Meet The Team

Our Staff

Our team brings together monastics and volunteer lay teachers, united by a shared commitment to making the world a better place through the practice of Chan (Zen).

Leadership

Guiding Our Mission

Guo Yuan Fashi

Abbot

In 1985, our abbot, Guo Yuan Fashi, encountered Master Sheng Yen’s teachings while attending a seven-day retreat in New York. He became a disciple before finally leaving his job in Toronto, Canada, to become a monk in the Chan tradition. He was ordained in 1987 in Taiwan. Then, for over twenty years, he accompanied and worked as translator to Master Sheng Yen in various Chan meditation retreats around the world. In 1991, he studied Theravada Buddhism for a year in Thailand. Upon his return, Guo Yuan Fashi was elected abbot of both the Chan Meditation Center (CMC) in Queens and the Dharma Drum Retreat Center (DDRC) in Pine Bush, New York. His responsibilities include attending interfaith services, teaching meditation, and giving lectures on Buddhism. In 2006, he became the director of the International Chan Retreat Center in Dharma Drum Mountain, Taiwan. In 2016, he returned to Pine Bush to become once again the abbot of DDRC. Fluent in Mandarin, Vietnamese, and English, he leads Chan retreat in many countries around the world. Enjoy a guided meditation led by Guo Yuan here.

Enjoy a guided meditation led by Guo Yuan here

Chang Yuan Fashi

Director

Director of the Dharma Drum Retreat Center, Chang Yuan Fashi manages the center and is a meditation teacher with over ten years of experience. He first entered the Dharma Drum Sangha University in 2002, where he studied a formal Buddhist education. In 2006, he received full ordination. After graduating from DDSU, for the next four years he devoted himself to the education and administration of a youth group.

From 2010-2014, while at the Dharma Drum Mountain organization meditation center, Chang Yuan Fashi managed an administration unit to promote meditation, including training courses, meditation classes, and short-term retreats. During that time, he ran two large and remarkable meditation events for 10,000 people. From 2010-2017, at DDMO, he completed his meditation training in a meditation hall and became a meditation teacher. He then spent several years teaching and spreading meditation in Taiwan, holding many retreats.

Although he is a teacher, he still schedules meditation retreats for himself, including long-term retreats, several times a year to further his own practice. In 2019, he became a resident monastic in the United States. He continues to teach meditation.

Our Teachers

Our teachers bring diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and teaching styles to meet the unique needs of every practitioner.

Teacher

David Listen

David Listen has been sharing Chan/Zen meditation and Buddhist teachings for 20 years, leading intensive meditation retreats, classes, and activities at various monasteries, college campuses, and private institutions throughout North America, Europe, and East Asia. Previously known as Venerable Chang Wen (常聞法師) he was one of the few Western monastic disciples of Chan Master Sheng Yen. He had been a monk for over a decade, and in 2015 returned to lay life to share the insights of the Buddha in his own creative way. David is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and has done extensive work translating the teachings of Chinese Buddhism into English, both on retreat and in published works. He holds a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies, a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling, and is currently licensed counselor in the State of New York. He also has his own life mentoring/coaching practice, guiding people in their cultivation of wisdom and compassion on an individual basis. He currently lives with his wife in New York and hopes to continue to share Buddhism in a practical and down-to-earth way via social media and upcoming publications.

Teacher

Harry Miller

Harry Miller has studied and practiced meditation for five decades. He studied with Master Sheng Yen for over 30 years. He was editor of The Chan Newsletter for over 10 years, and he is a frequent contributor to Chan Magazine, and a certified Dharma Teacher at the Chan Meditation Center. In addition, he is a board member at CMC, and he was a docent at the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, in NYC where he led tours of concerned with Buddhist art and teachings until it closed in November, 2024. He is a Dharma Teacher for the Buddhist Sangha at All Souls, NYC, where he leads a bi-weekly Dharma Study group. He holds a B.A in French and English literature from Sarah Lawrence and an M.A. in Chinese Literature and an M.Phil. in Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He is a recipient of an NEA grant for his Chinese translations, and he is the translator of the soon-to-be-published The Need to be Gentle, a book by Master Sheng Yen, which is about incorporating Chan into everyday life. He recently finished giving thirty lectures on the Lotus Sutra, and he is currently writing a book on the sutra with the working title, A Practitioner’s Guide to the Lotus Sutra.

Teacher

Rebecca Li

Rebecca Li, Ph.D. is a Dharma heir in the lineage of Chan Master Sheng Yen and the founder and guiding teacher of Chan Dharma Community. She attended her first intensive retreat with Chan Master Sheng Yen in 1996 and began serving as his interpreter in 1998. Later on, she trained with John Crook and then Simon Child, both Dharma heirs of Master Sheng Yen, to lead intensive retreats. She received full Dharma transmission from Simon Child in 2016. She teaches meditation and Dharma classes, gives public lectures, and leads retreats in North America and Europe. Her talks and writings can be found at www.rebeccali.org. She is a sociology professor and lives with her husband in New Jersey. She is the author of Allow Joy into Our Hearts: Chan Practice in Uncertain Times, and her new book is Illumination: A Guide to the Buddhist Method of No-Method (Shambhala Publications, October 2023).

Teacher

Nancy Bonardi

Nancy met Chan Master Sheng Yen in 1978, when he was a student in her English class. She became his meditation student shortly thereafter. She has taught metta contemplation and beginner meditation classes, and she has led one day retreats at the Chan Meditation Center (CMC) in Queens. At the Dharma Drum Retreat Center, she co-led the Beginner’s Mind retreat. She has been a guest speaker at the Insight Meditation Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Nancy lives in Virginia and Indiana. Nancy shares about daily meditation practice here.

Teacher

David Slaymaker

David Slaymaker began studying with Master Sheng Yen in 1995. He has given Dharma talks and lead mediation and Dharma classes at CMC, lead meditation classes, 1-day retreats and Beginner’s Mind Retreats at DDRC, and leads half-day mediation workshops at DDMBANJ. He holds a BS in horticulture and a PhD in genetics, and lives in New Jersey where he is a professor of biology.

Teacher

Peter Lin

Peter Lin, a licensed psychologist, received an M.S. in Biostatistics from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (with an emphasis in Health Psychology) from Yeshiva University (Ferkauf Graduate School & Albert Einstein College of Medicine). His primary clinical training was at Weill Cornell Medical College, and his postdoctoral training was at the HIV Research Center of Columbia University. Peter has great interest in the parallelism between Western psychology and Buddhism. He integrates Chan teachings in his clinical work, and his research interest focuses on the effects of mindfulness meditation. Peter started his Buddhist practice since 1988, and in 2003, he began his Chan practice at Dharma Drum Mountain. Currently, Peter is a professor at St. Joseph’s College, and has a private practice in New York City.

Support Staff

Behind the Scenes

The dedicated team members who keep our operations running smoothly and welcome everyone who walks through our doors.

Eduardo Zayas

Program Coordinator

Interested in Joining Our Team?

We're always looking for passionate individuals who want to make a difference in our community.

Volunteer