Sam Bercholz
 Samuel Bercholz became a student of Buddhism in 1967 at the age of nineteen while attending college in San Francisco. He studied with Venerable Joe Miller at the Buddhist Lecture Hall (the oldest Buddhist temple in North America) and then was ordained a Buddhist priest in the Korean Zen tradition. At about the same time he founded (with his dharma friend Michael Fagan) Shambhala Booksellers in Berkeley, California and shortly thereafter, Shambhala Publications, Inc. By auspicious coincidence the first book Sam issued was Meditation in Action by Chögyam Trungpa, a young Tibetan teacher living in Scotland. He then co-sponsored Rinpoche's visit to San Francisco in 1970. They became friends and not long thereafter Sam became a disciple of Trungpa Rinpoche. Sam and his wife Hazel hosted Rinpoche's early visits to the San Francisco Bay area. During that time Trungpa Rinpoche encouraged Sam to teach Buddhadharma and to give meditation instruction. Though Sam felt beneath the task, Trungpa admonished him that it was not a matter of desire or ego, but rather, "Someone has to do it!" From there on Sam began teaching extensively at various centers in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
In 1976 Sam and family moved (together with Shambhala Publications) to Boulder at the invitation of Trungpa Rinpoche. Sam was asked to join the Vajradhatu and Nalanda board of directors and became one of the original trustees of Naropa Institute. For many years he was the director in charge of Vajradhatu Publications and Archives. He taught at Vajradhatu Seminaries and was also one of the first Shambhala Training directors. Í
Sam notes his good fortune to have received teachings and empowerments from many of the great contemporary Tibetan teachers of the Kagyü and Nyingma lineages. Since 1990 he has been under the tutelage of the Nyingma master, Thinley Norbu Rinpoche. He has worked closely with Trungpa Rinpoche and numerous other Buddhist writers and translators in developing, publishing and disseminating their teachings.
Shambhala Publications, Inc., of which he is the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, is the leading publisher of Buddhist books in the English-speaking world. He is co-editor (with Sherab Chödzin Kohn) of the best-selling book The Buddha and His Teachings (originally titled Entering the Stream: An Introduction to the Buddha and his Teachings), which has been translated into numerous languages.
Teaching Schedule
| 2008 |
| No information available |
Books
| The Buddha and His Teachings:
Edited by Samuel Bercholz and Sherab Chodzin Kohn |
|
