Chris Crotty, MA, BCCC, BCPC, is a Dhamma Teacher in the insight (vipassana) tradition, Buddhist Chaplain, and Clinical Pastoral Counselor. He currently serves as Co-Spiritual Director and Guiding Teacher at Wenham Insight Meditation Center (WIMC).

Practicing meditation since 1998, he has taken retreats with Burmese monastics Sayadaw U Indaka and Sayadaw U Tejaniya, scholar-practitioner Bhikkhu Analayo, western monastics of the Zen and Thai Forest tradition, and senior western Vipassana teachers. Chris was authorized to teach Buddhadharma in 2015 by senior teachers in the west of Insight (vipassana) tradition, and in 2016 was encouraged to teach vipassana and metta by Sayadaw U Indaka (Chanmyay Myaing, Myanmar). Chris was the guiding teacher at Boston Meditation Center and is an active member of the Center for Spiritual Care & Pastoral Formation (CSCPF), through which he participates in ongoing training in Buddhist Chaplaincy and Pastoral Care.

Chris’s teaching combines Theravada Buddhism’s emphasis on insight and ethics with the Mahayana ideal of compassionate action and synthesis of practice and study. He is particularly interested in exploring the roles of transparency and vulnerability in effectively teaching the dharma and how principles of integrity and kindness form the basis of caring communities. He is also influenced by ecopsychology, attachment theory, and contemplative, pastoral, and palliative approaches to sickness, aging, and end-of-life care.

Michael is one of the Center’s Spiritual Directors and a Resident Teacher. He has been practicing Mahasati Insight Meditation since 1991 and is a licensed psychologist. Michael founded the Wenham Center, Mahasati Insight Meditation Association, North Shore Center for Mindfulness in Beverly and Gloucester, MA, and the Redding Center for Meditation/Wat Sati-Ma, located in Redding, CT.

Michael was born in 1958. While in his twenties, he began investigating Buddhist meditation to alleviate existential suffering. He studied Zen for several years before turning to Mahasati Insight Meditation, which he encountered in 1991 after meeting Tavivat Puntarigvivat, a lay student of the Thai meditation master Luangpor Teean Jittasubho. In 1992, Michael began studying more intensively with visiting Thai Forest monks, Ajahn Thong Abhakaro, Luangpor Da Sammakhato, and Ajahn Niphen Nontamart. Michael quickly realized the value of Mahasati Insight practice and has had a leading role in introducing Luangpor Teean’s teaching and practice to the West.

Michael is author of the book, Awareness in Action: A Practitioner's Guide to Mahasati Insight Meditation.

Luangpor Da is an ordained Thai monk. He has been teaching meditation for half a century and is the Abbot of the Center for Mindfulness & Insight Meditation / Wat Sati-Ma, in Redding, CT. In Thailand, Luangpor Da was one of the closest students of Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, who was the founder of Mahasati Insight Meditation and was widely regarded as a modern day enlightened master.

Da was born in Nonsawang village, Roiet Province, in Northeast Thailand, on August 16, 1951. After finishing elementary school, he became a novice monk for five years. He disrobed at the age of 17 when his parents moved from Roiet to Nakonpanom. He worked on their farm planting rice and other crops, but they struggled to survive. After three years, he returned to the monkhood with his parents’ approval and was ordained at Supararam Forest Monastery in 1971.

After hearing about Luangpor Teean’s direct method of practice leading to the ending of all suffering, Da determined to search him out, but they didn’t actually meet until two years later. When they finally met, Da committed himself to studying intensively under Luangpor Teean’s guidance and did so for three years. Practicing patiently and diligently, he proceeded step by step through the stages of practice until he reached the end of suffering.

Luangpor Teean then encouraged Da to teach throughout Thailand, and they worked together until Teean died in 1988. Luangpor Da made his first visit to America in 1993 to help realize a desire expressed by Luangpor Teean that his direct path of realization be shared with the Western world - particularly America. He eventually immigrated to the United States and served as the Abbot of a Thai temple in Nevada before relocating to Connecticut in 2004 to serve as the Abbot of the Center in Redding.

Ajahn Tavivat is an ordained Thai monk. He has been teaching Mahasati Insight meditation, the dynamic vipassana practice developed by Luangpor Teean, since the late 1980s. He studied under Luangpor Teean as a lay practitioner and worked closely with him prior to his death.

It was Tavivat who first brought Luangpor Teean’s practice to the United States while a lay Ph.D. student at Temple University where he received a doctorate in Religion and Society. After receiving his doctoral degree, Tavivat had a distinguished career in academia and public service. He was a member of the “Committee on Reform of Thai Buddhism” of the Thai Parliament and a member of the “Subcommittee on Ethics” of the Thai Senate. He was a visiting lecturer at Thammasat University, in Bangkok, and a faculty member of Mahidol University, in Salaya, Thailand, where he served as Chairman of the graduate program in Comparative Religion, and was Director of the Research and Development Institute of the World Buddhist University in Bangkok. Tavivat is the author of numerous publications in Thai and English including the book, To One That Feels, and the biography of Luangpor Teean that is included in the appendix of Michael’ Bresnan’s book.

Ajahn Tavivat retired from his academic posts and ordained in 2024 under Ajahn Anake. He dedicates himself to spreading the Dhamma of Luangpor Teean in both Thailand and here in the United States.

John Stevens began Theravadan Buddhist practice in 1978, and lived as a Buddhist monk from 1981 – 2000, first in Thailand, following a Mahasi Sayadaw style of practice, and later in England, with Ajahn Sumedho and the Ajahn Chah Thai forest tradition. Monastic life was set up to live the practice, in relationships with fellow monastics, as well as sharing responsibility for the care and maintenance of the grounds and buildings of the monastery. For the more senior monks which John eventually was one of, teaching and pastoral counselling were also part of it.

Since leaving monastic life, he continues to try to live the practice, one important aspect of which is distinguishing two aspects of consciousness: the changing nature of ‘the content of consciousness’, and the aspect of consciousness that is unbound, and unlimited. Can the wise watcher within, cultivate good choices, so our lives become filled with blessings, and we arrive at the end of our lives without regrets, ready to shed this body, and face whatever is there, with great curiosity?

Ajahn Pikul is considered one of the leading female teachers in Luangpor Teean’s lineage. She has been practicing Mahasati Insight Meditation since meeting Luangpor Teean in 1987, and has established her own meditation center in Phayao, northern Thailand.

Ajahn Sutthisart (Nos) is a Theravada monk and is Abbot of Ashrama Viriyadhamma in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. He was a student of the respected Thai master, Luangpor Khamkhian, and is also part of Luangpor Teean’s lineage. Ajahn Sutthisart is a revered teacher who is very much in demand throughout Thailand and parts of mainland China due to the clarity and engaging quality of his teachings.

Maechee Ampika (Ying) is an ordained Buddhist nun, and is based at Ashrama Viriyadhamma in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. In addition to being an experienced practitioner, she is a skilled translator.