Dan is a dhamma teacher in the lineage of Bhikkhu Buddhadasa. He learned the dhamma via hundreds of hours of Skype calls with Dhammarato, and also received Dzogchen transmission from Tempa Dukte Lama of Olmo Ling Monastery in Pittsburgh, PA.
Dan is about to earn an accredited teaching certificate in Complementary Healthcare, Educational Theory & Personal Development. He is husband to a qualified Neuropsychologist, who confirms his teaching from the academic perspective.
Dan became interested in dhamma, first of all, seeking simple stress relief. He was working hard, playing hard, and paying the consequences! He ’shopped around’ for a year or so before spotting a post by our own Noah Starbuck on r/streamentry, where Noah was kindly offering the opportunity to speak with Dhammarato.
Dan’s first call with Dhammarato lasted 3 hours, and he called right back the next day for round 2. Finally, Dan felt, he was hearing satisfactory answers to those deepest of questions he’d had since his earliest memories. Dan enjoys a daily gratitude high for Dhammarato, Bhikkhu Buddhadasa and the rest of the noble lineage.
Following Dhammarato’s example, Dan’s practice these days is better described as ‘play’. Dan decided early on that first jhana—as described in the suttas—sounded like a good place to hang out. So he used Anapanasati to dance along the Eightfold Noble Path until the hindrances fell behind the horizon.
Dan teaches the dhamma in friendship. Conversations are casual & lighthearted. No formal structure is necessary: the dhamma is transmitted naturally in a one-to-one setting. This is what it was like for Dan learning with Dhammarato, and it is a potent method. Unavoidably, the Four Noble Truths and Anapanasati will show up and, for those who are interested, Dan enjoys sharing insights into how other wisdom teachings agree with the supra-mundane dhamma.
Further, for those who wish to embrace lay life, Dan is currently developing a system for engaging with the world on the foundation of supra-mundane insight.