Unconventional. Innovative. Controversial. Refreshing. Unorthodox. These are some of the words most often used to describe me, my work and my vision.

As one writer recently put it, "Khenpo Gurudas Sunyatananda is one of the most unique, dedicated and unapologetic contemplatives you'll find today. Coming from the rich heritage of the Franciscan and Benedictine contemplative traditions, and with more than thirty years experience as an ordained Buddhist monk, he brings together wisdom, dharma, compassion and service in a package that makes the timeless teachings of Buddha Sakyamuni and Rav Yeshua ben Yusef (Jesus the Christed One) accessible, real and useful."

It's nice to be appreciated, even highly regarded, but at the end of the day, the truth is that I am a simple contemplative monk. Nothing more. Nothing less.

My background could certainly be called unique, in that I have the privilege of being ordained both in the Buddhist tradition and in the canonically-independent Eastern Catholic tradition.

Even so, my biography is fairly unremarkable. I was born, Frederick Robert Salvato -- the eldest son of two wonderful parents of Italian and Hungarian-Slavic descent. At the age of seven, I had the privilege of serving as an altar-boy for a remarkable Benedictine monk, in whom I could confide that I had been drawn deeply to the images of the Sacred Heart of Christ, Avilokitesvara (Chenrezig in the Royal Pose) and the Mother of All Grace (both in the form of Mary the Christotokos and as Vajrayogini).

The wise Benedictine monk, it would turn out, was also a renunciate, living at a unique ashram in India, dedicated to both the Christian & Vedic spiritual paths. After taking Refuge and Bodhisattva vows, I spent the next ten years studying the Dharma, finally receiving ordination in the Zen tradition, shortly before leaving home for the Catholic seminary.

For as long as I can recall, the idea that the Hebrew and Christian scriptures were intended to be interpreted as anything other than midrash -- sacred stories and legends -- was simply part of my spiritual path. Therefore the notion of "God" as a person or persons was not something I could ever accept or embrace. And while this could present itself as something of an obstacle for some, I never saw it as being so, because it was clear to me that the nature of all phenomena was impermanent, empty and created in our minds. Therefore, it made no difference if these phenomena seemed real for others, because ultimately, I was devoted to doing what could be done to alleviate suffering, and that would have nothing to do with these primitive ideologies, metaphors and mythos.

With maturity, it became increasingly evident that participation in the somewhat "theistic" blend of Shinto and Buddhism that marks the Omotokyo path, would not work for me. This personalisation of the god-concept was not something I found useful in helping people to alleviate the causes of suffering and attachment. My path, therefore, was mostly Rinzai influenced, with a lifelong affinity to Tibetan Buddhism beginning to manifest more in the ritual practices and sadhanas I would follow.

As a result, I matured in my spirituality without finding any conflict or distraction, eventually finding my Root Guru, the Venerable Tenzin Yangchen Ma (who was named by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, who served with her on the Board of Trustees for the Parliament of World Religions).

As the Franciscan contemplative community I served grew from four members to fifty-four men and six women, so did the number of lay people who found something resonant in the message we shared. Soon, it became evident that we could no longer accept the intolerance, homophobia, sexism and predatory scandals of the Roman Catholic Church. We elected to excardinate from the juridiction and canonical control of the Pope, and sought episcopal protection (refuge) under an autocephalic (canonically independent) Celtic-Catholic bishop, later finding a permanent home in an autocepahlic Eastern Catholic community. As an openly-gay leader in the community, I was asked to serve as the group's spiritual teacher and refuge lama.

Several years after being ordained as a priest, in a ministry focused on serving the poor, sick and the dying, I was asked to accept my community's nomination for me to be consecrated as their bishop and exarch. The Eastern Catholic community I served was a community whose apostolic roots and canonical independence from the tyranny of the Roman Catholic Papacy could be traced back to the Church of Utrecht (which received its canonical independence from Pope Leo X), the Johannite Community (whose origins predate the Roman Catholic institution), as well as from the Syriac-Armenian, Celtic-Hebrew and Indian (Mar Thoma) Apostolic Communities.

As a bishop and exarch, it became easier for me to more openly share the philosophies and foundational understanding of the Dharma of Buddha and the Dharma of the Christ.

By then, our annual retreats included hundreds of people from the United States, Canada, Mexico and the European Union. And while many were pleased to be able to express their spirituality in more free and fluid terms, there were many traditionalists who felt that we were going too far. Simultaneously, my local community, which was largely comprised of Tibetan and a few Japanese Zen Buddhists, felt that it was time to move beyond the limitations of the Buddhist-Catholic dialogue, and become what they considered to be "more authentically Tibetan". (Something I found amusing, since we were not from Tibet, despite our drawing deeply from that tradition... so no matter how we try, we would never be "authentically Tibetan"!)

In October 2006, I announced that I was retiring from and formally severing my ties with all institutional religions. I entrusted the care of the Tibetan and Zen Buddhist communities to their local Sangha leaders and monastics, and turned the keys of the Catholic-Buddhist (contemplative) community over to two warm, capable and competant successors (bishops) in our lineage.

I relocated from my hermitage in Atlanta to my native Pennsylvania, in 2008, after complications from a type of Parkinsonism caused me to shatter my right arm, fracture my shoulder, and losing my ability to work and get around myself. The road to recovery has alrady included one of two reconstructive surgeries, and over two years of continuing to bear the pain of an arm that remains broken, despite a ten and a half inch plate and eighteen screws holding things in place.

An interesting journey to be sure... but still, that of a simple monk... one whose only religion is compassion; whose only god is love; and whose only path is serving those who suffer.

I am greatful to my teachers, particularly to my departed Refuge Guru Abishiktananda-ji, my Root Guru the Venerable Tenzin Yangchen Ma, and my teachers, Robert Danza Sensei, Marianne Donoghue Sensei, Venerable Lama Tenzin Namgyal, His Eminence Tsem Tulku Rinpoche, His Eminence the Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche and my Spiritual Father, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.