Membership List

Sensei Andy Ryūshin Santanello is a teacher in the White Plum Asanga. He first became interested in Buddhist practice as a teenager when a high school teacher introduced him to the First Noble Truth: Life is suffering. As a Junior in college (2000), he started a meditation practice and attended his first sesshin with Roshi Robert Kennedy. He experimented with various forms of meditation over the years, including Tibetan practice and secular meditation practices such as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction before finding his way back to Zen. Prior to joining Clare Sangha in 2013, he practiced with the Howard County Dharma Group, attended several sesshin with Roshi Robert Kennedy prior to joining Clare Sangha. Ryūshin shares the role of Practice Leader with Seichō Sensei and has served on the ZCB/Clare Sangha board of directors since 2018. He received the precepts in 2016 and was given the dharma name Ryūshin (“Dragon Heart/Mind”). Roshi Blackman named Ryūshin a Hoshi (dharma holder) in 2018 and in 2019, he received the five mindfulness trainings in the Thich Nhat Hanh tradition as a renewal of his bodhisattva vows. In March 2022, Ryūshin received dharma transmission from his current teacher, Sensei Tony Hoetsu Falcone. He continues his Zen study with Hoetsu Sensei.

Sensei Ryūshin is a licensed clinical psychologist in Maryland and received his Psy.D. from La Salle University in 2006. In addition to his clinical work, he enjoys training other mental health professionals in evidence-based psychotherapy and working to disseminate evidence-baed psychotherapy to the public at large. Sensei Ryūshin is happily married and the proud caretaker of his beloved dog, Clancy, and cat, Duncan. He enjoys a good laugh with friends, bad puns, and being in Vermont any chance he can get.