OUR TEACHERS
As of August 2020, Westchester Buddhist Center programming has ended. The Dharma teachings will continue but under two new organizations; Path of Awakening Buddhist Center (led by John Baker and Westchester Meditation Center (led by Derek & Jane Kolleeny and Gene Bobker)
As students of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, either directly or indirectly, all WBC teachers emphasize experiential Buddhism, which develops as meditation practice deepens and filters into one’s daily life. Trungpa Rinpoche was a Tibetan meditation master, scholar, and teacher who interpreted Buddhism for Western lifestyles and minds and who brought the Shambhala Buddhist teachings on creating enlightened society to the West.
BOARD MEMBERS & TEACHERS: John Baker, Derek Kolleeny, Jane Kolleeny & Gene Bobker
TEACHER BIOS
John Baker
Meditation teacher at www.pathofawakeningbuddhistcenter.org
A close student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, course instructor John Baker has been a practitioner and teacher of Buddhism for 49 years. He co-founded the Karma Dzong Meditation Center in Boulder, Colorado in 1970, serving for five years as its first co-director. He also co-founded Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, serving as its first CEO and heading the Buddhist Studies Department there for its first five years. He co-edited Trungpa’s Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism and The Myth of Freedom and is the author of various articles. After 23 years in private business, he retired, continuing to teach Buddhist thought and meditation and is today co-founder and a principal teacher at the Westchester Buddhist Center in Irvington and the New York Buddha Dharma Center now Path of Awakening Buddhist Center
Derek Kolleeny
Westchester Buddhist Center Founding Board Member and Teacher
Meditation teacher at www.westchestermeditationcenter.org
Derek began the practice and study of Buddhism in 1976 and soon became a student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, attending his first of many Naropa Institute summer sessions in 1977. He earned a B.A. from Harvard College in the Comparative Study of World Religions, focused on Buddhism, including study of Sanskrit and Tibetan languages. During a year off from college, Derek was the assistant coordinator of the six-month US tour of HH the XVIth Gyalwa Karmapa in 1980 and attended the Vajradhatu Seminary and the Kalapa Assembly in 1981 at Lake Louise, in Alberta, Canada.
Jane Kolleeny
Meditation teacher at www.westchestermeditationcenter.org
Jane Kolleeny has been studying and practicing Buddhism since the early seventies when her teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche arrived in Boulder, Colorado. A native Coloradan, she moved to New York in 1990 and taught classes at the New York Shambhala Center for many years, organizing and teaching at the Tuesday dharma gatherings for nine years. She serves as retreats and business development director at Garrison Institute producing over 100 retreats a year.
Learn more >
Gene Bobker
Meditation teacher at www.westchestermeditationcenter.org
Gene Bobker met Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche as a student at University of Colorado the summer of 1971. She attended the 1974 Seminary and became a meditation instructor in 1976. In the late seventies she became a teacher at the New York Shambhala Center and also served as director of the center from 1977 to 1982. In 1982 she staffed the Bedford Springs Seminary, and later served as Practice Department coordinator in New York. She has been teaching at Westchester Buddhist Center for seven years. Genie is an educator in the Westchester public school system, and is a mother and grandmother.