Bonnie Duran
Residential Retreat Teacher
Bonnie Duran met the Dharma in 1982 when she sat a month at Kopan Monastery in Nepal and learned Vipassana in Bodh Gaya India. Since then, she has taken teachings from many western teachers including Marcia Rose, Joseph Goldstein, and Jack Kornfield, as well as Thai, Burmese, and Tibetan Monastic teachers. Bonnie is a graduate of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS)/Spirit Rock Meditation Center (SRMC) retreat teacher-training program. She is now a core-teacher of the SRMC Dedicated Practitioners Program and is on the SRMC Guiding Teachers Council. Bonnie teaches long and short retreats at IMS, Spirit Rock and in other communities, and is also involved in Native American spiritual practices and traditions. Bonnie was introduced to the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist tradition through her partner and is now happily studying and practicing in that tradition as well.
She is a contributor to Hilda Gutiérrez Baldoquin book, Dharma, Color and Culture: New Voices in Western Buddhism and has written for the Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Tricycle, and the Turning Wheel.
Dr. Duran is a Professor Emeritus in the Schools of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Washington and is also faculty at the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute. Her academic work is primarily with Tribal, Urban Indian and International Indigenous communities.
Bonnie Duran's Upcoming Programs
Retreat | On-Land
August 18 - August 27, 2024 | Sunday - Tuesday | 9 nights
Summer Lovingkindness Retreat
The Buddha’s teachings on the four divine sanctuaries include meditations on universal friendliness, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity. Focusing on purification and concentration, these divine sanctuaries aid our ability to find inner peace and powerfully engage with the world. This retreat deepens our understanding of selfless love and how it ends suffering. Experienced retreatants are encouraged to combine this retreat with the previous Elements retreat to further develop concentration, purify the heart, and learn to integrate these two forms of meditation.
Retreat | On-Land
October 20 - October 26, 2024 | Sunday - Saturday | 6 nights
Uncovering the Luminous Gold Within: BIPOC Mettā Retreat
Open to all self-identified BIPOC. There is a rich repository of deep peace and ease that resides within the heart. Mettā, the practice of lovingkindness, brings to awareness the messages of conditioning that cloak the inner sacredness of our being. Mettā transforms the heart into a sanctuary by which we are strengthened to stay lovingly engaged with the tumultuous tides of life. This retreat offers silent and guided meditation, Dharma talks, movement meditation, and restful time to nourish the body and heal the heart.
Dharma Library
Can't join us live online or on the land? Study and practice at your convenience with Bonnie Duran through our new library of recordings, articles, and self-paced online courses.