Scott Tusa

Scott Tusa is a Buddhist meditation teacher and former monk who has spent about 25 years exploring how to embody the Buddhist path and live meaningfully through it. He describes his mother's death, when he was sixteen, as the spark for a deep longing for healing and spiritual wisdom that led him to Tibetan Buddhism.

In his early twenties he sought out and learned from a variety of Tibetan Buddhist masters. He was ordained as a monk by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama at age twenty-eight and spent the next nine years in robes. He deepened his understanding of the Dharma, went on solitary meditation retreats, and studied with teachers in India, Nepal and the United States. His main teachers were Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Tsoknyi Rinpoche.

Since 2008, Scott has taught meditation in group and one-to-one settings across the United States, Europe, Latin America and online. He works mainly with people who already have a practice but sense that something has shifted. In his words, the move is "from doing the practice to embodying it." He holds that this is rarely something we figure out alone. In the Buddhist tradition he sees spiritual friendship as the ground that makes real transformation possible.

He offers one-to-one mentoring and self-paced courses. He also shares dharma talks, guided meditations and explorations of Buddhist philosophy on his YouTube channel, and writes a blog and newsletter drawn from his own practice. He has also spoken about his path as a monk in a DENtalks podcast interview.

Students have written about his work on his site. Steve Moore found him "very patient, compassionate and understanding." Fawn Cheng appreciates "his direct teaching style, his relatability, and especially his gentle and caring nature." Jaye Moyer wrote that he is "able to clearly explain complex Buddhist teachings and bridge it's practices to the present day."