Roshi Joan Halifax

Biographical Information
Joan Halifax Roshi, "Founder and Abbot of the Upaya Institute and Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico USA. Joan is also a medical anthropologist and author of many books including Shamanic Voices. She founded the Ojai Foundation, was an Honorary Research Fellow at Harvard University, and has taught in many universities, monasteries, and medical centres around the world."

She "is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and author. She is Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist monastery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

"She has worked in the area of death and dying for over thirty years and is Director of the Project on Being with Dying. For the past twenty-five years, she has been active in environmental work.

"A Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order, her work and practice for more than three decades has focused on engaged Buddhism. Of recent, Roshi Joan Halifax is a distinguished invited scholar to the Library of Congress and the only woman and buddhist to be on the Advisory Council for the Tony Blair Foundation.

"She is Founder and Director of the Upaya Prison Project that develops programs on meditation for prisoners. She is founder of the Ojai Foundation, was an Honorary Research Fellow at Harvard University, and has taught in many universities, monasteries, and medical centers around the world.

"She studied for a decade with Zen Teacher Seung Sahn and was a teacher in the Kwan Um Zen School. She received the Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh, and was given Inka by Roshi Bernie Glassman. A Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order, her work and practice for more than three decades has focused on engaged Buddhism."

Affiliations

 * Director, Mind & Life Institute
 * Council of Sages, California Institute of Integral Studies
 * Advisory Council, Alliance for the Earth
 * Advisor, Global Vision Project
 * Supporter, Boulder Institute
 * Advisory Committee, International Network of Engaged Buddhists
 * Advisory Board, Chapel of Sacred Mirrors
 * Advisory Council, Mind Body Awareness Project

Related Sourcewatch

 * Mirabai Bush
 * She is a former research assistant to mythologist Joseph Campbell