Byrnes
Office
46 South Street
Email
jbyrnes@middlebury.edu

Brian Joshin Byrnes is a Zen priest and teacher at Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community near Middlebury. Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community is a hub of community-engaged Zen practice that is accessible to all. In addition to teaching meditation and dharma texts, Joshin maintains a core practice of bearing witness and social action, especially within economically marginalized communities. He guides the sangha, offers dharma talks, hosts the Infinite Circle program, and holds street retreats and other bearing witness practices around the country.

Joshin’s offerings are informed by his experience leading social change programs and nonprofits in the areas of HIV/AIDS, such as Action Action Committee in Boston, and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. He also was the CEO and President of a number of community-based philanthropic organizations including The Vermont Community Foundation. Before starting Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community he was the president, vice abbot, and chaplaincy training director at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe.  Earlier in life, Joshin studied philosophy and theology while he was a member of the Dominican Order, a social-justice oriented Catholic mendicant religious community. He was also a conservatory-trained musician and musicologist.