The Teachers of PIMC
PIMC is a first generation Dharma center with origins in Burma, Thailand and India. Our practice is based upon the Noble Eightfold Path of the Buddha and the teachings that have been passed down through the Theravada lineage for 2500 years.
PIMC Teachers:
Guest Teachers:
Jan Chozen Bays ・ Doyle Banks ・ Betsy Toll ・ Alexa Redner ・ David Sudar
Meditation and Mindful Movement Teacher
Jim Dalton
(he/him)
Jim has studied the Dharma since 1990. Ever since his teenage years he has been grappling with questions like: Who am I? Where did I come from? What am I here for? It is only since practicing in the Portland Insight Meditation Community that he has found the tools to effectively address those fundamental questions. He doesn’t have the answers to his own questions, but his greatest joy is trying to teach so he can learn.
What he teaches reflects the constantly changing nature of his practice while also returning to his foundations in the Four Noble truths: how to understand suffering; how to abandon clinging; how to learn to let go of clinging; how to find the path to freedom and stay on it. If he can inspire others to practice with him, he feels successful.
Most recently he has established mindful movement as the foundation of his practice, deepening his investigation of the body through QiGong and Tai Chi, deepening his exploration of the body as the First of Four Foundations of Mindfulness.
His aging body has become his new teacher, lending a sense of urgency to his own search for liberation, focusing more and more on aging as a spiritual journey. As the sands of his personal time on this planet continues to run out, he draws more and more inspiration from the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.
Meditation Teacher
Douglas Pullin
(he/him)
Douglas Pullin (he/him) has been teaching at PIMC since 2004. He is a lineage holder and authorized to teach in the Insight Meditation tradition of U Ba Kin and Ruth Denison. Douglas graduated from the Spirit Rock sponsored Community Dharma Leader Training with Tara Brach and James Baraz in 2008. Douglas is currently a student of Mathew Flickstein in the Bhante Gunaratana lineage from Sri Lanka. Douglas has a master’s degree in counseling psychology, and master’s in clinical social work. He has over 25 years of non-profit management experience in community mental healthcare. In addition to teaching at PIMC, Douglas offers mindfulness-based psychotherapy and consultation in independent practice. Douglas also works as a consultant in the nonprofit social service field. He enjoys meditation retreats, going for runs in the woods, hiking, and gardening.
Guest Teachers
Zen Teacher and Co-Abbot
https://zendust.org/
Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi
Since 1985 Chozen Roshi has been the teacher for Zen Community of Oregon. In 2002 she helped to found Great Vow Zen Monastery and is co-abbot. In 2011 she also helped found Heart of Wisdom Zen Temple in Portland, Oregon. She has written books on mindfulness and mindful eating, and written articles published in Buddhadharma and Shambhala Sun.
Doyle Banks
Doyle Banks is an authorized Buddhist Meditation teacher who practices and teaches in the Theravada tradition. He was a presenter at the 2021 International Western Dharma Teachers' Gathering (held every 5 years). He co-founded and teaches in the Wise Spirit Buddhist Meditation Community. Doyle also offers life coaching based on secular mindfulness practices and the Compassionate Communication methodology.
Meditation Teacher
https://doylebanks.com/
Meditation Teacher
https://livingearthoregon.org/
Betsy Toll
Betsy is the founder of Living Earth here in Portland, Oregon. Seeds for Living Earth were planted in the mid-1980s when Betsy Toll worked with Ram Dass on a conference in Los Angeles for Seva Foundation. Her early background in art, theater, and performance provided strong vehicles for activism on behalf of the natural world and her commitment to social justice.
Also a student of Joanna Macy, in 1998, Betsy founded Living Earth in Portland, offering opportunities to explore what we love, what it means to be fully human, and how our awareness shapes our participation in our communities, our society, and our interactions with the living planet.
Other influences include Roshi Joan Halifax and Frank Ostaseski. A writer and editor, Betsy also serves in hospital and home chaplaincy with individuals facing crisis, grief, trauma, and death. She leads dharma circles, and workshops, and offers residential retreats twice a year for Living Earth.
Meditation Teacher
https://alexaredner.com/
Alexa Redner
Alexa has been practicing in the Insight meditation tradition for twenty years, including over a year spent in intensive retreat practice. She was authorized to teach the Buddha’s Dharma by one of Spirit Rock’s founding teachers, James Baraz. She holds a BA in Visual Arts and MA in Creation Spirituality, both from Naropa University.
Alexa has been an educator in many realms over the last twenty years, dancing between the worlds of being a Waldorf Kindergarten teacher, program teacher for Mindful Schools, and Eating Disorders/Body Positive Educator at Beyond Hunger.
Alexa is currently a mentor for Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s Mindfulness Meditation Certification Program and is a senior teacher for the online practice community, Banyan. She is a guest teacher for the Insight Meditation community of Berkeley, and has led retreats in person and online through Spirit Rock Meditation Community and Insight Meditation Society.
Alexa brings a playful and soft approach to the sacred work of awakening, influenced by U Tejaniya’s style of Vipassana meditation and Rob Burbea’s creative approach to Samadhi practice. She has a special fire for cultivating brave and loving spaces where women can use the blessings of the Dharma to cultivate nurturing relationships to food and their bodies.
Alexa loves spending time with the rivers and trees of the Pacific Northwest with her fiddling husband and 11 year old son.
Meditation Teacher
https://pathofsincerity.com/
David Sudar
A former Theravādin Buddhist monk, David Sudar has spent over three years on silent Vipassana meditation retreats. His primary teacher is Sayadaw U Tejaniya and he has also been mentored by Carol Wilson since 2018. He actively teaches both in Portland and virtually.