Guiding Teacher
Sensei Brian Joshin Byrnes
Joshin is a Zen priest and teacher in the White Plum Lineage and Zen Peacemakers. He is the guiding teacher of Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community, which he founded in 2017. His teachings and approach are deeply rooted in social action, emphasizing the needs and challenges faced by economically marginalized communities.
In addition to teaching at Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community, Joshin coordinates Gather, a Zen-Peacemaker drop in center/community living room, responding to the epidemic of loneliness in our community. Joshin also leads Street Retreats throughout the year in various cities across the United States. These “plunges” offer participants an opportunity to engage directly with life on the streets, fostering a deeper understanding of the web of life and the connection between spiritual practice and compassionate action.
The recordings of Joshin’s dharma reflections from July 14, 2024 on are now available. Click here to enter the recordings of Joshin.
Teachers
Sensei Peg Kendo Murray 
Peg Kendo has been a dedicated and caring resident practitioner at Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community since 2018, shortly after our founding. She has played a key role in helping our sangha grow and thrive. Kendo brings a rich background in Dharma practice, with experience in Theravada, Tibetan, and Zen traditions. She enjoys sharing insights from all three streams of Buddhist practice. Alongside her leadership in our resident practitioner program and local and online sanghas, Kendo serves our local town in a variety of ways, bringing her counseling skills to hospice workers and caretakers, as well as spending significant time at Gather, our drop-in center, fostering attentive, caring and consistent spiritual friendships with a diverse range of people in our community. She has also joyfully maintained our vegetable gardens for years. As a teacher, she is thoughtful, sincere, and skilled, often weaving joy and a good sense of Irish humor into her practice.
The recordings of Kendo’s dharma reflections from September 15, 2024 on are now available. Click here to enter the recordings of Kendo.
Sensei Eisho Sinclair
Eisho has been part of Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community nearly since its inception, and has served our local and online sangha with a steady, warm and trustworthy hand and heart. He brings clear insight, humility, and attentive care to his teaching, spiritual counseling, and our temple’s rituals. Eisho divides his time between the UK and the US, seamlessly engaging with the wider sangha regardless of which side of the pond he’s on. His Zen journey began when he was quite young, and over the years, he has served professionally as a Buddhist prison chaplain in the UK, and has maintained a committed life of practice, study, and service at society’s margins. Eisho carries a wealth of wisdom from the many teachers he has studied with and shares it freely. In addition to other gifts, skills, and talents, he is a Hakomi therapist and cherishes his roles as a partner, father, and grandfather.
The recordings of Eisho”s dharma reflections from October 6, 2024 on are now available. Click here to enter the recordings of Eisho.
Dharma Holder
Ric So’on Dunworth
So’on carries the Dharma name “Ancestor’s Warmth.” Prior to joining BLMZC he practiced for many years at Zen Mountain Monastery in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. His original Teacher was John Daido Loori, Roshi and he brings their insights and warm to the BLMZC community. He first received the precepts Daido Roshi in May of 1995 on the day that Maezumi Roshi died in Japan. So’on is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and spent most of his career at the Behavioral Health Clinic of Rutland Regional Medical Center in Rutland, VT. So’on is married with a son and grandson.
