Richard Reoch
Richard Reoch became a Buddhist at age six when his family joined the Toronto Buddhist Church, which he regularly attended. Being the only non-Japanese members of the church for many years, his family enjoyed visits from Zen and Jodo Shinshu masters, including D.T. Suzuki, who often asked to meet a local Canadian family while they were visiting.
At age 23, Reoch moved to London to volunteer at Amnesty International. He worked as a research assistant on Amnesty's first report on the global epidemic of torture and served as their first field secretary. Posted to South and East Asia, he worked with the Tibetan community in exile and formally introduced the Dalai Lama to Amnesty's work. He was later appointed to head Amnesty's global media operations, a position he held until 1993.
In 2002, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche appointed Reoch president of Shambhala, a Buddhist community. Reoch is also chairperson of the Sakyong's Council and the board of trustees of the London Shambhala Centre. He was previously the Sakyong's secretary in Europe, director of the consecration of the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, and director of the London Shambhala Centre.
Reoch is currently a trustee of the Rainforest Foundation and chairperson of the International Working Group on Sri Lanka, which aims to end the Buddhist world's longest-running war. He also acts as a consultant to human rights and peace groups on both sides of the Irish border.
Reoch is trained in oriental medicine and teaches tai chi and qigong. He is the author of Dying Well, a handbook on holistic care for dying people and their caregivers, which is available in eight languages. Reoch is the editor of Human Rights: The New Consensus, and he compiled the official field manual on combating torture for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. |
|
|
