Our Teachers

Jack was given permission to teach in 1992 by Robert Aitken Roshi and was made dharma heir in 1997, one of 5 in North America. He brings his roles of spouse, father and psychotherapist, along with years of endangered species work and wilderness wanderings to his teaching.

Kate Marchevskova (Mot Tam) received Lamp Transmission as a Mountain Lamp teacher from Eileen Kiera in 2019. She first encountered and fell in love with the Dharma in the early 1990s, ordained in Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing in 1996 and founded Sanghas in Seattle and Mexico City. Her decades-long work as a hospice RN informed her practice and the deep compassion and understanding that she brought to her students and teaching. Kate was diagnosed with cancer near the end of 2024 and died peacefully on April 11th, 2025, surrounded by family, friends, and loved ones. She will be remembered for her courage, kindness, and embodiment of the Dharma. Go here to read more about her life.

In December 2022, on the last day of the 8-day Winter Bones Intensive, Carlos Abusaid Elias received transmission as an apprentice teacher in the Diamond Sangha and Mountain Lamp lineages. He trained extensively at Mountain Lamp for many years, participating in all activities and practices. And before taking up the zen path, he trained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition as well. 

Eileen is an ecologist by training and a vegetable gardener by passion, but the practice and support of the Dharma has been her primary focus for the last 30+ years. She received Lamp Transmission as a Dharma teacher in 1990 from the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh and has spent the years since teaching the Dharma. Over the years she has led retreats in the U.S., Mexico, Europe, Canada and Australia. Her primary focus is in support of lay Dharma practice in the Pacific Northwest.