Joseph Goldstein

Joseph Goldstein was born in 1944 and studied philosophy at Columbia University, graduating in 1965. That year he joined the Peace Corps and went to Thailand, where he first became interested in Buddhism. He spent much of the following years in Asia.

In 1967 he met Anagarika Munindra at Bodh Gaya, in India, and was among Munindra’s first Western students. Munindra had himself trained for nine years under Mahasi Sayadaw in Burma. Goldstein also studied with Dipa Ma, who is described in Lion’s Roar as one of his primary teachers.

With Jack Kornfield and Sharon Salzberg he co-founded the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, which opened in February 1976. In 1991 he helped establish the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, a neighbouring centre for study and retreat.

His first book, The Experience of Insight, appeared in 1976. He wrote Seeking the Heart of Wisdom with Jack Kornfield, and later One Dharma, on the emerging Western Buddhism, and Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening (2013).

He teaches within the Theravada insight tradition; Wikipedia notes that One Dharma explored an integrated framework for the Theravada, Tibetan and Zen traditions.