EBMC Alphabet Sangha
CORE TEACHERS
teachers who have a leadership role in the Sangha
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

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.
Phyllis Oscar Phyllis Oscar
has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1989 in Thailand, India, and the U.S. and has completed Spirit Rock's Dedicated Practitioner's Program. Phyllis currently serves on the Buddhist Peace Fellowship's Board of Directors. Phyllis lives in Bernal Heights (SF) with her partner, Tatiana, and their tall, orange cat, Sydney.
Joan Doyle Joan Doyle
founded the East Bay LGBT Vipassana group that has grown into EBMC's Alphabet Sangha. In addition to co-teaching the Wednesday group at EBMC, Joan is active with the family programs at both EBMC and Spirit Rock, where she teaches meditation classes for young people. Joan has been meditating and practicing Dharma for over a decade, has sat many retreats and has completed Spirit Rock's DPP program.
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. myspace.com/anushkaf
Canyon Sam
stumbled into the dharma when she was traveling in Tibet in 1986, when that country first opened to foreign travel. She took refuge later that year in Bodh Gaya with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Formerly a Tibet activist, and before that an organizer in the gay/lesbian rights movement in the Bay Area, she has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh for twenty years. She is a member of the Spirit Rock Diversity Council, and author of the forthcoming book, Sky Train: A Journey to Tell the Untold Stories of Tibetan Women. A third generation San Franciscan, she is a published writer, nationally-acclaimed performance artist, and teacher.
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.
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 currently Executive Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship.
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