Erik Knud-Hansen grew up in a conservative Presbyterian household with the idea of following his father and grandfather into a medical career. While at Duke University studying bio-medical engineering in 1970, his scholastic pursuits were interrupted by a political passion to march against the war in Vietnam, and wage his personal battle to obtain the military draft status of conscientious objector even though he had become an atheist. He trained as a draft counselor and paved the way to claim that having a moral obligation not to be trained to kill or participate in war did not require allegiance to a church’s religious doctrine.

After becoming interested in meditation and having a deep revelation of consciousness, Erik became devoted to spiritual practice in 1972, beginning years of intensive meditation practice, monastic training, and helping to establish several retreat centers in the U.S. He met and studied with many eminent masters representing each of the major schools of Buddhism and other traditions of spiritual wisdom. In 1985, Erik was invited to teach in the Buddhist lineage by Ruth Denison, an esteemed lay teacher, and began to lead deep, silent retreats with other Dharma teachers as well. During this time, he also offered meditation groups at home to support daily-life mindfulness practice and contemplative inquiry.

Erik’s primary interest lies in sharing ways of awakening reflecting the primary traditions in which he trained—namely Buddhism, Taoism, and Advaita Vedanta. His focus, as described in his first book—”Imperience: Understanding the Heart of Consciousness”— is using practical insight meditation and intuitive inquiry for deepening wisdom about the dharma (truth) of nonduality, understanding the universal nature of absolute consciousness, and awakening unconditional love, compassion, moral conscience, and other matters of the heart.

Erik lives quietly in Hawai’i and is writing his next book—”The Dharma, the Tao, the Here and Now”—a memoir relating to the more personal side of spiritual practice.