The Editorial Advisors of Bodhi Leaves

Rev. Blayne Higa is the Resident Minister of the Kona Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, a Shin Buddhist sangha on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Cathryn Dhanatya is cofounder and president/CEO of Growing Good Inc., a professional services firm that partners with nonprofit organizations and companies who aim to do good in the world. She has lived and worked on five continents, earned her PhD in Social Science and Comparative Education from UCLA, and has led and conducted research on media and technology as it relates to health issues around the globe.

Chenxing Han is the author of Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists and One Long Listening: A Memoir of Grief, Friendship, and Spiritual Care. Her publications have appeared in Buddhadharma, Journal of Global Buddhism, Lion’s Roar, Pacific World, and Tricycle. She is a frequent speaker and workshop leader at schools, universities, and Buddhist communities across the nation.

Debra Boudreaux is the Chief Executive Officer of Tzu Chi USA, an international Buddhist humanitarian organization. She has over three decades of experience working on major projects related to charity, medical care, education, and humanitarian aid.

Rev. Devon Matsumoto is a senior program coordinator at Asian Law Caucus, where he reimagines AAPI community safety by building preventative and restorative alternatives to the legal system. A Tokudo-ordained Buddhist priest in the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha tradition, Devon is also a founding member of The Young Buddhist Editorial, which seeks to share the stories of young Asian American Buddhists while preserving the experiences and stories of their ancestors.

Rev. Duncan Ryuken Williams is the author of American Sutra: A Story of Faith and Freedom in the Second World War and director of the Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture at the University of Southern California.

Funie Hsu, PhD, works as an assistant professor of American Studies at San Jose State University.

Rev. Guo Gu is a Chan teacher and professor of Buddhism and East Asian religions at Florida State University. The founder and teacher of the Tallahassee Chan Center in Florida, he is the trainer of all Western dharma teachers in the Dharma Drum lineage of master Sheng Yen. In 2020, he also founded the socially engaged, intra-denominational Buddhist organization Dharma Relief. His books include Essence of Chan and Silent Illumination.

Venerable Hui Cheng is a Buddhist monk of the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Order who is currently serving at Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, California.

Jane Iwamura is Chief Academic Officer and Professor of Religious Studies at University of the West. Her publications include Virtual Orientalism: Religion and Popular Culture in the U.S. and the coedited volume Revealing the Sacred in Asian and Pacific America. She cofounded the Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative (APARRI) and organized its first conference in 1999.

Bhikshu Jin Chuan Shi serves as an assistant professor, chaplain, and board member at Dharma Realm Buddhist University in Ukiah, California. He is also involved in various translation projects led by Rev. Heng Sure. He is based in Berkeley Buddhist Monastery.

Rev. Keiryu Lien Shutt is a dharma heir in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi. Born into a Buddhist family in Vietnam, she began her meditation practice in the Insight tradition. In 1998, she was a founding member of the Buddhists of Color, a meditation group in the San Francisco. Her Zen training began at Tassajara and then continued monastically in Japan and Vietnam.

Larry Yang teaches meditation retreats nationally and is committed to creating access to the dharma for diverse multicultural communities. He is a Spirit Rock teacher and a core teacher at the East Bay Meditation Center (Oakland) and Insight Community of the Desert (Palm Springs). He is the author of Awakening Together.

Rev. Mark Unno is an ordained priest in the Shin Buddhist tradition and an Associate Professor of Buddhism at the University of Oregon. He is the author of Shingon Refractions: Myoe and the Mantra of Light, and the editor of Buddhism and Psychotherapy Across Cultures.

Minh-Hoa Ta, EdD, is the president of University of the West in Rosemead, California. She worked with youth and immigrant education development in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years, as the dean of the City College of San Francisco, teaching at San Francisco State University (SFSU), and as the cofounder and codirector of the Vietnamese American Studies Center at SFSU.

Mushim Patricia Ikeda is a social activist and teacher at East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, California. She also works as a diversity and inclusion consultant.

Rebecca Li, PhD is a sociology professor and dharma heir in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen. She is the founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community. She teaches meditation and dharma classes, gives public lectures, and leads retreats in North America and Europe. She is the author of Allow Joy into Our Hearts: Chan Practice in Uncertain Times and Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No-Method.

Sarwang Parikh grew up as a working-class immigrant within a devotional Hindu Indian family. He has studied and practiced Raja Yoga and Theravada Buddhist lineage for over twenty years. He serves the dharma at Buddhist Peace Fellowship and teaches at East Bay Meditation Center. Parikh is also a licensed psychotherapist weaving Eastern wisdom with a decolonized approach.

Sharon Suh is a professor of theology and religious studies at Seattle University and the author of Silver Screen Buddha: Buddhism in Asian and Western Film.

Rev. WonGong, a pioneering Won Buddhist priest, is head dharma teacher at the Won Buddhism Meditation Temples in Chapel Hill and Raleigh, North Carolina. She’s a leading Korean-to-English translator of dharma teachings, and she integrates creative forms of meditation with body movement, vocal qigong, breathing techniques, guided meditation, and laughter. Rev. WonGong, who is affectionately known as Rev. Wow!Gong, has released two CDs, Chants for Healing and Chants of Samadhi.