Shifu
Katty Choi (Xianzhi) took refuge to the Triple Gems and the Five Precepts in 1995 and in March 2007, she took the Bodhisattva’s Vow, both under the guidance of Master Ji Ru. She has been teaching Chinese Language to the non-Chinese speaking students in Hong Kong. Katty has been practicing Vipassana meditation since 1999 and had attended five 10-day courses and a 9-day Satipatthana course at various Vipassana Meditation Centers. In 2004, Katty achieved a master degree from Hong Kong University majoring in Buddhist Studies. She had studied the Pali Language, History of Chinese Buddhism; Mahayana & Theravada Buddhism, and had written research papers on different topics of Buddhism in both English and Chinese Language. She also had helped in the translation of Buddhist articles. In 2007, Katty was appointed as one of the lay Dharma teachers by Master Ji Ru.
Tracy Turner-Bumberry (Xianwan) began attending MABA with her daughter in April, 2006. They were both drawn to the Buddhist concepts of non-violence, insight and equanimity, and were also eager to practice with a spiritual
community. Tracy took her Refuge and Precept Vows in 2007, and her Bodhisattva Vows in April of this year. She very recently began giving
dharma talks, and is enjoying the deeper levels of learning this affords her. Tracy is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Registered Play Therapist who is in private practice in St. Charles. She works with  children, adolescents, and young adults of ages 3-22.
Xianyi Sharon Corcoran is a St. Louis native who now lives about 10 miles from MABA, near Marthasville. She was introduced to meditation in her early 20s, but began seriously practicing after 1991 when she moved to Ireland with her Irish husband, Terry. It was also in Ireland that she discovered Dzogchen Beara, a center in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition led by Sogyal Rinpoche. There Sharon attended retreats and teachings by Sogyal Rinpoche and Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, and became more firmly committed to Buddhist practice. In 2007 she
and Terry moved back to the US, to their present home, and began attending services and events at MABA. In 2009 Sharon took Refuge and the Five Precepts and was confirmed as a lay Dharma teacher by Master Jiru. She works at Washington University as Coordinator of Undergraduate Studies in the Psychology department, and is also managing editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. She does occasional freelance book
indexing.
Don Sloane (Xiankuan) is known as Don shushu (Uncle Don) in the Chinese community. He took lay precepts in 2005 and Bodhisattva vows in 2007 in the Chan (Zen) Buddhist tradition with Master Jiru. Don originally began his study and practice of meditation in 1969 under the mentorship of his first teacher, Ho Kuang-chung, from Nanjing, who briefly taught at Washington. Shortly thereafter he began studying yoga with Anita Montero Campion and T’ai Chi (taiji) with various teachers around the U.S., including at the original Cheng Man-ching school in NYC, Sophia Delza Wu T’ai Chi School in NYC, and with Al Huang. For several years he continued his meditation training with a Tibetan Lama, Lodu Rinpoche, who was a disciple of the well-known Kagyu Master, Kalu Rinpoche. During most of the past decade, Don has studied with Master Jiru, as well as with Kungshih Shifu, in secluded Augusta, MO. Don taught at the graduate school at Washington University for 17 years and currently continues his practice of cognitive behavioral therapy, also traveling around the country offering seminars on CBT and Mindfulness.
Lay Teachers
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