Alex Cline

Born in Los Angeles, where he still resides, Alex Cline, Chân Phật Sơn (True Buddha Mountain), discovered a profound connection to Zen Buddhism while in his late teens but, after a traveling a somewhat circuitous spiritual path, didn’t reconnect with it until decades later, when he encountered the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and became a dedicated student of his. Besides being a lay dharma teacher, Alex is an internationally recognized drummer-percussionist-composer with a career in music spanning fifty years. Alex’s experience in music includes work with some of the most important and creative artists in the jazz and new music worlds as well as numerous projects and recordings presenting his own music, much of it distinctly dharma influenced. 

A husband and father, Alex is also a retired interviewer and interview series coordinator for the UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research, where he specialized in the areas of performing arts and Asian and Asian American history and culture. Alex has practiced for over twenty years with the Organic Garden Sangha, centered in the Los Angeles area’s Westside, and can also often be found online co-facilitating senior dharma teacher Chau Yoder’s Peaceful Heart Sangha, geographically based in the East Bay of Northern California. Integrally involved in many L.A. area sanghas with various specialized foci and functions over the past many years, he is deeply involved in sangha facilitation and aspirant mentorship. 

A veteran, together with his family, of countless retreats at Deer Park Monastery for over twenty years, Alex also served as a member of the planning and organizing team for all three of its Rhythm of the Earth Mindful Music Festival fundraising events, in which he also participated as one of the performing artists. He would like to express his deep, heartfelt gratitude to Thầy and to the many important, influential, and truly precious teachers whose wisdom he has benefitted from as a disciple of the Buddha and a student and practitioner in the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism.