Board of Trustees

A young Asian-American Buddhist monk who serves as the men’s side chaplain, an assistant professor, and a translator in Dharma Realm Buddhist University.

A DRBU instructor and administrative faculty member, who serves on the Board of Trustees’ finance committee. She is also a monastic with Dharma Realm Buddhist Association.

Retired business owner and entrepreneur.  Peggy Brevoort founded, with her husband, the late Bill Brevoort, Buddha Root Farm in 1971, which was sold to the DRBA in 1999. Peggy has a background in business, market research, accounting and non-profit Board development work.  Most recently on Board of Bastyr University, Kenmore, WA. Took refuge with Ven. Master Hsuan Hua in 1975.

Cynthia joined the DRBU board in 2009 as an at-large member and is Chair of the Audit Committee. She retired in December 2022 from serving as a trustee of Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District after 24 years. She is a CPA and has extensive community leadership experiences. She also served as president of Asian/Pacific Islander School Board Members Association for 2020 and 2021. She was named “Woman of the Year” for California District 24 in March, 2010.

With DRBU from its beginning, in a variety of administrative and teaching roles. Currently Chancellor Emeritus and Professor Emeritus. Also a founding member of the Buddhist Text Translation Society and active participant in its translation work. Lecturer Emeritus, San Francisco State University.

Prajna Murdaya was a co-founder of the Buddhist Community at Stanford and Dharma Realm Buddhist Youth. He currently resides in Indonesia and also serves as the Chairman of the Young Indonesian Buddhists’ Association (BUMI), as well as the Chairman of Palpung Foundation in Indonesia. He is a director in an industrial business group owned by his family, and is the founder of Shoemaker Studios, a music incubator based in Jakarta.

Educator and writer. One of the founding teachers of Instilling Goodness Elementary.

Birju Pandya works with Mobius, a family office based in Marin, CA. He engages with inner transformation through a few different topics. First, through meat reduction and regenerative/plant-based eating, with organizations such as 50by40 and Farmed Animal Funders.  Second, through groups focused on collective human development, such as ServiceSpace and The Pollination Project.  Finally, through deep adaptation and ‘eco-wisdom’ work, via groups such as OMEGA: The Resilience Funders Network and Deep Adaptation Forum.  He is the son of Indian immigrants, a husband, and a father.

Teaches various classes at DRBU, ranging from Buddhist Sutras to Western philosophical treatises, and serves as DRBU’s Vice President of Finance and Administration. Doug also taught at Berkeley High School for over 40 years.

Former president of National Taipei University in Taipei, Taiwan. Experiences also include President of Taiwan Accounting Association and Board Chairman of Accounting Research and Development Foundation of Taiwan. Fujiing received his Ph.D.(major in accounting; minor in international business) at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

A lawyer and activist with educational, teaching, and political experience. Silver’s career includes being jailed as a Freedom Rider in segregation-era Mississippi; publication of her book, Freedom Rider Diary; teaching at Golden Gate University Law School, Lone Mountain College (now University of San Francisco), and SF State; 12 years’ elected service on the SF Board of Supervisors; founding Chinese American International School (CAIS) in San Francisco; a law practice focused on civil litigation, civil rights, and real estate; and being appointed by the Sheriff of SF as Director of a program to provide civil legal services to prisoners in the SF jails.

Professor of Buddhist Classics and Dean of Academics at DRBU, with a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and past teaching or lecturing experience at Stanford, UC Berkeley, and the Graduate Theological Union. Also a longtime disciple of the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua.