Purser has traveled extensively in Northern India, making pilgrimages to the Holy sites of the Buddha.A lively and razor-sharp critique of mindfulness as it has been enthusiastically co-opted by corporations, public schools, and the US military. He also completed a two year teacher training program for Time, Space and Knowledge (TSK) vision, the Full Presence Mindfulness Teacher training, the Lotus Trilogy and Revelations of Mind teacher training (at Dharma College), a nine month intensive training program, Nondual Psychotherapy, with Dr. Koshin Ogui, former Bishop of the Buddhist Churches of America. His former Zen teachers include Albert Low, Abbot of the Montreal Zen Center and Rev. Purser has studied, practiced and taken retreats under the direction of Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche of Nyingma Centers, Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche at Rangjung Yeshe Gomde, Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche, and Wangdor Rinpoche from Rewalsar, India.

In the Tibetan Nyingma and Kagyu traditions, Dr. Purser’s began studying Buddhism in 1981 as a student at the Tibetan Nyingma Institute in Berkeley, and formal Zen training at the Cleveland Zen Center in 1985, receiving precepts from Koshin Ogui Sensei. His Dharma name is Hae Seong, which means “The Nature of Wisdom.” He is also a faculty member at Dharma College in Berkeley, California.ĭr. He received ordination in April 2013 from the Venerable Jongmae Park, Partriarch of the Taego Korean Zen order for the overseas sangha. Purser is an ordained Zen Priest in the Korean Zen Taego Order and serves as its interim head teacher of the Western region. His book, McMindfulness: How Mindfulness Became the New Capitalist Spirituality (Repeater Books/Penguin Random House) is now available on Kindle and Audible (audiobook), and will be published in French, Spanish, German and Korean.ĭr. Purser is an ordained Zen Priest in the Korean Zen Taego order of Buddhism and faculty member at Dharma College in Berkeley, California.

Purser’s writings have been exploring the challenges and issues of introducing mindfulness into secular contexts, particularly with regards to its encounter with modernity, Western consumer capitalism, and individualism. Author of eight books, his recent books include the Handbook of Mindfulness: Culture, Context and Social Engagement and the Handbook of Ethical Foundations of Mindfulness. His recent book on McMindfulness has garnered over 90 media radio, TV, podcast interviews, as well as newspaper and magazine articles. His viral article, 'Beyond McMindfulness', opened the floodgates for the mindfulness backlash. His essays and cultural criticism have appeared in the Huffington Post, The Guardian, Salon, Alternet, Tikkun, Pando Daily, Refinery 29, Tricycle and many more. Ron Purser is the Lam-Larsen Distinguished Research Professor (2021-2023) in the Lam Family College of Business at San Francisco State University.

McMindfulness by Ronald E. Purser