Steven
Smith is a Guiding Teacher emeritus at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre,
Massachusetts, the Kyaswa Valley Retreat Center in Burma, and is a founder
of Vipassana Hawaii (1984). Born and raised in Hawai'i he has been deeply
immersed in native Hawaiian and local Asian culture throughout his life. Following
university, Mr. Smith lived and traveled for extensive periods in India and
Southeast Asia as a student of contemplative practices. Anchored in the Theravadan
Buddhist tradition of Southeast Asia since 1974, he has trained as a monk
and layman with the renowned Burmese monk and meditation master Sayadaw U
Pandita.
Michele
McDonald has taught Buddhist meditation practice for twenty years at the Insight
Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, including the annual three-month
retreat for experienced students, which takes place each fall. In addition
to developing meditation retreats for youth, she has a special interest in
exploring the relationship between intensive practice, daily life practice
and psychotherapy.
Grahame
White has been involved in Buddhist meditation practice for 35 years. He began
his study in England in 1969 before being ordained as a Buddhist monk for
one year in BodhGaya, India in 1971. He took a primary role in the establishment
of Vipassana meditation in the tradition of Mahasi Sayadaw in Australia and
co-founded the Blue Mountains Insight Meditation Center outside Sydney. Now,
Grahame leads introductory and day long courses in Sydney and regularly teaches
longer intensive retreats in the US. Many of these retreats have been in Hawaii
under the auspices of Vipassana Hawaii where Grahame has been leading and
co teaching retreats with Sayadw U Lakkhana, Steven Smith and Michele McDonald,
as well as helping to guide the Hawaii sangha. With Dr Thynn Thynn, a Burmese
Dhamma teacher, he has also pioneered a workshop format that enhances the
transfer of mindfulness from the formal sitting practice into daily life.
Grahame returns to Myanmar (Burma) each year in order to deepen his practice
and study of the Buddha's teachings and at times assist in the teaching of
Vipassana retreats for foreigners. Grahame teaches a classical tradition of
insight meditation with an accessible style.
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