Earlier life

Denis in Rajasthan, India (2008)

Having shown a strong interest for Mathematics and Computer Science early in my life, I gained a post-graduate master's degree (M.Sc.) in Telecommunications (major in “parallel and distributed computing”), and enjoyed a successful career in Finance: first as a mathematical researcher, then leading ‘quantitative research’ and ‘model validation’ teams in major investment banks. I later became a trader in exotic equity-linked derivatives, and a product development lead. During my career, I cared about training the next generation, technically and ethically, thus taught and mentored many young post-graduates (M.Sc., Ph.D.).

Enquiring into the Asian and European traditions of Philosophy and Psychology since my teenage years, I also practise Aikidō, Iaidō, Argentinian tango, Photography, Drawing (cf. logo) and Sculpting —all of which provide opportunities to embody my meditative practice and « respond freely to whatever arises in the moment. » I later obtained a Master (M.A.) in Buddhist studies (major in Buddhist philosophy) to broaden my horizon beyond my initial ‘school.’

Whether as a friend, a manager, a mentor, or a banker surrounded by ‘wealthy-but-miserable’ colleagues, I had many opportunities to see how craving and clinging endlessly fuel the existential suffering of human beings, and started guiding people on taming their minds. I subsequently resigned from the corporate world to help and accompany more people on their spiritual path and personal growth (including ethically-responsible professional growth).

Teaching buddhism

In November 2011, 20 years after my first meditative, formal ‘sitting’, I started teaching Buddhism on google+ to the worldwide saṃgha, striving to maintain a two-fold discipline:

• posting once a day (or at least substantially contributing to conversations on other posts),
• engaging in the comment threads, i.e. replying to questions, providing references, responding to the needs from the audience rather than merely staging a broadcast —in short: remaining approachable and supportive.

Locations of Denis' early followers on google+

Two years and 440+ public posts later, I had also taken on responsibilities in leading the “Buddhism and Meditation” community (the largest Buddhism-related community on google+) and moderating a few others such as “Buddhism Q&A,” “Zen Buddhism” and “Secular Buddhism,” thus supporting 120,000+ people.

By early 2016, with 900+ public posts and hundreds of questions answered, supporting 400,000+ people, it was time to launch dharma.house to offer new ways for people to connect.

Many teachers in the history of Buddhism broke away from the ‘establishment,’ and my choice is to teach without an exotic “dharma name,” title, or claims of lineage. My aim is to share what I have seen and realised: neither do I provide anyone with flimsy certainties of authenticity nor do I claim my ‘authority’ based on the attainments or reputation of my own teachers!
If you wonder about who granted me ‘authority’ as a teacher or as a priest, where I learnt, or who certified or confirmed whatever attainment… you're asking a pointless question. The reasons are openly communicated: you are free to make your own choices and opinion.

How to reach me?

For questions which might be publicly shared, google+ is the best avenue.

For more personal questions, you can email me at contact@koan.mu (or phone +33 (0)7 6844 6304 —you might need to leave a message). You can also leave a message via google hangouts, or share a post privately on g+ (it is advised to explicitly mention +Denis Wallez in the core of the post, for ‘notification’ purposes).

Alternatively, you might want to consider visiting at dharma.house, for an individual retreat or a group retreat.

In line with the buddhist tradition, I do not charge for sharing the Dharma and live on donations. Your financial support would therefore be greatly appreciated.