Bonnie Duran met the Dharma in 1982 when she sat a month at Kopan Monastery in Nepal and learned Vipassana in Bodh Gaya, India. Since then, she has taken teachings from many western teachers including Joseph Goldstein, and Jack Kornfield, as well as Thai, Burmese, and Tibetan Monastic teachers. Bonnie is a graduate of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS)/Spirit Rock Meditation Center (SRMC) retreat teacher-training program. She is now a core-teacher of the IMS Teacher Training Program, the SRMC Dedicated Practitioners Program, and is on the SRMC Guiding Teachers Council. Bonnie teaches long and short retreats at IMS, Spirit Rock and in other communities, and is also involved in Native American spiritual practices and traditions. Bonnie was introduced to the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist tradition through her partner and is now happily studying and practicing in that tradition as well.
She is a contributor to Hilda Gutiérrez Baldoquin’s book, Dharma, Color and Culture: New Voices in Western Buddhism, and has written for the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Tricycle, and the Turning Wheel.
Dr. Duran is a Professor in the Schools of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Washington and is also faculty at the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute. Her academic work is primarily with Tribal, Urban Indian and International Indigenous communities.
