Submitted by Iris Aliaj on Friday, 1/7/2011, at 10:13 AM

Dr. Mark Hart

Submitted by Iris Aliaj on Friday, 1/7/2011, at 10:12 AM

"I've been a Buddhist practitioner since 1981 and have been teaching meditation and the Dharma for 20 years.  I came to Amherst College as a religious advisor in 2005. I like to present the Buddha's teaching and Buddhist practice in a non-sectarian spirit open to all who wish to develop a peaceful mind and an open heart, not just those who might consider themselves "Buddhist."  I have come to value periods of stillness and silence as an antidote to mind-created suffering and to the stressful, disconnected, and distracted way of life that we live in this country. 

I have practiced primarily within the Theravadin Buddhist tradition with teachers from Insight Meditation Society in Barre, MA, but I have spent a brief time at a monastery in Thailand (Wat Suan Moke).  In the last 10 years my teaching has been influenced as well by the Hindu teaching of Advaita and the Tibetan practice of Dzogchen within the Mahayana Buddhist tradition.  I am the founder and guiding teacher for a Buddhist organization in the Amherst area, the Bodhisara Dharma Community.  I hold a Master's degree in counseling from Seattle University and a Ph.D. in theology from Boston College, was a Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at Seattle University for seven years, and have been a lecturer on Buddhism at Smith College. I currently have a private practice of psychotherapy in downtown Amherst in addition to teaching meditation."