Richard K. Payne, PhD, is dean and Yehan Numata Professor of Japanese Buddhist Studies at the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California, an affiliate of the Graduate Theological Union, and he is a member of the GTU's core doctoral faculty. He is editor of a number of scholarly series on Buddhism, and his ongoing research focuses on tantric Buddhist ritual. He erratically blogs at http://rkpayne.wordpress.com.
Taigen Dan Leighton (foreword) is a Dharma teacher in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, leads the Ancient Dragon Zen Gate in Chicago, and teaches online at the Berkeley Graduate Theological Union. He's the author of Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and Their Modern Expression and Zen Questions: Zazen, Dogen, and the Spirit of Creative Inquiry and is the editor and cotranslator of Dogen's Extensive Record.