Susan Shannon is an ordained minister and board certified chaplain. She has been “married to the Dharma” since 1971, first studying Chinese Buddhism, then finding home with Tibetan Tradition. She took refuge with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1980 and in 1983 took refuge and teachings with His Eminence Kalu Rinpoche, the great master of the Karma Kagyu and Shangpa lineages. Over the years she’s also taken refuge with some of Tibet’s greatest masters in the Sakya, Drukpa Kagyu, Dudjom Tersar and Nyingma lineages.

Susan was ordained by the Chaplaincy Institute and endorsed by the Nechung Buddhist Center as a Buddhist Chaplain in 2011, which allowed her to teach, provide services, and spiritually serve the men as a Buddhist Chaplain in San Quentin State Prison and Death Row. Upon leaving California in 2019, she Buddhist Prison Ministry to continue spreading the dharma to the incarcerated. Buddhist Prison Ministry's first course-book Bodhicitta Behind Bars; An Introduction to Buddhism is in prisons across the United States, provided free of charge to the incarcerated, thanks to ongoing Ashoka grants from the Khyentse Foundation. Susan’s work is grounded in the fields of Restorative Justice and Emotional Literacy, having worked with several populations including inmates, at-risk youth, the homeless, and Tibetan refugees. She currently lives on a small island in the Pacific Northwest, where she teaches, writes, and stewards her land.