RMI Lineage

Lucinda Treelight Green (1951-  )

“Never underestimate the power of presence and the power of the practice,” Lucinda Treelight Green, Ph.D.  reminds her students often.  She dedicated her own life to presence and practice at a young age.

Lucinda grew up in Eastern Washington State in the 1950’s in Richland, a small town that had been established to support the efforts of World War II.

It was largely a happy childhood for Lucinda who was nurtured by her mother, Pauline Barr, a gregarious, intelligent woman dedicated to raising her children.  Her father, George Dawson Barr, was “salt of the earth,” industrious and resourceful.  Lucinda was imbued with these same qualities and pioneer spirit.  A sense of discovery followed her and fueled her own growth.  Being adventurous and a visionary came naturally to her and were fostered within her family.

At the age of twelve, Lucinda asked her Methodist Sunday school teacher if she would lead a study group over the summer.  Lucinda was curious about the meaning and purpose of life and wanted to explore what that meant.  A small group of girls met weekly and Lucinda’s life-long spiritual endeavors were formally launched.  One of the ideas that anchored itself in Lucinda’s curiosity was the mystic, the Christian notion of living in the world but not of the world.

When Lucinda was 16, her investigation turned toward the question, “How do I serve?”

During these years, Lucinda read Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha and began meditating in the style of Self Realization Fellowship led by Paramahansa Yogananda.  “Meditation came very naturally to me,” says Lucinda.  “I never had difficulty concentrating.  Once I started meditating, I never stopped.”

It was also at age 16 that Lucinda made a promise to herself that no person, place, or thing would get in the way of her spiritual growth.  Later she learned that persons and places and things would be part of her spiritual growth; but her purpose was always quite clear: her life was to be lived, focused, dedicated and developed fully in order to serve.

Part of her undergraduate education included a year of study in India including Vedanta philosophy. Lucinda had her eye out for a guru and was initiated into Transcendental Meditation.  Her interest in Buddhism was peaked in a visit to Sri Lanka in the spring of that year.  “Being in a Buddhist country and seeing young Buddhist monks in their orange robes bathing in the Indian Ocean, laughing, splashing one another, being so playful sparked my interest,” she says.  It was there where seeds were planted that blossomed in a life dedicated to Buddhism.

Lucinda studied with many teachers and two emerged as her primary teachers: Ruth Denison and Ayya Khema.  Lucinda reflects that her root teacher, Ruth Denison, “embodied the Dharma as no one else.  It was seamless for Ruth.  Her life was Dharma. Dharma was her life.”  Ruth’s gender also played a significant role for Lucinda.  Ruth embodied the Dharma as a woman.  “I, being a woman, could relate to Ruth’s expression and embodiment of the teachings.” It was with Ruth’s influence that those early seeds of interest took root and Lucinda chose Buddhist study and practice as her primary path to the development of understanding, compassion, wisdom, and realization.

Sweeping meditation was a favorite of Ruth’s and during the many hours on Ruth’s retreats, Lucinda easily found access concentration, which led her into the meditative absorptions, although she did not have words to define that experience until she met her second teacher, Ayya Khema.

During the time of Lucinda’s graduate studies, Ayya Khema spoke at the Zen Center in San Francisco. Lucinda lit up seeing the pictures of an island community of female monastics Ayya had just begun in Sri Lanka. As part of her presentation, Ayya Khema invited those interested to come and see. Lucinda was definitely interested. Upon receiving her Ph.D. in 1985, she took off to Asia and, by way of celebrating her educational achievement, entered Ayya Khema’s nunnery in Sri Lanka, where she lived and studied for 4 ½ months.

Nun’s island was intended to re-create, for women, the conditions and style of living at the time of the Buddha. Lucinda describes these months as a rare opportunity that was both challenging and rewarding. Days were spent in study of the Dharma, chanting, meditating, and living together in a Buddhist country among an international community of women. During interviews, Ayya Khema was able to help Lucinda name and hone her meditative absorption experiences.

These two teachers helped her discover for herself the bedrock of equanimity that set the stage for the next opportunity in her life-long dedication to serve.

The San Francisco Bay area had been like a womb for Lucinda’s early development, a place where she had blossomed. But it was also a very busy place. She yearned for a different pace of life, and one less densely populated where she could answer her next call of spreading alternative work within mainstream culture. Upon returning from Nun’s island in 1986 she moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

With Ruth’s blessing, Lucinda began teaching Vipassana meditation to a wide range of individuals. In 1995 she received transmission from Ruth Denison that inaugurated her as a Dharma teacher into the Theravada lineage of The Ven. Ledi Sayadaw.