G.R. Lewis, whose dharma name is Rev. Tri  Nguyen (Source of Wisdom), is a certified lay dharma teacher, founder and current President of the Buddhist Faith Fellowship of Connecticut (BFF).  He founded the BFF community in Bristol, Connecticut, in the spring of 2001 with just two initial congregants. Today the BFF is an active and growing sangha, which has hundreds enrolled on its e-mailing list and whose Sunday morning gatherings attract people from all corners of the State of Connecticut and beyond.

Spiritual Journey

G.R. Lewis is a life-long Connecticut resident. For over 18 years, he has been a Buddhist practicer committing himself to the study, practice and daily application of the dharma. He has attended many retreats, courses and workshops from various Buddhist schools in North and South America, and Europe. He speaks four European languages and received a Master's degree in Hispanic Literature from Central Connecticut State University in the year 2000.

He began to be interested in Buddhism during his senior year of high school after reading a used book called "Introduction to Zen" by D.T. Suzuki.  For years, he practiced alone because local Buddhist groups were non-existent. He absorbed himself in reading Buddhist materials and considered himself as a devout "Bookstore Buddhist." In 1995, he moved to Central Connecticut and finally found a local Vietnamese Buddhist temple in the Yellow Pages. It was when he began to practice with a sangha (Buddhist spiritual community) that his knowledge and practice grew exponentially; as a consequence, his life began to reveal a deeper purpose.

In 1996, he received his dharma-name, Tri Nguyen, after taking the Five Precepts and Refuge ceremony, presided by the Venerable Thich Tri Hoang of the Hai An Pagoda in New Britain, Connecticut. In 1998, he suggested  to the Venerable Hoang, that the establishment of a local Buddhist seminary in Central Connecticut was needed for the deepening of practice and propagation. As a result,  the Ven. Hoang founded the Hai An Pagoda's Dharma Training Program, in which G.R. Lewis became one of its first students.  Under the wise and compassionate guidance of the Vietnamese-born Abbott, the Venerable Thich Tri Hoang of the Thien Lam Te School, he absorbed himself in this comprehensive Dharma teaching program for 2 1/2 years covering a non-sectarian curriculum that embraced all of the Buddhist traditions. In the year 2000, during Vesak, he was finally awarded a Certificate of Buddhist Studies and a Dharma Teacher Certificate from the Venerable Hoang. As a result, G.R. Lewis officially received transmission and was formally ordained as a lay Dharma Teacher.

A couple of years before in 1998, he was first introduced to Shin Buddhism, also called Jodo Shinshu in Japanese, by reading the newly published book River of Fire, River of Water by Dr. Taitetsu Unno. This very well-known and respected Shin Buddhist scholar and author of the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) was also the founder and spiritual teacher of the Northampton Shin Sangha in Massachustts. As a result of reading this amazingly simple but profound book and  a little later meeting the charismatic Dr. T. Unno, he began to regularly attend the Northampton Shin Sangha, which intensified his knowledge and practice of the dynamic Shin path. The combination of his efforts, inspiration and surely the unseen guidance of Buddha Amida, eventually flowered into a spiritual awakening experience within the woods in Timberlin Park in Berlin, Connecticut. Over the next couple of years, he continued to study and practice the Shin teachings in combination with Zen, progressively clarifying and expanding his initial spiritual experience at Timberlin Park. As a consequence, his religious orientation and practice naturally evolved and shifted from his firm reliance on self-power to an experiential and liberating realization of the working of the Primal Vow of Other Power in his life and in the universe.

Startng in 2003, he formally studied under the Rev. (Dr. ) Taitetsu Unno in his NOHO Lay Dharma Teachers Program. In 2005, he  successfully completed this special 2 year training course and continues to be a dedicated student of Dr. T. Unno.  Furthermore, G.R. Lewis regularly attends mindfulness, Zen and Shin retreats and workshops, writes religious essays, organizes Shin Buddhist activities in Connecticut, acts as the BFF's Senior Teacher and teaches the BFF's Discovering Buddhism and Spiritual Maturity & Leadership courses at the Buddha House of Wesleyan University. Furthermore, he found the environmental Buddhist organization called Buddha Gaia and the international umbrella organization of all Buddhist Faith Fellowship's affiliated chapters, the North American Shin Buddhist Association (NASBA). Inspired by the Buddha's teachings and his innermost aspiration, he continues to read new books on the Buddha Dharma and is engaged in daily practice, and yes, he has time for a private life too

Inspirational Teachings

As a consequence to his life and spiritual experience and studies, G.R. Lewis  brings to the Shin Buddhist community both a vast knowledge of Buddhism and the inspiration that comes from a sincere and lifelong practice and the realization of the working of Great Compassion (Amida) in his life. His delightfully creative mind both honors tradition and dares to extend it in ways that continually infuses the BFF and its chapter communities with new vigor. Roshi Robert Aitken referred to the best teacher as merely an advanced student, and G.R. Lewis, clearly embodies this ideal, embracing his own growth with an infectious enthusiasm, while making his talents as a teacher available to sangha members and friends from rank beginners to those who have been longtime practitioners in other traditions.

Many knowledgeable people have the ability to instruct; G.R. Lewis' gift goes beyond to include the ability to inspire and empower the practice of others, while maintaining the egalitarian and inclusive stance that is essential to his understanding of Shin Buddhism as taught by its 13th century Japanese founder, Shinran Shonin. 

Leadership

For the past 7 years he has been the de facto spiritual leader of the growing Connecticut's Shin Buddhist community and is the force behind the emergent North American Shin Buddhist Association. He passionately serves this growing community, focusing on its outreach by helping to establish new sanghas within and beyond Connecticut and the USA. Furthermore, he is involved in organizing and facilitating Buddhist retreats, teaching  Buddhist courses and is active in deepening study and practice of Shin Buddhism throughout the State of Connecticut and elsewhere.