A student of Buddhism for more than 41 years
Founder of The Path of Awakening Buddhist Center
John Baker, a close disciple of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, co-founded and taught at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, serving as its CEO for the first three years of its existence and teaching there for five. He also co-founded and co-directed the Karma Dzong Meditation Center in Boulder for the first five years of its existence.
He is the co-editor of Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism and The Myth of Freedom and the author of numerous articles. After 23 years in private business, he retired in 2000. During this time he continued teaching Buddhist thought and meditation practice throughout North America as a senior teacher in the North American Buddhist community and co-founded the Westchester Buddhist Center. In 2020 he founded The Path of Awakening Buddhist Center, offering online courses.
He has led a number of month-long meditation programs at Shambhala Mountain Center in Colorado and Karme Chöling Meditation Center in Vermont and has taught at the Vajradhatu Seminary. He currently enjoys working as a life and executive coach.