Cheri Maples

Who is Cheri Maples?

Cheri Maples J.D., MSSW, is an American dharma teacher, ordained by Zen Master, poet and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh in January 2008. She has been a lay member of Hanh's Order of Interbeing since 2002. Maples is also the co-founder of the Center for Mindfulness & Justice, a keynote speaker, and an organizational consultant and trainer. Cheri is known for combining the mindfulness tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh with vipassana practice in her teaching and teaches nationally, including with Sharon Salzberg and at Tara Brach's Insight Meditation Community of Washington. A police officer for 20 years with the Madison Police Department, she organized a first-of-its-kind non-sectarian retreat in 2003 with Thich Nhat Hanh and criminal justice professionals, which received considerable national attention. An outgrowth of the retreat was a book by Hahn entitled Keeping the Peace: Mindfulness and Public Service, with the foreword by Cheri Maples.