THE RETREAT INSTRUCTORS
Meet the Teachers
Reverend Heng Sure
Rev. Heng Sure was ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1976. For the sake of world peace, he undertook an over six hundred mile pilgrimage from South Pasadena to Ukiah, repeatedly taking three steps and one bow to cover the entire journey. In the entire two years taken to make the pilgrimage, he observed a practice of total silence. Rev. Heng Sure has an M.A. in Oriental Languages from UC Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He serves as the Managing Director of the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery and teaches on the staff at the Institute for World Religions. He lectures on the Avatamsaka SÅ«tra at the Berkeley Monastery every Saturday evening. He is actively involved in interfaith dialogue and in the ongoing conversation between spirituality and technology.
Bhikshu Jin Chuan
Bhikshu Jin Chuan was born in New Jersey and grew up in the Silicon Valley. In high school, he began exploring Christianity and Buddhism, and discovered his “calling” to be a monk–to the surprise of his family (and himself). While studying physics and religious studies at Stanford, he joined Dharma Realm Buddhist Youth and frequented Berkeley Buddhist Monastery. In 2005, he became a resident at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. He became a novice in 2011 and a bhikshu in 2013. In 2016, he received an M.A. in Buddhist Classics at DRBU where he now serves as an assistant professor and chaplain.
Bhikshu Jin Wei
Bhikshu Jin Wei was born in Poland and began his meditation practice in 1999. After living a fun but unfulfilling bohemian lifestyle, he encountered a Polish translation of the Sixth Patriarch SÅ«tra that inspired him to dedicate himself to Dharma practice and service. He volunteered in various hospitals and helped organize DRBA Delegations to Europe. In 2013, he came to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas as a Sangha and Laity Training Program student. In 2015, he took novice ordination, and in 2017, full ordination. In 2020, he graduated from the DRBU M.A. in Buddhist Classics.
Doug Powers
Doug Powers is an early Western disciple of Master Hua. Doug Powers has served in many capacities within the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (DRBA) over the years, most recently as Professor and Vice President of Finance and Administration at Dharma Realm Buddhist University (DRBU). He teaches an assortment of classes, with topics ranging from Buddhist SÅ«tras to Western philosophical treatises. Doug also taught at Berkeley High School for over 40 years. Versed in both Western philosophy and Buddhist thought, Doug is constantly pushing the edge of how Buddhism can be brought into contact with the “modern mind.”
Martin Verhoeven​
(Chan session only)
Martin Verhoeven is Professor of Buddhist Classics at Dharma Realm Buddhist University. He also leads a weekly translation and meditation series at the Berkeley Buddhist Monastery.
Trained in history and philosophy, Dr. Verhoeven was a Ford Fellow at Stanford in the 1970s. In 1976, he met Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, became a monk (Heng Chau) in 1977, and was fully ordained in 1979. He undertook a two-year, 600-mile bowing pilgrimage up California’s coast with Reverend Heng Sure.
After 18 years as a monk, he returned to lay life but continued teaching Buddhism globally. He holds a Ph.D. from UW-Madison, focusing on the American encounter with Asian religions, Buddhist history, and religious acculturation.