Many Rivers Books & Tea is owned and operated by Tayu Order, Incorporated, a non-profit spiritual organization that has been present in Sonoma County for over 20 years. Please visit the Tayu website for further information on Tayu's work and practice.

Jim Wilson, Manager and Co-Founder, is also the Director of Sutra Salon, a group of Buddhist practitioners here in Sebastopol. He has practiced Buddhism as both a monastic and lay person for 30 years in a variety of traditions, including Zen, Theravada, Dzog Chen, and Nichiren. He is the former Abbot of a Buddhist Temple in New York, and more recently he was the Buddhist Chaplain at a prison for the criminally insane. Jim also brings many years of experience in bookstore management to Many Rivers.

Rob Schmidt, Ph.D., Co-Founder, was personally trained by Tayu Meditation Center (the owner of Many Rivers) founder Robert Daniel Ennis, and has been a member of the Tayu teaching staff since 1983. After the death of Mr. Ennis in 1998, he became the Spiritual Director of Tayu Center. He is also currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Archaeological Research Facility at U.C. Berkeley.

Stuart E. Goodnick, Tea Master and Co-Founder, has been a practitioner of Tayu meditation since 1985, and has been a Tayu meditation instructor since 1993. He holds degrees in physics from Caltech and UCSC, and has been a manager in the electronics and software industries since 1988. For the last seven years, Stuart has studied the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) with master Masayuki Koga. In recent years, Stuart has been applying the principles of spiritual practice in daily life as a software executive in Silicon Valley start-ups. Stuart's fascination with fine tea of all varieties has shaped the extensive selection at Many Rivers.