Teachers
 A
native of Los Angeles, Shinzen became fascinated
with Asian culture at an early age, learning
Chinese and Japanese while still in his teens. In
1968, he entered a doctoral program in Buddhist
studies at the University of Wisconsin. Three
years later he was ordained as a Buddhist monk at
Mount Koya, Japan.
After several years of training
in Asian monasteries, he became interested in the
scientific study of meditative states and worked
at the Princeton Biofeedback Institute. He taught
Asian philosophy at Chapman College and
mathematics and physics at Ernest Holmes College,
and frequently serves as translator for Joshu
Sasaki Roshi at Mount
Baldy Zen Center .
Shinzen has been conducting
meditation retreats throughout North America for
over 20 years. His goal is to make meditative
practice a viable path for Westerners, not just an
exotic import from the East.
Shinzen.org
BasicMindfulness.org
Shinzen's
YouTube Channel
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 John was recommended to us
by Shinzen a few years ago and graciously led
a retreat with us in 2004. We were thrilled
to have a Senior Spirit Rock teacher join us. John
combines psychological knowledge with extensive
training in Buddhism and a colorful personal
history. He likes to lead intimate retreats
that allow more direct contact with retreatants
through personal interviews and discussion.
People have found him to be warm and very
approachable and insightful. With us, he
used the Spirit Rock / IMS style of meditation
guidance, i.e. starting with a breath focus and
gradually expanding to the body, sound, and
thoughts and emotions. Using bells, he also
did a wonderful sound meditation from the Tibetan
tradition.
John has studied vipassana
meditation since 1969. He spent many years with
recognized Buddhist masters, and took Initiation
with His Holiness the 16 th Karmapa. In 1970 he
began his studies in the vipassana tradition with
Munindra and later became a student of S.N.
Goenka. In 1979, he became a monk under the
Venerable Taungpulu Sayadaw. His teachers are
widely recognized today as among the great Asian
masters of Buddhism of our time. John continued
his studies in Asia and later in the U.S. where he
began teaching in 1986. From 1988 to 1993, he
devoted himself to formal teacher training with
Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., at Spirit Rock Center.
After completing training he was ordained and
given Dharma transmission in the tradition of
Mahasi Sayadaw and Achaan Chaa. John has been
resident teacher of Mountain Stream Meditation
Center, in the Northern California Sierra
Foothills since its inception.
You can
listen to some of John's
Dharma Talks at the Mountain Stream
website.
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