Venerable Ajahn Amaro

Venerable  Amaro Bhikkhu received his BSc. in Psychology and Physiology from the University of London. Spiritual searching led him to Thailand, where he went to Wat Pah Nanachat, a Forest Tradition monastery established for Western disciples of Thai meditation master Ajahn Chah, who ordained him as a bhikkhu in 1979. He returned to England and joined Ajahn Sumedho at the newly established Chithurst Monastery. He resided for many years at the Amaravati Buddhist Centre north of London, making trips to California every year during the 1990s. He took up residence at Abhayagiri in June 1996. IHe is the author of Small Boat, Great Mountain. At the invitation of Ajahn Sumedho, Ajahn Amaro returned to Amaravati in July 2010 where he will assume the duties of abbot after Ajahn Sumedho retires in the autumn.

Venerable Mingyur Rinpoche

Born in 1975 in the Himalayan border regions between Tibet and Nepal, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche spent many years of his childhood in strict retreat. At the age of seventeen, he was invited to be a teacher at his monastery’s three-year retreat center, a position rarely held by such a young lama. He also completed the traditional Buddhist training in philosophy and psychology, before founding a monastic college at his home monastery in north India.

In addition to extensive training in the meditative and philosophical traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, Mingyur Rinpoche has also had a lifelong interest in Western science and psychology. In 2002, Mingyur Rinpoche and a handful of other long-term meditators were invited to the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior at the University of Wisconsin, where Richard Davidson, Antoine Lutz, and other scientists examined the effects of meditation on the brains of advanced meditators. The results of this groundbreaking research were reported in many of the world’s most widely read publications, including National Geographic and Time.

Currently, Mingyur Rinpoche teaches throughout the world, with centers on four continents. His best-selling book, The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness, debuted on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into over twenty languages. Rinpoche’s most recent books are Joyful Wisdom: Embracing Change andFinding Freedom and an illustrated children’s book entitled Ziji: The Puppy that Learned to Meditate.

Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara

Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, PhD, is the Abbot of The Village Zendo. A Soto Zen Priest and certified Zen Teacher, she received dharma transmission in both the Soto and Rinzai lines of Zen Buddhism, through the White Plum Lineage. Roshi currently serves as the Guiding Spiritual Teacher for the New York Center For Contemplative Care. She also serves as Co-Spiritual Director of the Zen Peacemaker Family, a spiritual, study and social action association. Enkyo Roshi’s focus is on the expression of Zen through caring, service, and creative response. Her Five Expressions of Zen form the matrix of study at the Village Zendo: Meditation, Study, Communication, Action, and Caring.