Thursdays will be a day to feature teachers and talks that I have sat with or are familiar with through their writings. As I think back over my 27 years of spiritual practice I’ve had the honor, pleasure, and good fortune to learn the dharma in many different ways from many different teachers.
Before I started practicing vipassana meditation in 1989 with S.N. Goenka, my journey “officially” started in 1983 when I was introduced to Siddha Yoga (the spiritual practice and guru featured in Eat, Pray, Love; stay tuned for a number of entries on Gurumayi that have been rekindled by the popularity of this book and movie).
The other teachers I have met include (in no particular order): Tara Brach (already featured), Shinzen Young (already featured), Jack Kornfield, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Melissa Myozen Blacker, Florence Meyer, Ferris Buck-Urbanowski, Susan Woods, Grace Schireson (see a book review), Barry Magid, Jason Siff, Joe Bobrow, Larry Rosenberg, Corrado Pensa, S. N. Goenka, Master Bo In Lee, Taihaku Gretchen Priest, Mu Soeng, Ram Dass, Gurumayi Chidvilasanada, Swami Muktananda Paramahansa*, Swami Nityananda, Bhagwan Nityananda*, Swami Chetananda, Hosal Dorje Rinpoche, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Teachers whom I have not met in person and know and respect through their writing include Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Thich Naht Hanh, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Sri Ramakrishna, Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, Ken Wilber, Stephen Batchelor. and many others. Of course, The Buddha, would be on this list.
Some of these teachers I have known directly and others indirectly through a lineage, reading, and talks. They have all shaped my spiritual path over the past 27 years.
*These teachers I never met in person, face-to-face, but have had direct encounters with in meditative states. They are the guru of my guru’s guru.
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