International Review of African American Art. She is former Executive Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. For more information about Zenju, visit her web site at zenjuearthlynmanuel.com