Michael Charles Owens is a Buddhist teacher, translator, and author. He has been teaching Buddhism for over twenty-five years.
Michael uses a sutra-based curriculum to guide others through the teachings of Buddhism. He offers online courses quarterly, and is available to meet for private study.
Lotus Underground is a living, research-driven learning environment based on Michael's translations of sutras from Chinese, a podcast of sutra recitations, and an ever-expanding library of Buddhist Studies courses.
Michael is also a teacher for the San Francisco Dharma Collective where he currently hosts an online discussion every Sunday night that weaves together sutra study, translation, humor, and storytelling.
How it all started...
MATRIX MANDALA
Michael first began studying Buddhism in college. After graduate school, he spent several years as an adjunct professor teaching courses on Buddhism and Eastern Religion. In 2003, he left the academic world to promote Buddhism as an independent teacher and translator. One of his first projects was a three-dimensional Garbhadhātu Mandala made of candles in the form of a peace garden. Each Buddha and bodhisattva candle was hand-crafted to match the proper color, implements, and mudra gestures from the original mandala. Friends were invited to a lighting ceremony in Brooklyn, New York to learn about the mandala and join together in community - an artistic, educational event capturing the essence of Michael's new endeavor.
DHARMA BUM CENTER
In 2006, Michael founded an educational non-profit organization in San Diego, CA and opened a Buddhist practice center called the Dharma Bum Center. In a tiny loft downtown, friends gathered together nightly for Dharma talks, meditations, special events, and community outreach. After only one year of operation, the project and its members quickly outgrew the small space.
IDEAL HOTEL
At the beginning of 2008, Michael led an initiative to restore an abandoned building in downtown San Diego's Chinese Historic District. He organized over 100 volunteers giving more than 50,000 hours of time, his non-profit raised over $250,000 for contractors, and he helped raise an additional $500,000 of in-kind donations to complete the project. In 2009 the building was reopened as the Ideal Hotel, with a donation-based meditation studio offering daily classes in varietal meditation, yoga, and tai-chi. The center also housed a volunteer-run community arts space and tea room, and a 12-person residency program focused on mindfulness, sustainability, and social entrepreneurship.
Before
IDEALISTS
IDEAL STUDIO
IDEAL TEA ROOM
IDEAL RESIDENCY
After
RED LOTUS SOCIETY
The Ideal Hotel became the home of the Red Lotus Society - the community of seekers, dreamers, and believers supporting Michael's vision of an 'omni-denominational Buddhism.' As Director of RLS, Michael created meditation and educational programming in all kinds of meditation, yoga, and contemplative practices. He also organized a unique annual sit-a-thon: a day-long meditation retreat for peace that invited representatives from different faiths to lead one of the day's meditation sessions, including contemplative Christian prayer, a Sufi dhikr, various types of Buddhist meditation, and a Quaker gathering.
LOTUS UNDERGROUND
In 2012, the Ideal Hotel was forced to close due to forces beyond a small non-profit's control. Without a home, the Red Lotus Society morphed into Lotus Underground, and Michael returned to life as an itinerant Buddhist teacher.
