Prior
Reverend Kinrei Bassis is the resident monk and teacher, and has been the Prior of Berkeley Buddhist Priory since 1997. He was ordained as a Buddhist monk by Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett in 1979. He received Dharma Transmission in 1982, and was named Master in 1987 by Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett.

In one of his Dharma Talks “On Suffering”, Rev. Kinrei spoke about how he started on this path: “I began Buddhist training because all the other directions my life could go seemed meaningless. I was not at peace and I was definitely not content. I felt bound by circumstances, bound by my strong emotions, bound by desires that I knew intellectually were shallow and empty. I was confronting the First Noble Truth that suffering exists – the recognition that something in my life was seriously wrong. Buddhism clearly offered a way out of suffering and a way for me to find real peace and happiness…”

To read more about Rev. Kinrei’s writings or to listen to his Dharma Talks, click on the links below. The Dharma Talks are in MP3 format and can be downloaded to your local devices.