About

Writer, futurist, voyager, Buddhist teacher, consultant

The son of a free spirit, Scott spent his childhood in New York, the Bahamas, Hawaii, British Columbia, and California. He went to high school in Alaska, where he received numerous smarty pants awards, including recognition from President Reagan at the White House.  In 1990, Scott graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Government, specializing in political philosophy.  He happily moved to the liberal haven of San Francisco and has lived there ever since.  Scott worked in law, finance, and high tech, progressing into senior management positions with both start-up and big name companies.  Lengthy spiritual sojourns and retreats punctuate his professional career, reflecting his deep commitment to exploring his interior world as much as the exterior one.

After more than 20 years of study, Scott was ordained to teach Buddhism by the renowned master His Holiness Mindrolling Trichen Rinpoche, Supreme Head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Scott was guided to Mindrolling Trichen Rinpoche after working with the Venerable Thupten Ngodrup, the Medium of the State Oracle of Tibet, and His Eminence Garje Khamtrul Rinpoche, a highly accomplished Dzogchen master. (Scott also recognizes the guidance of his spiritual brother Geshe Tenzin Choephel). 

Scott has studied in the three main divisions of Buddhism:  Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana.  He was privileged to take teachings in private audiences with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama; the Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia, Maha Ghosananda; the Supreme Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Thich Quang Do; and the famed Thai forest monk and master of Vipassana, Venerable Ajahn Jumnien.  Ordained as a full bhikkhu (or monk) in 2017 as Prah Katakuno by Preceptor Luangpor Sin in Rayong Province, Thailand, he then studied intensively with Ven. Vimokkha Medhino, PhD., abbot of Wat Pipphaliwanaram Thai forest monastery (founded by the Great Master Kassapamuni).  Ven. Vimokkha conferred upon Scott his lineage teachings and instructed him to return to the United States to teach.

Scott has taught at a number of Buddhist centers and was a lecturer in Buddhist study and practice at U.C. Berkeley extension school.  For the 10th anniversary issue of Tricycle magazine, Scott was asked as a dharma teacher to write about the next steps in the development of Buddhism.  His article was declared by the editors to be a "daring look at some old obstacles and new opportunities that attend seeding Buddha-dharma in the West."

Scott has written for a wide array of magazines and authored an award-winning book entitled The Future of Peace: On the Front Lines with the World's Great Peacemakers, which chronicled his trips to war zones (past and present) and his thought-provoking conversations with the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Dame Jane Goodall, President Oscar Arias, and other luminaries in the field of peace.   As noted by his publisher, "Scott is one of the few writers in the world to have gained access to the exceptional group of peacemakers interviewed in this book."

As a futurist, Scott was invited to speak at the world's first conference on singularity, held at Stanford University in 2003, along with Ray Kurzweil and other sages of future trends.  Scott is on the Sustainability Advisory Board of the Acceleration Studies Foundation, comprised of "acceleration-aware thinkers, communicators, and leaders in world governance, environment, ethics, sustainability and other planet-level dialogs."

Scott is the founder of Project Innovation Group, a boutique consultancy focused on innovative management of large-scale transformation projects for major companies.  Scott is also working on a video series about spiritual travel.