About
Thomas Davis is a contemplative artist based in Los Angeles who integrates Buddhist dharma with Christian mysticism, jazz, poetry, and art. He began formal dharma practice at East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland around 2014, following over a decade as a lay minister and teacher at Olivet Missionary Baptist Church in Oakland. Davis served as core teacher for InsightLA's BIPOC Sangha from 2018 to 2021 and mentors in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. He founded Avant-Dharma to consolidate his practice and teaching work. Davis offers personal mentoring, workshops, and residential retreats.
Teaching focus
Thomas Davis's teaching focus, drawn from the source profile, sits in the Insight and Vipassana traditions. Several threads come up: steady attention to body and breath; the relationship between ethics and meditation; and short, direct teachings rather than long talks. On talks, the style is closer to thinking-along than presenting. Thomas Davis works with whatever shows up in the room rather than reading from notes, which is part of why these talks land as conversational instead of scripted. Short pauses, longer sits, and questions that come back to direct experience are usual. Listed specialties on the source profile include LGBTQ+. The bigger move Thomas Davis keeps making is back toward attention itself: what's happening, how it's being held, and what gets in the way. That keeps the teaching close to practice rather than drifting into commentary about practice. For talks, schedules, and longer essays, the affiliated organization's page is where the live material lives. Thomas Davis's sessions tend to keep returning to the body, to breath, and to the felt quality of attention as the steady ground that the rest rests on. Thomas Davis's sessions tend to keep returning to the body, to breath, and to the felt quality of attention as the steady ground that the rest rests on.
Background
Thomas Davis teaches in the Insight and Vipassana traditions. The teaching home is InsightLA. From the teacher's own profile: Thomas Davis IV, is a Contemplative Artist based in Los Angeles who explores the connections between the principles of the Dharma, Christian Mysticism, Jazz Ethics, Poetry, Art, Storytelling and Science for a multi-disciplinary exploration of who we are and what is possible for Us. Thomas self-identifies as a Contemplative Artist which allows for a consistent and fluid commitment to personal authenticity; and for the exploration of voicing one’s emerging ideas, concepts and individual expressions of personal and collective Liberation. Thomas’s immersion into the Dharma began 10 years ago at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA, and was proceeded by over 10 years of service as a Lay Minister and Teacher at the Olivet Missionary Baptist Church, Oakland, CA. He is currently a Mentor in the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, and was the Core Teacher for the InsightLA BIPOC Sangha for the past 3 years 2018-2021. Thomas is the Founder of Avant-Dharma which is the present expression of his cumulative years of practice and service. ( www.avant-dharma.com ) Thomas offers personal mentoring sessions and also offers workshops and residential retreats for a further immersion into one’s own practice. In the Insight stream Thomas Davis works inside, the emphasis is on direct attention to body, feeling tone, and mind, alongside the brahmaviharas and an ongoing investigation of how clinging and aversion arise. Talks tend to be conversational rather than scripted, and there's room for sila and ethics to be talked about as part of practice rather than as a separate topic. Thomas Davis's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Thomas Davis's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Thomas Davis's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography. Thomas Davis's page on OMP collects the publicly available bio, the listed affiliations, and any talks tracked through the source archive, and is meant as a directory entry rather than an authorized biography.
Lineage
Thomas Davis teaches as a lay teacher in the Insight and Vipassana traditions. The institutional home, per the source listing, is InsightLA, and that's where most of the public teaching schedule and any retreat offerings will be posted. The Insight lineage in the West runs through teachers like Mahasi Sayadaw, U Ba Khin, Anagarika Munindra, and Dipa Ma into the founders of IMS, Spirit Rock, and the regional centers, and most contemporary Insight teachers position themselves somewhere in that broad family.
What to expect
On a class or retreat with Thomas Davis, the basic shape is short instruction, longer sittings, and some Q&A. Retreats are part of the offering, usually a few days to a week, mostly silent. The container is shaped by InsightLA, so format details, fees, and access policies follow that organization's norms. Expect plenty of silence, less talking-at-you than you might think, and an emphasis on letting the practice do its work rather than chasing experiences. For exact dates, registration, and any sliding-scale or scholarship information, There's usually a short Q&A window and, on retreats, optional teacher interviews where students can bring specific questions about their practice.
