Gaylon Ferguson

Gaylon Ferguson grew up on a farm in strictly segregated East Texas. After moving east to graduate from the Phillips Exeter Academy, he studied philosophy and psychology at Yale University. There, Gaylon encountered D.T. Suzuki who confirmed "that it's not possible to learn Buddhist meditation entirely from a book." He dropped his studies and took up work on a radical Catholic fruit farm near Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Soon after reading Meditation in Action, Gaylon heard the Vidyadhara teach several summer seminars in Vermont. In 1973, after giving a "particularly panic-stricken and disorganized " open house talk, Gaylon joined Tail of the Tiger Buddhist Community (now Karme Choling) where he worked in the garden, set the tractor on fire, and took people into retreat. After attending the 1975 Vajradhatu Seminary, Gaylon taught briefly at The Naropa Institute, led a dathun at the now deceased Padma Jong, and finally returned to Karme Choling, first as a staff member in the practice and study department, and then as Executive Co-director. In 1979, Gaylon journeyed west again to serve as teacher-in-residence for the Berkeley Dharmadhatu and in 1983, he joined the Office of Three Yana Studies in Boulder. Last summer, he taught View and Practice of the Buddhadharma at the 1999 Vajradhatu Seminary.

Gaylon returned to Yale in 1987 to finish his undergraduate degree, this time in African Studies. In 1994, he was a Fulbright Fellow to Nigeria and completed a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology at Stanford University two years later. After several years teaching cultural anthropology at the University of Washington, Gaylon moved to Karme Choling as teacher in residence through 2005. For the Spring Semester of 2006, Acharya Ferguson was Visiting Professor in Religious Studies at Naropa University. His article, "Making Friends with Ourselves" (from the collection Dharma, Color, and Culture) was selected for inclusion in The Best Buddhist writing: 2005. Beginning in the fall of 2006, Gaylon will join the core faculty in Interdisciplinary Studies at Naropa.

New "Natural Wakefulness - Discovering the Wisdom We are Born With" with foreward by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.Click here for a pdf file of the book's cover.
It is now available.

Teaching Schedule

2009
Jan 16 - 18 New York City

Shambhala Training Level I "The Art of Being Human"
Jan 20 New York City Weekly Dharma Gathering: "Martin Luther King's Dram of Beloved Community and the Vision of the Great Eastern Sun"
Mar 3 Florence, CO Refuge Vow Federal Prison
Mar 7 - 8 Salem, OR "Four Foundations of Mindfulness" at Oregon State Prison
Mar 21 - 28 Patzcuaro, Mexico Casa Werma Retreat
Mar 21 - 22 Patzcuaro, Mexico Awareness and Movement weekend program
Jun 6 - 21 Shambhala Mountain Center Sutrayana Seminary
Jul 26 - Aug 23    Shambhala Mountain Center Natural Wakefulness Dathun

 

2007 for review of past topics
May 2 - 4 Boulder Shambhala Training Level I
May 9 - 11 Shambhala Mountain Center Shambhala Training Level I
May 30 - Jun 1 Los Angeles "Union of Shamatha & Vipashyana
Jun 14 - 29 Shambhala Mountain Center Sutrayana Seminary
Jul 13 - 27 Shambhala Mountain Center Vajrayana Garchen - Mahamudra
Jul 27 - Sep 24 Shambhala Mountain Center Dathun


Books

New "Natural Wakefulness - Discovering the Wisdom We are Born With" with foreward by Sakyong Mipham
"Making  Friends with Ourselves" (from the book Dharma, Color, and Culture) appears in the Best Buddhist Writing, 2005 edited by Melvin McLeod.
"No Color, All Colors," appears in Mindful Polititics  also edited by Melvin McLeod.