People like Joseph Goldstein

Joseph Goldstein (born May 20, 1944) is one of the first American vipassana teachers, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) with Jack Kornfield and Sharon Salzberg, a contemporary author of numerous popular books on Buddhism (see publications below), a resident guiding teacher at IMS, and a leader of retreats worldwide on insight (vipassana) and lovingkindness (metta) meditation.

While the majority of Goldstein's publications introduce Westerners to primarily Theravada concepts, practices and values, his 2002 work, One Dharma, explored the creation of an integrated framework for the Theravada, Tibetan and Zen traditions.

Goldstein had original experiences of realisation concerning the word 'unborn' and an experience of zero and of no self. He makes a 3-month meditation retreat most years. He says the peace and happiness we experience has to do with the quality of our minds, not our possessions. His book Mindfulness is based on the Satipatthana Sutta, a Buddhist text.