John Bussineau

John Bussineau is the author of: The Buddha, The Vegan, and You. In part one, of a four part series, he tells his personal story of trying a one-month vegan challenge with his wife, goes on to share many of the difficulties experienced along the way, and then reveals some of the Buddhist-based methods he used to overcome them.

John has been practicing Buddhism as a member of the Jewel Heart Sangha since 1997, under late Kyabje Gelek Rimpoche from the Tibetan Gelugpa tradition. John’s teacher passed away in February of 2017 and a couple weeks prior to his death named him and his wife: the Jewel Heart Ambassadors for Vegetarianism, Veganism, and Animal Welfare.

John found the transition into veganism profoundly shifted and strengthened his spiritual practice. John’s story is a coherent and frank exploration of a key issue in Buddhism today: do the teachings of the Buddha lead to the conclusion that abstaining from all animal products should be a strong consideration for all Dharma practitioners in today’s modern world? He found that for himself that answer was yes, as his Buddhist practice directly contradicted his meat eating, clothing, and entertainment lifestyle prior to becoming vegan. His passion today is spreading the message of how Buddhism (caring for all sentient beings) and veganism go hand-in-hand to enhance our inner compassion and innate wisdom. He loves to connect the dots between our innermost altruistic selves and our external behaviors. He believes we are all by nature altruistic, humane, and unselfish but support unnecessary suffering simply based on blind habit, culture, and myth. It gives him great pleasure to provide ideas, questions, methods, and techniques for others to examine and improve their health, be more compassionate, and reduce negative habitual patterns.

An ethical vegan since 2010, John lives in Michigan with his vegan wife of 39 years, vegan daughters, vegan son-in-law, vegan granddaughter and a vegan rescue dog. He teaches and facilitates Jewel Heart dharma classes in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.